It seems incredible to think that in one part of the United Kingdom the life of its citizens can be so different from the rest. I refer of course to Northern Ireland. It may come as surprise to you that our legal systems are not entirely uniform. One striking point of divergence is the law … Continued
I was chatting to a friend the other day about an article they had read in some broadsheet. It concerned the idea of ‘affluent neglect’. She seemed to find the notion rather provocative and controversial. My only response was to ask, ‘why?’ The proposition that wealthy parents are often physically and emotionally unavailable for their … Continued
Professor Richard Layard and his colleagues at the Wellbeing research programme at the London’s School of Economics’ centre for Economic performance, have reached a perhaps obvious but nonetheless important conclusion that…. having an emotionally healthy childhood is the key to happiness in later life. And furthermore, that being a happy child begets a happy satisfied … Continued
We hear an awful lot about the problems with young people today. The headlines tend to favour the negative stories such as the ASBOs, underage pregnancies, the increasing frequency of teenage on adult violence and so on, but I have some real sympathy for what children face today. Consider what we now know about the … Continued
As knowledge of science and the human animal move forward it becomes ever more apparent of the interrelational nature of things. Our species has a propensity to compartmentalise the world and to some degree this makes sense. To deal with everything in its entirety is overwhelming, impractical and impossible. However, there are circumstances in which … Continued
I came across an old Facebook post on my timeline the other day, one of those viral thingamajigs. It was basically an image of an anonymous letter received by an Australian first time mother, Jade Ruthven (presumably written by ‘friends’ within her face book community), attacking her for her constant baby posts. I include it … Continued
Borderline Personality Disorder: What a parent can learn from a therapist’s experience. I was lucky enough to attend a really fascinating workshop on this personality disorder recently and I realised that as a therapist the insights gained were incredibly useful in themselves but I also realised that there was a lot of learning for mothers … Continued
You don’t have to be a Rockefeller to help a fella I was digging around in a drawer the other day, when I came across an old article from the Sunday Times. It had the emotive title, ‘Stars’ backing ‘cannot save’ kids’ charity’. It was a small piece about Kids Company, the worthy initiative founded … Continued
With a severe lack of mental health funding in this country it is perhaps not surprising that there is not much in the pot for those suffering from postnatal depression. This issue, specifically the lack of consideration it generally receives, seems to crop up in one newspaper or another with depressing regularity. It is often … Continued
I had intended to write an article about the problem with permissive parenting in the context of current trends in Sweden, but I realized, after reading a particularly smug article in the Telegraph that what was being said was equally applicable to this country. There seems to be a general drift happening in Europe towards … Continued