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Therapy Art & Science

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Therapy art & science information for you.

It was both an honour and a pleasure to have been invited to speak at the 8th Annual International Hypno-Psychotherapy Conference in Leicester this last weekend. Many thanks to Shaun and Fiona from NCHP&M for asking me, and to all the delegates, students and my fellow speakers who included Pat Hunt from the UKCP and Professor Windy Dryden.

In the forthcoming blogs, my lecture ‘The Holism Grail – The Science Behind the Art of Therapy” is going to be serialized as a resource for Psychotherapists and Hypnotherapists alike as well as anyone who wants to understand a little more about linking Psychology and Psychotherapy in the clinical setting.

So if you weren’t there, you don’t miss out. This resource is aimed at casting some light on the science of  hypnotherapy and how that can help clients to achieve lasting change. It is designed to also be interesting to clients, patients and psychologists as well as psychotherapists and anyone remotely interested in the mind and the brain. Topics include anxiety, self-esteem, stress, depression, panic, worry, habits, PTSD, OCD, addiction and many more.

The aim was to provide a useful resource on therapy art & science to therapists and sufferers alike about why talking therapies help as well as just how. The content is drawn from my UKCP and CNHC practice working with private clients in my specialist areas of anxiety and self-esteem,  and from The University of Liverpool MSc in mental health psychology.

By understanding the reasons that treatment works we can make it more effective and save time and money in the treatment room. A belief in giving back to the therapy community and spreading knowledge and experience as an open resource are what encouraged me to release this material free of charge.

I hope you enjoy it and please don’t hesitate to contact me here if you wish to comment or ask anything at all.

Stay tuned for the first part of the content in the next blog, and thanks for reading.

Stuart Cale

Anxiety perfectionists

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Welcome to the second part of my anxiety perfectionists tools designed to help you feel better faster, if you missed the first installment, you can access it here.

OK, let’s carry on..

Really important this next one – You create the pressure in any given situation, it comes not from external pressures, but how you frame and respond to those pressures. You make pressure and if you make it, you can unmake it. Remember, If there is no perfect way to do something, then there is no pressure to do it any other way than your way, and you’re the world’s leading expert in doing things your way already.

 

Other peoples’ opinions do not have to determine how you feel, your opinion is most important – you have the right not to have to justify what you do. Your opinion of how efforts are, is more important than anyone else’s.

 

You have the right to say, “no”, “I don’t care”, “I don’t want to” or ‘I don’t understand’. That’s empowering just in itself and deserves its own post but for the meantime, turn it over in your mind, maybe try it, maybe little things at first just to see how it feels…

 

Avoid words like ‘must’ ‘should’ and ‘ought’. These are judgmental words that paint you into a corner. They are not part of your anxiety perfectionists toolkit. More importantly, they set up pressure and expectation upon you to behave a certain way when you might not feel that way. We’re working toward authenticity, the conscious and subconscious being in harmony. Try ‘could’ instead and be more gentle with yourself.

 

Finally, just get on and do it. Putting things off and going over them endlessly feeds perfectionism. It’s the ‘Analysis = Paralysis’ equation. Remember the successful people mentioned above? Many of them failed many many times before they were finally successful in a goal.

 

Instead of aiming for perfection, try aiming for excellence, and remember that as long as you’ve done your best, then no-one can ask any more of you than that.

Perfection anxiety

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Perfection anxiety happens when we put pressure and expectation on ourselves, when perceived ability to cope is less than demands. It can have an effect on confidence and self-esteem, causing all those symptoms set out in my other posts on anxiety here.

 

One of the causes of perfection anxiety is a fear of  not being good enough, so what can we do in the short-term to reassure ourselves? Do you remember re-framing from this earlier post?

Here are some of the themes and re-frames I sometimes work into therapy with perfectionists and perfectionism, if you struggle with needing to be perfect, why not try them on for size…?

 

First, you don’t have to be perfect, nobody else is. Remember the old saying, “Never judge someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes?” – that’s the point, no matter how much ‘perfect’ we project onto someone else, from the inside their world is probably every bit as difficult as everyone else’s, and if you don’t believe me, just ask them.

After all, how many ‘perfect’ celebrities with their perfect bodies, houses, partners and lives have you seen end up in rehab, the divorce courts or worse?

 

Second, there is no perfect way of doing anything. As we get older, this becomes an easier concept to grasp but there really are many ways to achieve a specific goal in life. What’s also important is to realise that the getting there is part of the process, and often the fun.

Think about a goal you set yourself, maybe an education or fitness course or saving for something. I expect that when you got there, it was different from how you imagined it at the beginning, that the journey changed you as much as the goal.

 

Next, if you’re not doing something as well as you’d like, just accept it. Sometimes trying harder increases the pressure on you, makes you miserable and hurts your performance. You won’t be good at everything all the time, sometimes you’ll struggle or fail. If you study the lives of successful people, you’ll find that failing is a vital part of how they succeeded.

 

Be sure to catch the second part of this blog for more resources to use today to relieve perfectionism.

Need a Therapist?

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Need a Therapist? It’s a position I am often asked about by clients at the beginning of therapy. Specifically about the difference between hypnotherapy, psychotherapy and counselling, or a Psychotherapist and a Counsellor.

 

It isn’t an easy distinction to make, and certainly not for the untrained person looking for a therapist for the first time. So what do you need to know when you need a therapist?

Here is what you need to make an informed decision:

 

First, make sure that your therapist is adequately qualified. This is especially important with hypnotherapists who as an unregulated body can include anyone who has taken a distance learning or online course for half a day, or perhaps not even that.

Would you put your car in the hands of a mechanic with no formal training?… Well what about your mind?

 

The minimum a hypnotherapist should have is CNHC, and here’s why:

“CNHC was set up with government support to protect the public by providing a UK voluntary register of complementary therapists. CNHC’s register has been approved as an Accredited Register by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care.”

 

Here’s the CNHC link

And here’s the logo to look out for:

Complementart and Natural Healthcare Council

 

A hypnotherapist may offer treatment for a range of simpler issues (such as quit smoking) but for any emotional, behavioural or psychological issue, better to seek out a Psychotherapist or a Counsellor.

 

The names psychotherapist and counsellor are often interchangeable but there are differences in training and practice, with UKCP’s accreditation as the most difficult and time-consuming.

 

For example, a Counsellor can belong simply to BACP which is the Counsellor’s governing body. They require 450 hours of tutor contact hours and training of 1 year full time or 2 years part time BUT a Counsellor can also go on to be a member of UKCP.

 

Becoming a full clinical member of UKCP (a Psychotherapist) takes a minimum of four years at post-graduate level, they say:

 “UKCP believes the difference lies in the length and depth of training involved and in the quality of the relationship between the client and their therapist. UKCP registered psychotherapists are trained to Master’s level.” 

 

As a UKCP therapist, training requirements are a minimum of 1800 hours over four years at Master’s level and include  personal therapy with a UKCP registered psychotherapist, clinical supervised practice, a mental health placement, continuing professional development and ongoing supervision.

 

Here’s the UKCP link

And here’s the logo to look out for:

Look for the UKCP official banner

 

So there you have it, my quick guide to therapists. If you’re in the position to need a therapist, or just curious about therapy at this stage, please contact someone who has the expertise to help you.

 

Therapy is often a demanding process, and not every therapist will suit every client, there needs to be a good therapeutic relationship.

You can get off to a good start though by choosing wisely from the beginning. My aim is to give you the information that you need to begin that search.

 

Oh, and please remember, it may be a little daunting to make that first contact with a therapist but we are ‘people people’ –  our training is aimed at putting you at ease from the first moment.

 

Best of luck…

 

Stuart

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stress and anxiety

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Man suffering from stress and anxiety

Man suffering from stress and anxiety

Stress and anxiety, we all know the effects, we recognise the all too familiar signs… be it sleepless nights, waking up in the dead of night, drinking or smoking to excess, headaches, bad-tempers, repetitive thinking or habits, or even full blown panic attacks with the associated frightening physical symptoms. If panic strikes, the result can be physically and mentally very scary. The thing that we don’t all know, is that something can be done to help and crucially, before we get to that stage.

We all need some stress, but it helps if we can recognise the type of stress. ‘Eustress’ as it is called is the type of stress that benefits us, the type of stress that pushes us to go that little bit further, to achieve, the type of stress that readies us for exams or business presentations, or for any occasion where we need to perform at our best.

Then there is bad stress. The problems with the bad type of stress ‘Distress’, come when demands on us exceed our perceived abilities and then when stress builds, anxiety can often accompany it. We pop a painkiller, or we lose ourselves in the T.V. or a glass of wine, temporary fixes, but there is another way.

If we can’t change the pressures on us, then we can certainly change how we react to them, and more importantly our perception of them. This has many benefits; firstly, the unpleasant and worrying effects of stress are lessened so that we can enjoy life more. Secondly, we can improve our physical health, lower blood pressure, heart rate etc. and thirdly, we are building a set of skills that will allow us to deal better with stress in the future, because we understand it. This in turn allows us to be the best version of ourselves that we can be… for us and for our loved ones.

At Talking-Cure I teach these coping skills, how to turn down the intensity from red to amber to green, how to relax, how to increase energy levels and cope with the pressures that modern life throws at us. By giving ourselves the ability to deal with stress and anxiety before they become crisis issues, we are taking a preventative path rather than looking for a cure. As we have touched on before, this is a fresh and positive approach to well-being, and the benefits in quality of life and saving in lost productivity can literally be enjoyed by anyone with the desire to take the necessary steps, we see it as an investment in your future.

Mental Health Matters

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The key to subconscious healing lies in your own hands, my aim is to help you find it

Mental Health Matters. The key to subconscious healing lies in your own hands, my aim is to help you find it

Welcome to the first of my therapy blog posts, where I introduce myself and share a vision for the future of therapy, and how you use it.

I’m smiling widely today, and here’s why, Talking-Cure’s new website is live. Talking-Cure is my vision, and the result of a great deal of hard work. It’s different, and this is a different approach to therapy for the North West, have a look at the site and see why. Talking-cure is founded in quality training, and the level of Client service, I believe, is second to none. In this blog I’ll be dispelling myths, sharing information and bringing you my own take on mental health and finding solutions to your issues, because that’s what I do.

I have always believed that the world of psychology has a lot to share with people from all walks of life who, for one reason or another, may never see the inside of a treatment room. That there is a profession aimed at understanding and alleviating suffering of the mind is a constant source of inspiration to me but unfortunately, therapy can often be seen as a last resort, if a consideration at all. Having a positive impact on peoples’ lives is important not only in times of crisis, but all of the time.

So it was that Talking-Cure came about. After years in the cut and thrust of the business world, I saw a lot of casualties. Burn-out or breakdown, call it what you will, the end result was always similar from a human perspective and yet the machine still demanded to be fed. So I embarked on a mission to understand why and to see if I could make a difference, and what I found was that the challenges of the commercial world were not unlike those faced by everyone in today’s society. Anyone, from any generation can find that for whatever reason, ‘the world is too much for them’.

If we want to get physically fit we hire a personal trainer or go to the gym, we eat well, we watch our vices, it’s prevention rather than cure. So, why do we not extend that self-care to how we think and feel? It’s largely an issue of image, seeing a therapist is still not seen as what ‘we do’, but why? And more importantly, what are we missing out on?

I see mental health as being underpinned by mental fitness. We can improve our lives and how we feel by how we think, and thinking well is a skill we can learn like any other, with potential benefits in physical health, productivity and quality of life. The aim of this blog is to look at some of those elements of modern life that cause the most issues, informing you and hopefully helping.

The world that we have created is fast, demanding, competitive and at times unforgiving, yet we are not physiologically much different from our parents and their parents, who had to cope in far less challenging environments. Our children will face demands we probably can’t imagine. One thing we can do is lift our heads from the sand and use those advances in psychotherapy and the social sciences not when it all begins to fall apart, as a sticking plaster, but as a daily supplement to build fitter, stronger minds, more robust coping mechanisms and improve our lives.

I hope you will join me.