I think people often are unsure when to attend therapy. For some people, therapy is only when everything is on fire. Other people may put it off for years. Or perhaps wait for things to get worse. Often, a crisis is what brings someone to therapy. Things like loss, trauma, illness, or when a relationship […]

“We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.” (Gottschall, 2012, p. xiv) We all tell stories. Stories about ourselves, others, events… If we see someone buying flowers, we may imagine that someone is going on a date, or apologising […]

Iphones? Love? What do we actually need? American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, wrote the paper on the needs of people. Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs. This hierarchy forms a pyramid with ‘base’ needs needed before reaching ‘higher’ needs. Beginning at the base, we have physiological needs. These needs include the basic conditions for life such […]

In society today we often place importance on knowing oneself. After all, ‘Know thyself’ (“Γνῶθι σεαυτόν”) was inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo in approximately the 4th century BCE. Knowing oneself became a topic written and debated by philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, Descartes and the Stoics. In psychology, Freud quotes the original Greek in […]

Lately, I’ve been hearing this sentence more and more: ‘I don’t know why I feel so unsettled. Nothing is technically wrong… but everything feels off’ If that resonates, you’re not imagining it – and you’re not alone. We are living in a time of prolonged global uncertainty. International and local politics feel volatile and polarising. […]

Although I have written on chronic pain in a previous blog, it is such a complex topic that it deserves another look at (and possibly more in the future). In this blog I will discuss some of the complexities of pain and how it relates to psychology. Pain can be defined as “An unpleasant sensory […]

As the calendar winds down, many of us find ourselves running on empty. We start the year with goals, energy, and optimism — but by October, November or December, it can feel like we’re dragging ourselves across the finish line. You might feel exhausted, unmotivated, irritable, or just done with everything. If that sounds familiar, […]

Depression is one of the most common mental health challenges worldwide, yet it doesn’t always look the same from one person to the next. Cultural expectations, social roles, and individual factors all shape the way people experience and express emotional pain. One of the clearest examples of this is how depression can present differently in […]

When choosing a psychologist, it can be confusing to know which “type” of psychologist to approach. Do I need a Clinical Psychologist? A Counselling Psychologist? Or an Educational Psychologist? What is the difference? In South Africa, psychologists register with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) under different categories, the three most common being […]

Money is one of those topics that seems practical on the surface—budgets, bills, savings, and spending. Yet for most of us, money carries a powerful emotional charge. It can trigger stress, conflict, shame, or even guilt. Why? Because our relationship with money isn’t just about numbers; it’s about stories. These unconscious stories, known as money […]