I was having a conversation with a colleague today and they were asking me about the group I conduct. Their questions helped me to articulate some thoughts. I am unusual here in New Zealand in that I choose to conduct psychotherapy groups on my own rather than with a co-facilitator. I have had experience of […]
Guilt Revisited
I was reading my colleague Lynne Holdem’s Blog on guilt and forgiveness this afternoon and as Lynne referred to a conversation we had a couple of years ago I thought I would comment. As it happens I had been reading the first chapter of Roy Schafer’s book “Bad Feelings” (2002) and also a paper by […]
Righteous Kill – warning contains ‘spoilers’
The other night I watched the film “Righteous Kill” which has, in my view, the two best NYPD actors Robert De Niro and Al Pacino as the central characters. I was left thinking about the psychology of the narrative and what it means for me as a psychotherapist. One reading of the film is that […]
Suicide and Neglect – “Go Play Outside!”
I have been thinking about the horribly high youth suicide rate in New Zealand and made a connection in my mind with the kindness of the environment here. In New Zealand, children are commonly encouraged to “go and play outside” in a way that seems quite different to my experience in other parts of the […]
Freedom
I have been thinking about a ‘tweet’ I received recently: “xxxxxxxxxxxx@psychotherapynz See U are interested in how people can be free 2 b themselves – except if they want to smack kids! On yr own terms perhaps” The tweet challenged me to think about the apparent paradox that I am interested in how people can […]