Bad therapy: ‘After some of our sessions I couldn’t go into work the next day’
Making the decision to go to therapy is a huge exercise of trust, but what can you do if that trust is misplaced?
Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
Why it is important to get the right therapist for you
A strong relationship between a therapist and their client is key in determining the effectiveness of therapy, says Dr Damien Lowry
‘My 10-year-old daughter is very quiet and we think she may be autistic’
Ask the Expert: Taking time to consider whether your child may be autistic might yield a better understanding of their needs. Also, there is a growing positive identity around being autistic
How to beat the winter blues: exercise, socialising and healthy eating can help to keep your spirits up
As the days become shorter and the weather grows colder, it’s common to start feeling low, but there are plenty of ways to brighten up your winter
Waiting for test results? Don’t catastrophise. Keep busy. Try not to look up Dr Google
The waiting game won’t last forever. The time will pass and you will soon have answers
The inner critic: how to stop it from dominating your life
Do you have an aggressive internal voice that keeps putting you down? There are ways to shut it out and replace it with a kinder voice
How to manage ambition: Question it, create boundaries and drop the pressure
Excess orientation around achievement can have a down side
Holiday anxiety: Don’t put pressure on yourself by comparing your break to other people’s
We can put huge pressure on ourselves, robbing us of precious downtime joy
Eoin Kernan: ‘I decided I’d start changing myself through the food I was eating . . . It became very dark very quickly’
Men’s Health Week: A watersports coach who battled an eating disorder believes in talk therapy and in redefining expectations of men
How to spot a toxic workplace: Results are rewarded, no matter how they were achieved
In a toxic workplace, results are rewarded, no matter how they are achieved
How to appreciate your partner: Often what attracts us is what eventually irritates us
Avoid comparisons to idealised other couples, appreciate good intentions and adapt to change
Jen Hogan: Maybe my kids will look back and think their childhood was grand (in spite of dropped balls)
Jen Hogan: I obsess about wanting my kids to be happy and content
We need to accept change as key part of life
Padraig O’Morain distils ideas from his new book and shows how acceptance of change is something that evolves
How to Think Like a Philosopher review: Witty primer on the art of thinking
Julian Baggini has written an excellent guide to reasoning better as an ethical imperative
How to... interpret your dreams
Keep a notepad by your bed and get into the habit of writing down your dreams
‘Fighting to win at all costs will erode a relationship’: How to fight fair
The secret to interpersonal harmony is listening, being content not to win all the time and focusing clearly on solutions
Is Irish psychotherapy falling short of racial and ethnic inclusion?
The therapy room is not always a safe haven, especially when it echoes the unconscious biases of our society
How to...break a bad habit
Don’t focus on the loss but on the gain, such as better health, a clearer head, the financial rewards or more time to read books or pursue a hobby.
In the game of life, getting a passing grade seems like achievement enough to me
We are dealing with war, rampant inflation and climate crisis – yet some of us feel bad because we have not performed perfectly. Are we mad?
‘Some women experiencing abuse will also be at the end of their life’
Padraig O’Morain: Abuse has no age limits
How to grieve for a pet: A family can be devastated
Pet owners who stage funerals can be the target of mockery, but ceremony can help
We have arrived at riskiest time of year for suicide
Padraig O’Morain: Image of summer as season of happiness and bliss doesn’t hold true
How to say sorry (and act like you mean it)
There is great power in apologising – but only if it is done correctly
Listening is a form of agreement that the other person’s emotions are real
Padraig O’Morain: Healing depends on people knowing their feelings accepted as genuine
What is ‘toxic positivity’ and how do you handle it?
Acknowledge and express your emotions instead of pushing them away
We are living in a moment of ‘big change speeded up’
The prospect of a return to ‘normality’ is growing dimmer by the day
Fears about climate change impacting young people’s mental health
In about half of people, mental illnesses arise before age 18 - add climate change fears and the outlook is grim
Turning tide of violence against women is depressingly difficult
Willingness of women to speak out about their fears is a crucial step toward change
How to turn our irrational aversion to loss into something positive
Goal of not losing the fitness you have might be more achievable than becoming superfit
Irish Times mental health survey: We are recovering from a ‘mass trauma event’
Mental health professionals say many of us are hurting badly from the Covid-19 pandemic
How much compassion have we for people who are overweight?
We celebrate weight loss, and our basic attitude towards being overweight is disapproval
Don’t rush to judgment about what kind of person you are
It’s what you say to yourself about yourself that counts most in building up that idea of who you are
Dry January: How to stay on the wagon – and get back on if you fall off
Euphoric recall tricks us, we also have plenty of good times without alcohol
Keeping the dread at bay when living through an age of anxiety
Being alert to real dangers is wise. But that doesn’t mean catastrophic thinking
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