In response to the British Psychological Society’s call to include transgender people in the current ban on conversion therapy, it is important to be clear here as to which conversion therapy we are talking about in fact. Gay men and women of course have a right to be themselves; but let's also extend this right …
An argument for accrediting psychotherapists on the basis of their training and abilities, not their loyalty to one particular therapeutic model…
While watching a powerpoint presentation on a study day at the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre some years ago, I took exception to a cartoon which appeared on a particular slide showing a grey haired old man sitting beside a woman who was prostrate on a couch. Quite predictably, the caption read something like ‘So, Mrs Jones, …
Andrew Graham-Dixon
I have just learned that AG-D has been ‘cancelled’ by Cambridge University Students Union. I cannot think of a greater demonstration of the fact that there is much heat and little light in our intellectual life at the moment. There has to be some way of engaging in a debate without silencing those from whom …
Gender theory…theories….
I'm very much enjoying being an Open University student once more, reading the second year of my Masters in Philosophy. I've been reading a lot in order to find a research topic that really grabs me and I find myself coming back to the same areas of interest, namely, meaning, the body, power, collective action, …
Autobiography in five chapters
I I walk down the street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in.I am lost ... I am hopeless.It isn't my fault.It takes forever to find a way out. II I walk down the same street.There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it.I fall in again.I …
Response to Guardian newspaper
Dear editor In May of this year, I published an article in Therapy Today entitled Understanding Chronic Pain. In it, I describe chronic pain as caused in part by changes in the sensitivity of our central nervous system. I also described an evaluative process by which our brain can create protective pain in response to an actual or potential …
Article in May’s edition of Therapy Today!
I'm happy to say that I have an article published in May's edition of Therapy Today entitled 'Understanding Pain'. Please read it and let me know what you think?
Humanism as a response to climate chaos
A little before Christmas, Andrew Copson and Alice Roberts, Chief Executive and President of Humanists UK respectively, hosted an online discussion following the publication in 2020 of their new book entitled The Little Book of Humanism. I was very glad to be able to participate in this discussion and to raise a question relating to …
‘Story’s End’ (for RC)
Thank you, thank you, and thank you again. Thank you for that smile of quiet rage: the mischievous melancholy that - God knows - my own father lacked. You taught me the meaning of injustice, a hatred of apartheid, of sexism and, of course, the Poll Tax. Always the adult who delighted when I entered the …
How can we help ourselves when we’re struggling and there are no simple answers?
Whatever is going on right now... What’s happening? Give yourself a moment to acknowledge that you’re struggling right now. See if you can notice what you’re feeling in your body; any tightness or breath-holding. Are you aware of any particular thoughts and feelings about the current situation? Maybe some of these are familiar to …
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Psychotherapist & Trainer 