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...

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...

Maybe you are finding that your alcohol intake is increasing significantly, perhaps resulting in weight gain, lack of energy, low mood the following day, or less enthusiasm at work due to tiredness. You may know you need to reduce or stop this...

Why is it so difficult to sit with how I feel? When did this happen? Why haven't I noticed this before? What am I afraid of? These are some of the questions you may begin to ask yourself after another emotionless connection. However, how did you...

As people, we seem to live by the habits we form, and often these help to form structure in our daily lives. Habits do sometimes become dangerous, however, such as the addictive habits of using drugs, alcohol, food or gambling in response perhaps to...

Even if you're not suffering from a full-blown physical addiction, it is not uncommon to use alcohol to deal with uncomfortable feelings and for some, this may tip into an emotional dependence. Wherever you are on the scale, it can be hard to...

When tackling addictive behaviour, in my experience, therapy alone is not enough. Addiction is often a way of filling a gap in our lives. So we need to build a new life. Our addiction - drink, drugs, gambling - masks the distress our emptiness...

If you are reading this then I am guessing you would like to drink less.There is a big difference between alcohol use, abuse and addiction. It might be useful to think of it as a scale with use on one side, abuse or misuse in the centre and...

As most of us know, psychoactive substances are believed to be aphrodisiacs, but in reality they have damaging effects on all aspects of sexual function. The interrelationship of alcohol use and sexual activity is well established, but in reality it...