Conditions and Issues

This hub brings together a range of specific conditions and issues that people commonly bring to therapy or medical services: anxiety and phobias, grief and loss, gut problems, women’s health, alcohol use, habits, self-esteem, neurodivergence and more. Each article below looks at a particular problem in more depth, often challenging simple medical or self-help stories and offering a more nuanced view of what is going on.

Anxiety, phobias & fear states

Conditions where fear, panic or dread become tightly linked to places, situations or internal images. These articles look at how such fear patterns develop and how they might begin to change.

Agoraphobia – exploring the fear of open spaces, public places and being “trapped” away from safety.
Claustrophobia: Fear of Small Spaces, Crowds and Being Closed In – looking at fears of confinement, crowds and loss of escape routes.
Dental Phobia, Hypnotherapy and NLP – why dental treatment can trigger intense fear and how hypnosis/NLP approaches might help.
Nightmares – on recurring bad dreams, their themes and how they can be worked with therapeutically.

Gut, body pain & physical health

Issues where the body speaks loudly: gut problems, menstrual pain, pelvic pain and other physical symptoms that often carry both medical and psychological dimensions.

Chronic Gastritis and What to Do About It – a look at long-term stomach inflammation, triggers and practical options.
FODMAPs and IBS – exploring dietary fermentable carbohydrates and their role in IBS-type symptoms.
Giardiasis: Causes, Symptoms and Treatments – an overview of this intestinal infection, its impact on the digestive system and how it is treated.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) – a broader view of IBS: gut, brain, stress and how symptoms are interpreted.
Resolving Adult Enuresis – discussing adult bedwetting, the shame often attached, and practical steps towards resolution.
The Human Gut Biome and Mental Health – on the gut microbiome, mood, anxiety and what current evidence does (and doesn’t) support.
Painful Menstruation (Periods) – discussing dysmenorrhoea, normalisation of pain and when to take symptoms seriously.
Vaginismus – examining involuntary vaginal muscle spasm, pain, shame and relational impact.
Wart Charming – a look at folk remedies, suggestion and how strange-seeming practices sometimes work.

Habits, self-esteem & everyday struggles

Patterns that erode confidence and quality of life: from bullying and jealousy through to weight struggles, low self-worth, compulsive habits and escalating standards of purity inside groups and communities.

Bullying and Related Issues – looking at bullying dynamics, power, repeated targeting and the longer-term effects.
Hair Pulling (Trichotillomania) – exploring the urges behind hair pulling, the cycle of tension and relief, and approaches to change.
Jealousy – exploring jealousy in relationships, its stories and how it can take over.
Low Self Esteem – on persistent self-criticism, shame and the narratives that keep people small.
Weight Loss and Successful Slimming – considering what actually makes weight change sustainable beyond simple willpower stories.
Nail Biting (Onychophagia) – on repetitive biting, tension and how such habits can be approached in therapy.
Purity Spirals – examining escalating demands for moral or behavioural purity and the shame, conflict and exclusion that follow.

Alcohol, risk & safety

Articles where risk, harm and safety come into focus: from binge drinking patterns and accidents to suicidality and gendered differences in how people come to harm.

Binge Drinking and Alcoholism – examining patterns of heavy drinking, dependence and the stories people tell about their use.
Suicide, Suicidology and Suicide Methods – a direct, unflinching look at suicidal thinking, methods and how the topic is handled by professionals.
Accidents and Gender – exploring how gender influences risk-taking, injury and the kinds of accidents people have.

Neurodivergence, diagnosis & society

Conditions and labels that sit at the intersection of neurology, behaviour and social expectation, and how society chooses to respond to them.

Neurodivergence and the Mass Medication of Society – a critical look at neurodivergent labels, stimulant prescribing and what is being pathologised.

Death, loss & grief

Pieces that address endings directly: death, dying, bereavement and the ways people are expected to grieve.

Death, Dying and Bereavement – considering how people face mortality, loss, funerals and the “rules” around grieving.

You can use this Conditions and Issues hub as a starting point: find the topic that best matches what you or someone close to you is dealing with, read the detailed article, and then explore related sections of the site (such as Neurology, Psychiatry, or NLP and Hypnosis) for deeper background on how these problems are understood and approached.