Theory & training Articles
Confused by a diagnosis of emotional dsyregulation? It’s a complicated term for a personality trait that means you are more emotional than most. What is emotional dysregulation? Think of a singer who can sing many more octaves than the people around her. She can’t stop herself from breaking into song spontaneously when the ‘muse’ hits,...
How connected are spirituality and mental health? Connected enough that spirituality is part of several modern psychotherapies, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists now has a special interest group devoted to the subject. What is spirituality? It’s an umbrella term that seems to be applied to all sorts these days. But a close attempt to...
It was Carl Jung himself who bought the word individuation to psychology. He began using the word to describe what he felt the central and most important concept in his view of human development. What is individuation? Individuation is our journey towards understanding ourselves. It involves becoming the most integrated, whole version of our unique...
Dividing personalities into groups goes back to at least the Greeks, with their system of ‘four humours’. But most modern personality systems, such as the Myers-Briggs, are a modified take on a system for understanding personality created by Jung himself, along with the terms ‘extrovert’ and ‘introvert’. So what exactly are Jung’s personality types? Jung Personality Types ...
The route to becoming a psychotherapist in the UK is far from straightforward. There are actually three ways to becoming a registered psychotherapist. One way is to take a counselling diploma then continue on to a psychotherapy MA from there. This can be a cheaper option if finances are a concern. (See our article on...
What is the ‘shadow’ self according to psychology? The ‘shadow’ is the side of your personality that contains all the parts of yourself that you don’t want to admit to having. It is at first an unconscious side. It is only through effort to become self-aware that we recognise our shadow. Although many infer the shadow...
Trying to decide what counselling course in London is for you can be seriously overwhelming. First, there is the decision between training to be a counsellor or a psychotherapist (for more on the differences in the UK, read our article on ‘Counselling vs Psychotherapy‘). Then there is the sheer number of courses. There are many...
In psychology, ‘schemas’ are the patterns of thinking that your mind creates to organise and understand the information it takes in. How does this new information slot in with what you already know? What can you therefore expect from this experience/ person/ situation? You could see a schema as a sort of ‘mind shortcut‘. It’s...
Carl Jung, the leading thinker of our times who bought the idea of archetypes to psychology*, did not have a knack for presenting ideas clearly. He himself freely admitted to this (and anyone who has tried to read one of his earlier books will attest to it!). This has left archetypes a sometimes confusing and...
Heard about ‘positive psychology‘, but brushed it off because you are a realist? Or it sounded a bit too ‘shiny happy people’ to take seriously? The name of positive psychology is misleading. Read on to learn the misunderstandings about the positive psychology movement that might be stopping you from accessing it’s useful tools. 7 Myths About...
