Archives

Defining Intimacy

“Intimacy demands the highest risk but yields the richest reward. Intimacy is the driving force which makes the painful grit of life worthwhile. Intimacy is the life-giving beam of light, whereby we discover each other from the inside out, never quite fully, never entirely, but enough to find an exquisite inner oasis that replenishes us […]

Book Review: The Gentle Self

Schoen, G. (2011). The Gentle Self: How to Overcome Your Difficulties with Depression, Anxiety, Shyness, and Low Self-Esteem. CreateSpace. I think everyone’s a little narcissistic. We all have moments when we wish everyone would be more like us?when we get upset that no one seems to care about what we are feeling.? We also often […]

A Personal Development Project

Self-improvement is paramount to personal success. And it is all about developing positive habits, and eradicating those habits and behaviours that are not conducive to growth. With that objective in mind (of creating “good” habits and eradicating “bad” ones), Benjamin Franklin developed a framework for personal development (which he coined “Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection”) consisting […]

Positive Psychology and Resilience

What makes one person ‘bounce back’ following adversity and another person seem to ‘crumble in a heap’? This question has always posed a fascination for me. I have often wondered whether individuals are simply born with the skills to cope with the difficulties that life often presents or whether there are a set of stress-coping […]

How the Mind Works

Over the past two decades scientists have devoted much time to the human brain: how it works, why it works, and how it impacts human and animal behaviour. As a result, it is hard to keep up with the latest research! To help you out, we looked around for websites that publish regular, free, and […]

Symptoms and Behaviours of Unresolved Grief

Lindemann (1944), Lazare (1979) and Worden (2005) have identified numerous symptoms and behaviours that indicate unresolved / complicated grief. While many of the symptoms identified can be considered ordinary during the more acute earlier phase of grief, they are considered major signs of unresolved / complicated grief if they remain for unusually prolonged periods of […]

Book Review: Help for the Helper

Rothschild, B. (2006). Help for the helper. The psychophysiology of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma. New York. W. W. Norton & Company. Burnout, compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma are risks that, as therapist we are aware of however whilst many of us have a toolbox full of techniques to assist our clients, we often fall […]

Psychosocial Treatments for Schizophrenia

Successful treatment of schizophrenia depends on a regimen of both drug and psychosocial support therapies. While antipsychotic medication can help control the symptoms of psychosis associated with schizophrenia, it cannot help the person find and maintain a job, establish effective social relationships, increase their coping skills, or teach them to communicate well with others. Poverty, […]

Graduate Story: Herb Koenitz

AIPC Graduate Herb Koenitz shares his story… “After 35 years in Corporate Life as a senior executive, I retired at age 55. After doing all the usual things such as travelling overseas and downsizing, I embarked on a period of study. I chose to do a Diploma course in Professional Counselling with the Australian Institute […]

Graduate Story: Lorne Ferster

AIPC Graduate Lorne Ferster shares his story… “Approximately 25 years ago, my life took a turn which led me down a road of marriage breakdown, loss of family, and much heartache. It also took down a new road of growth and learning about me, and what life was really all about. My journey led me […]

Graduate Story: Jane Johnson

AIPC Graduate Jane Johnson shares her story… “Four years ago I sat in a holiday unit staring at a selection of tablets that I, with a solid background in healthcare, was certain would take away all pain, permanently. I remember staring at the telephone in the room for an hour. Even now I do not […]

Communication Problems with Couples

Looking for maladaptive communication patterns is a common form of assessment that therapists use (Long & Young, 2007). Based on John Gottman’s theory popularly known as the “Four Horseman of the Apocalypse”, the following subheadings are common communication problems that most couples experience or participate in. They include; criticism and complaint, defensiveness, contempt, and stone […]