http://www.juliabueno.co.uk en-gb juliabueno.co.uk 2010-9-1T00:00:00Z juliabueno.co.uk http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#74393 As psychotherapists we are fascinated by what goes on peoples minds and what makes one person so different from another. It has largely been the psychologists who have done their best to make some sense of all of this by observing behaviour and building theories as a result. However sophisticated brain imagery technology such as fMRIs and PET scans has ushered in a growing and hugely exciting discipline of neuroscience. Thinking about our minds memories moods and emotional worlds has changed drastically and will continue to do so as long as the funding persists. If you want a good primer on all of this which is very readable and beautifully illustrated you could do pretty well with Rita Carters newly updated Mapping of the Mind just published this August. She pulls together lots of information otherwise scattered in a number of sources likening neuroscience to having a gold rush mentality with scores of interested parties therapists psycho... 2010-9-1 18:05:25 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#73996 Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1behaviorurlieooui Style Definitions table.MsoNormalTable msostylenameTable Normal msotstylerowbandsize0 msotstylecolbandsize0 msostylenoshowyes msostyleparent msopaddingalt0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt msoparamargin0cm msoparamarginbottom.0001pt msopaginationwidoworphan fontsize10.0pt fontfamilyTimes New Roman msoansilanguage0400 msofareastlanguage0400 msobidilanguage0400 Irvin Kirschs The Emperors New Drugs makes fascinating if unsettling reading. Taking the reader through two decades of research from an impressive range of sources he concludes fairly confidently that SSRIs such as Prozac Seroxat and Lustral are no better than placebos. The placebo effect is now well known and brilliantly explored by Ben Goldacre if you ever get the chance to read it and he devotes many words to exploring our wellknown c... 2010-8-28 16:29:58 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#73166 Good for Gwyneth Paltrow. I learn that she has recently informed the world that after her second birth she suffered hugely from depression not so after her first birth. Clearly its not good for anyone to suffer depression but the very telling of it may help to normalise an experience that is actually more normal than we think. The rule of thumb statistic on PND is 10 of women suffer it after birth. A study about a decade ago by the Royal College of Midwives upped this to 20 but a recent much much larger study by Mumsnet.com suggested a little over 50 of women suffer it. Things have certainly improved in terms of support offered amp it being less of a taboo but theres a huge room for improvement.Women often feel hugely pressured to be successful as a Mum along with fears of putting their career and relationships in jeopardy in the process. They also often feel they have to bounce back to a size 8 and if they dont take their babies to baby yogagymmusicsigning classes and breastfeed for 6... 2010-8-18 19:20:01 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#72952 People often ask about the work I do as it is little understood from the outside. In particular Im often asked how I process the work and get some crucial thinking space around the material discussed in therapy. This is where supervision comes in and every counsellorpsychotherapist will engage in this they should do anyway. So if I have a session with a client that troubles me in some way perhaps I sat with feelings that didnt make sense or I felt stuck not knowing where to go I will discuss this with my supervisor. All my client work is anonymised to preserve confidentiality so my supervisor shouldnt be able to work out who I am working with. My supervisor is someone with more experience than me who has a training in supervision amp may or may not have the same theoretical training as my own. I like working with a supervisor who has a different training as Im then encouraged to think about things differently. Often it ends up that we are describing things the same way but using dif... 2010-8-16 11:04:01 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#72603 Ive just written a piece for Therapy Today about the coaching industry earlier this year the British Association of Counselling amp Psychotherapy who publish the magazine realised that a significant minority of its members are coaches too. Much of the piece unpicked the blur in practice that can arise between coaching and counselling or therapy. Its hugely confusing for the public to understand the difference between talking therapies coaching and counselling included. This is because they can be similar and traditionally counsellors and therapists havent been very good at marketing themselves or explaining what they do very clearly. Coaches tend to be much better at this just have a look at their websites for instance. In fact there are recent efforts to develop a coherent synthesis between coaching and counselling responding to the reality of the two practices often working in tandem. Coaching tends to be goaloriented eg improving public speaking or procrastination at work and fu... 2010-8-11 19:18:45 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#71922 Todays Guardian features a courageuous and engagingly written piece by Mark RiceOxley about his terrifying descent into a crippling depression. Although weve been told by a recent survey by the BACP and reported in yesterdays press that seeking help from a talking therapy is far more acceptable than it was even 5 years ago mental illness is still taboo and this piece wants to address this. So maybe its ok to talk about the fact you seek emotional support with a professional now but not if its because you are mentally ill rather than a worried well Mental illness of the type RiceOxley describes is frightening for the sufferer and those around him this makes it isolating and difficult to talk about. People tend to know what to say or do when you break your leg or go to hospital with pneumonia but not when your mind breaks or you get hospitalised for your thoughts. There are many moves afoot to change this though from the Time for Change initiative to MINDs tireless campaign work....ther... 2010-8-2 12:17:29 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#70620 Ive proved so far to be a rather ineffectual blogger. This is largely because much of my free time recently has been involved with the setting up of a new website which brings together a network of Londonbased psychotherapists watch this space for the London Psychotherapy Network. We are an alliance of practitioners who want to engage the public with ideas notions controversies myths and more to do with the talking therapies...we launch at the end of the summer and have some brilliant journalists on board Zoe Williams from the Guardian David Horspool from the Times Literary Supplement Hannah Betts from the Times... as well as views from psychologists analysts life coaches....and you I hope. 2010-7-17 18:59:39 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#70165 In a recent interview with Nick Clegg published at the weekend he spoke of the coalition as not an aberration but a natural consequence of what has been happening for years which is a loosening of the old tribal ties between the old parties and their supporters. He went on I think what we are entering into is a permanent move to greater pluralism diversity and fluidity .....politics. Tribal ties between parties are still very much in existence in the counselling and psychotherapy professions echoing the split Freud made with Jung and other early thinkers in the field. More recently the profession has been hugely aroused by the governments IAPT Improving Access to Psychological Therapies initiative which has prioritised certain parties above others such as CBT cognitive behavioural therapy leaving other theoretical orientations ignored and upset counselling and psychotherapy in particular. This is all very confusing for the consumer too when looking for psychological help the cho... 2010-7-12 10:11:57 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#69042 I spoke with someone today who had been referred to some shortterm counselling by her GP in London Cognitive Behavioural Therapy the NHS favourite. Quite soon after she got a telephone call dealing with her assessment for this counselling ie gathering information about her state of mind and general health to prepare the counsellor for the work and ensure that counselling was appropriate after all. Assessments are a good thing arguably an essential thing but this one was done by an automated system press 1 for X or press 2 for Y....culminating in dial 999 if you are feeling truly awful. Unsurprisingly to me this person ended up hanging up and going elsewhere for help especially as she had been asked about telephone assessments and had specifically asked not to have one. Many talking therapists like myself lean hugely on the importance of our relationships with clients they are the backbone of the work and allow for useful insights to emerge and feelings to be usefully processed. Res... 2010-6-28 12:01:34 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#67886 I went to see Tony Benn in brief conversation with journalist Suzanne Moore at the Stoke Newington Literary Festival last weekend. She flagged up a quote from his latest book and indeed a now famous aphorism of his concerning five questions that should be asked of any powerful person What power have you got Where did you get it from In whose interests do you use it To whom are you accountable How do we get rid of you It has since made me think of the clienttherapist relationship and the power a therapist has in the room with a client sadly it gets abused at times as we know from the press. Its worth considering how your therapist got hisher power through training and who is accountable if it is misused. This power should always be used in the interest of the client you and any doubt about this needs airing. At the moment accountability lies with the many professional organisations that train therapists theres no one central body mine is the UKCP. Benn is almost defined by his ques... 2010-6-14 11:42:28 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#65103 Sundays Observer ran a very important piece exploring the thorny issue of regulating the professions of counselling and psychotherapy httpwww.guardian.co.uklifeandstyle2010may09roguepsychotherapyregulationrow . Id encourage you to read it. Not many people know that most of the talking therapies are unregulated by law but selfregulated ie a number of professional bodies have formed that keep an eye on their own colleagues via training standards and complaints procedures. Ethical practitioners join such professional bodies such as the UKCP which I am a member of but it is possible to practise as a therapist without joining offering inadequate protection to the public if things go awry...Not many of us really understand what the talking therapies are about and I welcome the debates about regulation for raising many important questions. Youwe need to better know the difference between psychotherapy and psychology counselling psychiatry and life coaching. We all deserve to make an informed... 2010-5-12 09:41:25 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#63630 The BACP British Association of Counselling amp Psychotherapy sends out regular emails to those who register on their website you dont have to be a member amp this week reminded us to think about mental health provision in the context of electioneering. They have published a number of facts about mental health in the UK on their website including the one above which strikes me as hugely significant. Mental health provision unusually sifted to the surface a couple of years ago when Layard spearheaded the IAPT initiative Improving Access to Psychological Therapies. He managed to earmark masssive funding as he framed things economically mental health will only really matter to politics when the numbers make it worth it. Mental health services are often the first to be cut in lean times ie now and Id be interested to know how my candidate feels about this. 2010-4-23 10:49:24 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#62719 The Independent featured an article this week about Transcendental meditation TM the technique of achieving a state of restful alertness popularised by The Beatles 40 years ago and how it can help with depression. More and more research is emerging that supports the link between meditation and mental good health and the work of mindfulness meditation in particular is proving to be hugely helpful with depression and other mental health issues. If you Google Jon KabatZinn you will be led to the amazing work in this field.Im a big fan of meditation in all its various guises and encourage my clients to use mindfulness techniques in the way that I have been taught and have personally experienced to be useful. With practice they can create a crucial space between troublesome activity of the mind anxious thoughts pernicious thoughts thoughts that make us unhappy and our self so we can be less overwhelmed by what our mind is telling us and what our body follows with. It also helps us unear... 2010-4-10 19:05:02 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#59350 Ive just finished reading Couples by Kate Figes a very impressive survey into couple relationships via synthesising stacks of sociological and psychological research and conducting indepth interviews with 120 people. She writes very engagingly and intrudes her opinions usefully. There are some surprising finds for me including just how committed to each other couples tend to be despite a current myth that people lack commitment and bolt when things get tough. I think its a useful read for anyone in a relationship however successful it is not least because it holds up a mirror to others that you would rarely otherwise get. I think in Britain anyway we dont tend to talk about the flotsam and jetsam of relationships with friends and families and even less with professionals and this book may serve to normalise some of the issues that many of us grapple with. Not only that but the book may even help point the way to resolving issues by showing us how helpful honesty and communication ... 2010-2-27 11:42:04 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#58440 Elizabeth Badinter a French author and philospher has provoked some controversy by arguing that young mothers are facing impossible pressures to be perfect in her new book Conflict Women and Mothers ...Such pressures include breastfeeding for months avoiding pain relief during birth using timeconsuming ecofriendly nappies...all hard to reconcile with a life beyond the nursery such as a muchloved career to juggle alongside. I think she makes a good point. Feminism worked very hard to create a model of equality for women in the workplace and elsewhere and perfect motherhood as described and decreed by so many books and media images over here Im staggered by the number of parenthood gurus can only make this impossible. I frequently talk to women who feel the pressure to do it all right being a mother of a successful infant ie one who sleeps amp eats well a career woman who is still taken seriously at work even if she has baby vomit on her suit a loyal friend and family member as well... 2010-2-15 07:52:37 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#58280 Im really pleased to hear that the Mental Health Foundation is promoting Mindfulness this is an ageold concept that meditators and Buddhists have known about for centuries. It has been finetuned and developed for the treatment of distress associated with mental illhealth depression included which has been tackled very successfully with Mindfulnessbased Cognitive Therapy MBCT. There is compelling evidence out there that it works and heres hoping the NHS take on the MHFs proposals for a wider rollout of MBCT and other Mindulness type practices. I havent formally trained in these but have long incorporated some of its core concepts having found meditative practices very useful in the past for an unhelpful unquiet mind. Clients tell me time again how useful they have been especially in helping to develop a different response to what the mind can repeatedly tell us eg you are rubbish everything is pointless. Mindfulness can help to create space between you and your minds content in such a... 2010-2-12 18:39:41 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#58137 Patrick Strudwicks article in the Independent last week caught my eye just as anything about my profession does httpwww.independent.co.uklifestylehealthandfamiliesfeaturestheexgayfilesthebizarreworldofgaytostraightconversion1884947.html Its clearly a disturbing tale and provokes thought on so many issues including that of the regulation and scrutiny of the psychotherapy and counselling professions. Unethical to say the least practices in any profession can only be bad PR and those very many who do practice ethically will suffer as a result. Im ashamed of such work being done under the name of my profession. 2010-2-10 15:11:32 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#57315 Last week I went to see Susie Orbach speak at Newington Greens Unitarian Church a suitable venue for someone long passionate about womens rights in the world. She spoke about bodies womens bodies in particular a subject she first scrutinised thirty years ago when she wrote Fat Is a Feminist Issue . Im a huge fan of Orbachs thinking and recommend anyone to read her latest book Bodies. Although it isnt a long book nor difficult to understand it is no easy read. It is dense with facts and uncomfortable truths. She rails against the distortion and maiming of our bodies cosmetic surgery to dieting to body sculpting and to the terrifying lengths some people go to Westernise their eyes or even extend the length of their thighbones. Furthermore we delude ourselves in thinking this is our right earned as independent women to do what we want to our bodies. Yet she sees this as a hijacking and perversion of a feminism that clearly serves needs far from our own. I wont say too much more here b... 2010-1-30 14:47:00 http://www.juliabueno.co.uk/page9.htm#56646 Normal 0 false false false ENUS XNONE XNONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 My guess is you came across my website by plugging some words into Google and following some of the links that came up on the first couple of pages. Maybe your key words... 2010-1-21 15:35:26