Latest articles on counselling and therapy

There are three generally acknowledged booby traps awaiting those on the sometimes rocky road to recovery, whether they have been dry a day, a week, or a year. Sometimes they are referred to as triggers: 1. Priming – the odd drink that will “do no harm”. That odd drink is often taken in the absolute belief that we have beaten the addiction thing and can now go back to normal drinking. It usually happens after a period of a few weeks or months or even years dry...

Anyone familiar with the programmes “Fat: The Fight of My Life” or “Obese: A Year to Save my Life” will also be aware of food addiction. In these programmes, personal trainer Jesse Pavelka helps individuals whose food addiction has got so out of hand they are literally going to feed themselves to death unless they do something immediately. What is food addiction? Food addiction might sound quite extreme but it is much more common than you’d think, and you...

Many young men in their 20’s or 30’s wanting to have fulfilling relationships find they have difficulty in doing so. There is a variety of reasons why this might be but increasingly the use of porn may be a part of the problem. Some men may have started watching sexually explicit videos from the age of 10 or 11 and most adolescent young men have seen pornographic materials by the age of 13 or 14. A time when the brain is rewiring and setting new patterns of behaviour. Despite...

Some women and men, when they find out that their partner is spending a lot of time watching porn, is sexually acting out with someone, or sexually chatting online, initially blame themselves. What could they have done differently? Are they not attractive enough anymore? Should they have been more sexually available? Finding out that your partner is addicted to porn or sex is painful and difficult to overcome, and it usually has a major effect not only on your relationship but also on you as...

Alcohol can have a powerful influence on many of us. It quietens the mind and relaxes us after the stress of a long, hard day’s work. It can make time with friends or family more fun, and make social gatherings much easier, but when does someone’s use of alcohol become a problem? Maybe you notice that you use more alcohol than other people do, or you start spending more money on alcohol than you used to. You may notice that you start to feel uncomfortable or uneasy about how much...

Since launching in 2013, the highly endorsed Reading Well scheme has helped over 778,000 people across the country. With titles available to borrow, free of charge, from 98% of England’s libraries, discover the latest books chosen by health experts, those living with mental health conditions, their relatives and carers.

Each year, health professionals, library staff and users are surveyed on their experiences with the Reading Well programme. Combined with book sales and borrowing data,...

Through experience of working in a substance misuse agency it has become clear that a vast majority of individuals in the midst of addiction have undiagnosed mental health conditions such as generalised anxiety disorders, OCD, depression, social anxiety disorders. This list is far from exhaustive... The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) reports that there is a"definite connection between mental illness and the use of addictive substances". Often the condition comes to light once the...

If you find that you easily become angry, depressed, anxious or feel panic in response to life events, then you might be struggling to balance emotions and DBT could help.  DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy) involves a number of simple skills to help manage life situations. A counsellor can teach you some of these skills and they might help to stop your anger, depression, anxiety or panic from becoming out of control. S   T   O   P  or the 'stop skill'...