In the first half of the last century, British paediatrician and child psychiatrist Margaret Lowenfeld utilised sand and water in combination with small toys to help children express “the inexpressible” after reading H.G. Wells’ observation that his two sons would work out family problems playing on the floor with miniature figures (Zhou, 2009). »
In Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) individuals have an inflated sense of their own importance and a deep need for admiration – whether they have done anything to be admired for or not! A person with NPD is preoccupied with issues of power, personal adequacy, prestige, and vanity. Such a person lacks empathy and exudes a sense of superiority, but beneath the mask of super-confidence r... »
Are you as a mental health professional aware of the needs of clients with intellectual disabilities? Do you know what generally constitutes “impairment”, “disability”, or “activity limitation”? Would you be aware of special considerations or needs that such a client might have in a counselling context? »
A website or blog is one of the most significant investments a counsellor makes in their efforts to advertise their practice. However, all too commonly, basic rules are not followed and shortcuts are taken. The result is usually an underperforming site that could otherwise be an effective client recruitment tool. By applying a little more time, effort, investment and diligence at the front end, a ... »
Neenan, M. (2009). Developing resilience: A cognitive-behavioural approach. East Essex, UK: Routledge. »
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, or DBT, was developed in 1993 by U.S. psychologist Marsha Linehan for use specifically with clients diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), who cope with distressing emotions and situations by using self-destructive behaviours such as suicide and self-harm, eating disorders, and substance abuse. Linehan’s assessment of the therapies available to BPD cli... »
Greco, L.A., and Hayes, S.C. (2008). Acceptance and Mindfulness Treatments for Children and Adolescents. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications. »
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), also known as Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT), was developed chiefly by Dr Susan Johnson, who perceived the need for a better way of doing couples therapy than what was available in the mid-1980s as she was finishing her doctoral work. The importance of supporting distressed couples cannot be underscored enough. Johnson noted that recent surveys in Nor... »
What is it about a counselling or psychotherapy process that makes people change? In other words: what are the mechanisms of therapy? What does the paradigm supporting a given school of psychology assume about the nature of human beings and therefore how they can change? What are the main concepts of a given psychology and who were their famous proponents? With what kinds of client issues does a g... »
Because depression in older adults is so widely unrecognised, it can be difficult to comprehend just how forcefully conditions such as deteriorating health, a sense of isolation and hopelessness, and the challenge of adjusting to new life circumstances can create a “perfect storm” pushing an already-depressed person over the edge to suicide. When depression is not treated in elderly white men (in ... »
In this two-part special series we explore what different schools of psychology and counselling modalities tell us about how to help change happen. For the purpose of the series, we’ve divided the world of psychological therapies into 4 main classes: Cognitive and/or behavioural; Psychoanalysis/ psychodynamic/ analytical; Humanistic and; Transpersonal. In Part 1 we explored Cognitive and/or behavi... »
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