Scribblings of a Psychotherapist

  How do you deal with change? It's hard to make changes in life, isn't it? Even with the best intentions and motivation, making changes and improving life is difficult. Has it been like that for you? What's your experience of change? ''Change is bumpy. It's not a straight road, and sometime we have to take a slightly different path, turn more corners than we thought, stumble across a rocky road or stay and look around for a while. Change and recovery is a bit like the picture below.'' (Alexandra O'Brien, Citizen17). If you are looking to make changes, feel free to get in touch with us to access Integrative Therapy, Psychotherapy, CBT Therapy, Person-Centred Therapy, Counselling, Coaching, clinical hypnotherapy, SFBT and other one-to-one support. Check out our website for more information about what we can offer or feel free to get in touch via email for information or with any questions you may have. We have fully qualified and trainee therapists (...

SELF-HELP ACTIVITY FOR YOU TO TRY:  Reducing Worry and Anxiety with a ‘Worry Script’    Many people spend hours each day trying to avoid worrying about things that upset them. People distract themselves by watching TV, focusing on a new worry to avoid thinking about an old one, or even self-medicating with drinking, drugs, or over/under-eating. None of these things help reduce worrying. In fact, most people find that the harder they try and avoid the thoughts that make them anxious, the worse they get.   Trying to push something out of your mind is a little like trying to push a beach ball under water: it takes a lot of work to keep it down, and the minute you let it go, it pops right back up again. Rather than putting all of your energy into avoiding upsetting thoughts and images, you can instead face your fears, and writing worry scripts is one way to help you do this.  By writing a worry script about your biggest worry, you will be facing your negativ...

DEPRESSION AND LOW MOOD How are you feeling today? Really.... how are you today? Low mood? Desperate? Depressed? Can't get out of bed? Feeling life is on top of you? Some signs and symptoms of depression and low mood include: * Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness * Sleep problems (e.g. disturbed sleep, waking up early, wanting to sleep all the time, difficulties getting up etc.) * Feelings of guilt and/or shame * Changes in appetite (eating more or less than usual) * Feelings of anger or agitation * Using alcohol, drugs or smoking more * Withdrawing from family, friends, work, life * Problems concentrating or focusing * Loss of interest or motivation in things that used to interest you * Dread in facing the world * Self-harm * 'Dark' thoughts (e.g. ending your life, thoughts of death, not wanting to exist anymore, harming yourself etc.) * No energy or feeling tired or lethargic all the time Remember, some people will have all of these symptoms, some people with have s...

GUILTY! Who experiences guilt? Most of us do, at some point in our lives. However, some experience it a lot, especially those experiencing eating disorders and disordered eating. ' I feel guilty eating more than the ED voice tells me to' or 'I feel guilty that I didn't do the chores even though I had a stomping headache' or' I felt guilty when I didn't exercise for exactly 1 hour'. And so the list goes on.... But what is guilt? The Cambridge Dictionary defines guilt as: 'a feeling of worry or unhappiness that you have because you have done something wrong, such as causing harm to another person'. Wiki also defines guilt as 'an emotional experience that occurs when a person believes or realises—accurately or not—that they have compromised their own standards of conduct or have violated universal moral standards and bear significant responsibility for that violation'. The important point we often apply guilt to things that we don't need...

WHAT IS TRAUMA? 'Trauma is the response to a deeply distressing or disturbing event that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope, causes feelings of helplessness, diminishes their sense of self and their ability to feel the full range of emotions and experiences' (Karen Onderko). Emotional and psychological trauma can result from a single event/incident or multiple events/incidents that cause a huge amount of stress in the body and that may compromise our sense of safety or security. People often think it's only the 'big things' or really 'serious' incidents that cause trauma, however, that's not true. We often experience what we call small 't's' that, if they have specific meaning/significance to us, or occur alongside an accummulation of other small 't's', can result in a traumatic experience. It's really important to dispel this myth because many people don't seek support because they think or feel that the 'thi...

WORDS ON RECOVERY Marking the end of Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2021 Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2021 came to an end yesterday and we just want to end it with some words on recovery. Recovery is possible/ How do I know? Because I have seen many therapy clients, people attending support groups, those who email us and so on, recover and get better from an eating disorder, even after many years. We previously asked members, during an eating disorder support group meeting a few years ago, WHAT IS RECOVERY? Here are some of the things people mentioned: *Admitting you have a problem *Being ‘ok’ *Not worry about numbers on the scale *More confidence *Enjoy eating with other people *Adapting to change *Liking/accepting yourself *Trusting yourself *Being able to express yourself in a healthy way *Not being invisible *Being able to grab your dreams *Get your ‘sparkle’ back *Developing meaningful relationships *Good/balanced nutrition *Accepting you can be good enough, not perfect *At...

"I was made to feel like I was lazy [by GPs], that I had no willpower, that I just needed to lose weight. I left doctors' offices in tears, with discounted Weight Watchers memberships."    See article here: What's your experience of Binge Eating Disorder (BED)? Many of the clients and groups we work with report that they aren't taken seriously by family, friends, their GPs and other health professionals and are often told to 'just eat less'. Others are told they don't have a problem and just need to walk an extra 10 minutes or to are are told to stop being greedy. And these are the 'subtle' messages that those experiencing Binge Eating Disorder are given. We have (unfortnately) heard much worse and many with BED are just not met with empathy, validation or taken seriously, despite BED being the most prevalant of eating disorders. What are your experiences? What do yo think? Are you as frustrated as we are with the way people experiencing BED ar...

  Focus on..... Binge Eating Disorder (BED) Binge Eating Disorder or BED is often characterised by someone consuming very large amounts of food over short period of time, even if they are not hungry. Although, we often see another form of binge eating that is characterised by an almost constant 'grazing' of food, which may amount to a large volume of food over time.    BED is almost 2x as common in women than in men, although gender differences are less pronounced than in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. BED has been found is all cultures and ethnicities.   BED was formally classified in 2013/14 as distinct Eating Disorder and now has formal classification in DSM-5.   Keeping in mind that everyone experiencing BED is different and BED may present differently (we are all different and unique, after all!), some of the signs and symptoms of BED include:   * Feeling out-of-control when eating during a binge episode. * Often hiding food (before it has been ...