I love the darkness of winter. The dark evenings and the dark mornings of November and December draw me inwards, so that quiet reflection and contemplative rest seem a natural part of life at this time of year. As each Christmas and winter holiday approaches I find myself making a conscious decision that I am not going to get caught...
Continue ReadingWe know how to look after our physical health. We eat healthily, take exercise and if we notice any changes in our bodies, we usually have these checked out. How do we look after our mental health? It can be more difficult to know if things are going wrong. It is not as easy to examine our minds in the...
Continue ReadingIt’s natural to feel anxious when something unexpected or difficult is happening in our lives or to worry about significant current or future life events. However, sometimes anxiety can become overwhelming and can really impact on our daily lives and relationships. Worrying excessively about something like health, having or fearing panic attacks, finding it difficult to sleep or relax, can...
Continue ReadingCouples counselling is beneficial for all kinds of relationships, not just those that are experiencing chronic difficulties. It can help to resolve a specific problem or to prevent it from escalating. Or it can provide a “check-up” for a happy couple that is going through a stressful period. It is effective in relationships that are long-established and those that are...
Continue ReadingParenting – despite being around literally forever, in recent years this topic has become one of the most sensitive subjects around, and also one that courts some of the most controversial and conflicting advice. There are as many ways to parent as their are parent-child combinations, as each parent needs to adapt their style to meet the needs of each...
Continue ReadingMy name is Clare Hickey and I am a Counselling Psychologist working at the Novara Centre Bray. The question that sometimes arises in conversation when work comes up is: Why is psychotherapy any better/ more useful than having a conversation with a good friend? I would like to address some of the issues that may answer that question. Firstly I...
Continue ReadingWe all experience depression at some stage throughout life; this is generally as a result of a stressful life event. In the majority of cases we work through these difficult times naturally. However, depression as a mood disorder results in intense and prolonged disturbance in personal, social and work performance. Rates of depression are steadily increasing. According to the World...
Continue ReadingCognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is concerned with the meaning events hold for people and how their thinking in response to these events can create feelings of fear and despair. It is based on identifying negative thoughts and feelings, and on giving the person the means to change these for the better. Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis, both originally practicing psychoanalysts,...
Continue ReadingWhen ‘Depression’ is not just about the economy Feeling sad or finding it difficult to see the positives in our lives, are common to all of us from time to time. The term ‘Depression’ is used to describe a wide spectrum of experiences from feeling a bit low, to the grief and despair following a death or loss of a loved one, to...
Continue ReadingMinding our Mental and Emotional Health Step 1: Acceptance Sometimes the hardest thing about dealing with the difficulties life throws at us is not so much the happening itself but the mental torture we inflict on ourselves. We repeat ‘If only I had’ …or ‘Why me’? …or ‘How could they do that to me’? Such self-inflicted torture may be eased...
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