I am often the first person with whom my patients share significant and intimate thoughts and memories; I never take that privileged position for granted nor the opportunity to help someone to feel better about themselves and discover a more fulfilling life. One of my colleagues once described me as a natural psychologist; I guess she was alluding to the fact that I feel at ease being a therapist, I can empathise with people’s distress and discomfort but don’t feel overwhelmed by it, I can understand their problem and know how to help, it has always just felt like what I should be doing.
Dry January is a Bad Idea! At a glance it seems that giving up alcohol for a whole month, especially after the excesses of Christmas, is a good idea. However, on closer inspection is it possible that this recently popular way of dealing with January is just another version of the feast or famine approach to life that we seem so drawn to. As a society our relationship with alcohol is far from ideal. Its social acceptability has allowed many of us to fall into the trap of ‘using’ it […]...
When we are faced with something new or unfamiliar our threat or fight/flight response kicks in. We have evolved to respond in this way, it’s a survival strategy, if we aren’t sure what awaits us, nature believes it is best to expect and prepare for the worst: In the days when we might have found ourselves foraging for food, if a nearby bush rustled it was best to assume there was a predator lying in wait and run, if we were wrong all that was lost was some foraging time. […]...
Dear Dr Gray, I am worried that there is something wrong with me. I really didn’t enjoy Christmas, if I’m honest, I never do. I am surrounded by my family, have time off work and pretty much spend the whole time counting the days until I can return to normality. This makes me feel really depressed, everyone else is having a wonderful time and spends all year looking forward to it and I dread it then spend the time feeling depressed and anxious that I am not like everyone else. […]...
Is Sober October a Bad Idea? Sober October might roll off the tongue better than Dry January but the principle is just as shaky. When I sat down to blog about it I realised that I didn’t need to reinvent the wheel. Instead I could re-post my Dry January blog, suggest that readers replace the word ‘Christmas’ with ‘Summer’ and remember that a little bit of what you fancy does you good! Click here to read the ‘Why Dry January is a Bad Idea’ article in full...
