Blog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGERDS9SC_8&rel=0 Summary: Andy reviews the messiah complex chapter, calling it one of his favourites. He compares people in mental health settings who believe they are divine figures with religious leaders, and draws parallels between collection plates, ongoing therapy fees and ever-higher levels of training courses, raising the question of where madness and religion are told..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ2mNLf7-S4&rel=0 Summary: Andy reviews the voodoo science chapter, the story of a man who believed a former partner had cursed him and who came to see Andy about it. He discusses the difference between a belief and a fear that something might be true, and applies this to delusions, post-surgical delirium and interest in occult..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv-VfC2Ga4U&rel=0 Summary: Recorded in the attic during rain, Andy reviews the reframing chapter, which opens with his own example of relabelling anxiety as excitement. He criticises how reframing is often applied in the therapy scene, arguing that imposing a different label is not good reframing, and that a diagnostic label can become the frame for..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXdrDMNw-g&rel=0 Summary: Andy reviews the chapter A Mouthful, which tells of an unpleasant incident from his second year of nurse training and links it to examples about overeating. He then widens the discussion to how people consume information, comparing social media, infinite scrolling and echo chambers to diet, and why many people feel unable to..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxBQtQgFXqU&rel=0 Summary: Andy reviews the tin foil helmet chapter, a few pages of tips on working with internal dialogue and changing the submodalities of what is heard, with examples from people who have schizophrenia or hear voices. He also discusses personal boundaries, how far a sense of self extends, how this varies between cultures, and..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxPoxtLmCfE&rel=0 Summary: Andy reviews the brain cancer chapter, a case study of a young woman who came to him distressed by what she had understood a doctor to say about her diagnosis. He also discusses miraculous healing stories told in some therapy circles and distinguishes between different kinds of tumour, drawing on his hospital work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg6VnMLk_go&rel=0 Summary: Recorded in the attic with roofing noise outside, Andy reviews what he thinks is the longest chapter, on hysterical paralysis. Drawing on his experience in hospital and psychiatric settings, he discusses people who fabricate illness or backgrounds, such as invented military careers, and notes that they seldom receive the care they actually need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p7HiBClZP0&rel=0 Summary: Andy reviews the seeing red chapter, in which a young offender visits his office and Andy deliberately provokes him. He says he finds the chapter somewhat embarrassing, confirms the incident happened broadly as written, and discusses the young person's likely experience of meetings with teachers, social workers and police.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmZt8yk1WM8&rel=0 Summary: Andy reviews the eluding resistance chapter, beginning with a reference-page description of resistance in psychoanalysis. He then discusses primary and secondary gains, the idea that a long-term problem can bring someone benefits, and suggests that exploring how a problem has helped a person can be a useful way into resistance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0En2hKGCioE&rel=0 In Defense of the Right Man Following various feedback regarding my “Right Man Syndrome – Depressive Thinking Patterns” page, I thought I’d write the patterns from the Right Man’s perspective. For this purpose, we need to invoke the concept of "The Maybe Man". In contrast to the Right Man, the “Maybe Man” is usually..