A New Year – Renewed Focus on the need for balance
Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that we are already coming towards the end of January. For many the last few weeks have been challenging.
Child Abuse Report
The Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry recently published a report on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The report is damning in its criticism of the Catholic Church and its systemic cover-up of child abuse. For members and subscribers, here is the link. Non-subscribers can pay a small fee
Building awareness of dissociation
Dissociation is simply a "disruption of the normal integration of experience" (Chu 1998). It is something that everyone experiences as we organise and compartmentalise our experiences and memories. This can be a normal, healthy and useful process. As therapists, we use a form of dissociation to keep ourselves apart from the effects of other people's
Childhood Trauma, Stress and the Biology of Addiction
Gabor Maté's 2012 paper in the Journal of Restorative Medicine discusses the degree to which childhood trauma leads to addiction in later life. "Early trauma has consequences for how human beings respond to stress. Trauma in children, such as sexual, physical or emotional abuse or abandonment alter the child’s physical stress mechanisms and, as a
The Journey
An inspirational poem with an important message
Art therapists stage Camperdown exhibition to raise awareness in mental health month
Awareness of the benefits of art therapy was raised recently with an groundbreaking exhibition of works.