Posts tagged with "SouthernStar"
Anxious thoughts can feel urgent, important, and impossible to ignore. But what if they’re just noise? This piece explores how taking your mind less seriously can quietly reduce its hold over you.
When facing real difficulties, optimism alone isn’t enough. In this column, I talk about how CBT isn’t about putting a positive spin on problems, but about seeing situations clearly and deciding what can be changed or accepted.
Why do some people react so strongly to criticism and mistakes? Drawing on CBT examples, my latest piece shows how challenging our assumptions can change how we respond.
Financial stress often leads to avoidance, from unopened bills to delayed decisions. This article explains how avoidance works, why it persists, and how gradual, manageable steps can help reduce financial anxiety and build confidence.
Small changes in how we think and live can quietly become normal over time. My latest Southern Star column explores how that gradual drift, this 'normalisation of deviance', can affect our mental health — and how to notice it before it builds up.
A 13-year-old Irish boy swam four hours through rough seas to save his family. His instinct was not to panic or dwell on what might go wrong, but to act — and to steady his mind by focusing on happy memories. My latest Southern Star column explores how research suggests both matter more than we think.
Why do we follow the crowd, even when we know better? From classic psychology experiments to everyday life, my latest piece explores the pull of conformity – and how to recognise when it’s steering you away from what you really want.
Many people live as if they are trapped, when in fact the door is open. Drawing on a parable by psychotherapist Sheldon Kopp, my latest article looks at how fear, identity and long-standing beliefs can keep us fixated on one perceived source of relief. However, sometimes freedom doesn’t require escape – only a willingness to question what we’ve assumed all along.
Always on edge even when things are fine? Chronic worriers often stay tense to avoid emotional shocks, a pattern called contrast avoidance. My latest column explores recent research showing that practising simple savouring techniques – pausing, noticing, and extending positive moments – can help break the cycle, reduce anxiety, and make calm feel safe.
From a banned “period hut” in Nepal to everyday health anxiety and people-pleasing, my latest article shows how untested beliefs can limit our lives. It then explores how behavioural experiments, a core CBT tool, help us test those beliefs in small, deliberate ways that reduce anxiety and change how we live.