acuriousroute

Tag: psychotherapy

  • Managing uncertainty: when not knowing is sometimes the sensible decision

    In my undergraduate degree research, the ‘p-value’ was a number that came from statistical analysis. It was a long time ago now, but from my basic understanding and memory, the p-value gave an indication of how probable it was that the results were related to chance, rather than to the relationship between the conditions being…

  • New publication: ‘When Healthcare Communication Makes Patients Feel Like They Do Not Matter’

    Just a quick post to highlight a new publication of mine, available on Psychreg. I wrote this piece drawing from personal, professional and third-party experiences of care within healthcare services. I thought it could be helpful and interesting to speak from both perspectives: as a professional who has worked within healthcare systems for many years,…

  • Deserving

    I often hear people casually talk about whether they or others deserve this or that: whether we deserve a sweet treat or takeaway depending on how much exercise or dieting we have done, whether we deserve a break, rest or a holiday depending on how hard we have worked; whether we deserve something good or…

  • Triangulation: When Three Really is a Crowd

    In this piece, I’m using the well-known family systems concept of ‘triangulation’ to describe a particular process I’ve noticed in and outside therapy, to myself included: A relationship moment where the idea that “two’s company, but three’s a crowd” can actually ring true, especially in the context of navigating complicated group and relationship dynamics. When…

  • A Note on “The World” and How Language Shapes Perspective

    Like many people, I often use the phrase ‘the world’ generally and in my writing as a shorthand to describe the wider contextual environment within which human experiences occur. Lately, I have been wondering whether this phrase is actually appropriate or meaningful. When I use it I notice I push away a background feeling of slight embarrassment.…

  • Eight Things Humans Can Learn from Cats

    Cats obviously experience the world differently and have a very different social map from ours. Yet some of their instincts and boundaries seem like they should come more naturally to us. Here are eight things I’ve noticed from living alongside them that we might learn from. One – Needs. Often, they have no shame or qualms…

  • Are We Living in a More Hostile World, Or Are We Seeing More of It?

    I have been considering this daily while deliberately dipping a toe in and out of catastrophe-focused news headlines, and a semi-awareness of how my true-crime-skewed Netflix algorithm is both fed by, yet subtly nudging me towards a social weariness and vigilance. A common situational thread I have noticed recently in my therapy work is a collective sense of disillusionment…