A clear, honest guide to what psychodynamic counselling is, what it can help with, what it cannot do, and who it may or may not suit.

A helpful way to understand distress is to treat it not as a personal failing, but as a sequence: a chain reaction you can learn to recognise earlier, rather than only making sense of it all afterwards - once you can see the sequence, you can start noticing where you are in it and how to potentially intervene.

Burnout is often talked about as if it were a personal failure. In practice, it is usually a collision between chronic pressure and a person who has learned to keep going long after their limits have been crossed.

When support feels irritating, even aggravating or worse, it may be protecting something tender.

Intrusive thoughts, which often underlie anxiety, have a historical purpose. In the early days of human evolution, these thoughts served as a protective mechanism, keeping individuals safe from harm.

Contrary to a glib understanding of some French authors, hell can more often be a personal one than that found when in the company of others

Self-compassion is a way of viewing oneself under challenging times. It involves taking a kind, non-critical, and accepting stance...

Today is what matters; just getting through today. All you'll ever have to do is get through one day, and you've done that many times before

None of us can be summed up in one word in the same way that easy answers rarely solve complex problems.

One section of the entry requirements I was reading stood out. "You must have your own personal lived experience of mental health problems".

Having the best intentions when attempting to help someone, as many of you will have experienced, can be less than straightforward. . .