One of the most disconcerting symptoms people might experience when stressed is depersonalisation. Depersonalisation involves a sense of being detached from yourself, such as feeling as though your body does not belong to you. It may be accompanied by derealisation, or a sense of being detached from one’s surroundings. Depersonalisation symptoms are commonly associated with… Read more »
What is a psychopath? We might typically think of a serial killer, or at least someone with a criminal record. However, psychopaths can be found in many walks of life, representing about 1% of the population. Approximately 10% of people have significant psychopathic traits. They might be more prevalent in leadership positions or other situations… Read more »
Nature of Dissociative Symptoms Some of the most distressing symptoms that clients report include dissociative symptoms. These symptoms include persistent daydreaming, forgetfulness and amnesia for recent events, feelings as though one’s body does not belong to oneself, feelings as though things (perhaps even the world itself) are not real, and a sense of acting so… Read more »
What is Narcissism? Narcissism is generally seen as a negative character trait. That is probably for good reason. After all, it implies that the person is self-absorbed to the point of being relatively disconnected from others, severely compromising their relationships. However, as with all personality characteristics, there are a number of positive aspects of narcissism…. Read more »
Phobias Phobias are intense, persistent and exaggerated fears of particular objects or situations. Phobia sufferers typically feel panic or a sense of dread when they’re in the feared situation, or in anticipation of it. They typically aim to escape from or avoid the phobic situation where they can. We only describe a fear as a… Read more »
Managing with Anger One of the more common problems related to mental health is difficulty managing with anger. Anger problems typically involve repeated verbal or physical aggression, or destructive anger outbursts that are out of proportion to the level of provocation. Such anger problems would be displayed by approximately 5% of people at some point… Read more »
One of the most useful and widely used Positive Psychology strategies for promoting wellbeing is to identify and draw upon our signature character strengths, which relate to our enduring key virtues. These character strengths are the kind of virtues which are recognised by all cultures. There is an accessible scientific method of identifying signature character… Read more »
What Is Avoidance? It is understandably common for people to seek to avoid at least some anxiety-provoking situations. However, tendencies to avoidance can become entrenched over a period of time to become quite self-defeating. This is because the urge to avoid situations can be strengthened by the short-term relief that escape from such situations may… Read more »
“Burnout” is a term which relates to symptomatic distress we may experience after being in stressful circumstances associated with persistent demands placed on us. Burnout occurs when the demands on us outstrip our resources including strategies for coping. For example, we may become “burnt out” after a period of excessive work demands, especially when there… Read more »
The Inner Critic Do you have an inner critic? Do you have an internal voice that sometimes criticises something about you or something you have done? As a psychologist, I assume that everybody does. It’s normal to have an inner critic. The real question is what is our relationship with that part of ourselves that… Read more »