An exploration of anxiety, internal security, and the therapeutic task of becoming someone you can trust to have your own back. In my previous article, Your Confusion is a Red Flag I explored how confusion, anxiety and a sense of unease can sometimes be important information about our environment. This article asks a different question. Once we recognise that information, do we act on it? Or do we repeatedly override what we know? I believe the answer to that question has profound...

In depth psychology the shadow refers to aspects of the psyche that remain outside conscious identification yet continue to influence behaviour, perception and emotional life. The concept was articulated most clearly by Carl Jung, though closely related ideas appear throughout psychoanalytic theory. The shadow does not refer to “bad” parts of the personality. Rather, it refers to those elements of psychic life that the conscious ego does not recognise as belonging to itself. The formation of...

This article is about recognising when your nervous system may be telling you something about the world around you. The companion article, I Got My Own Back, explores a different question: what happens once you’ve recognised the signal, and whether you become someone who acts on it. Here’s something I’ve learned very clearly as a therapist and as a human being that I thought might be helpful to share. I’ve heard it from many clients when they look back on traumatic relationships or events:...