(first published in the Sunday Independent – August 2, 2015) Just like Freud, psychotherapist Gayle Williamson gets a little help in sessions from a canine co-therapist It happened by accident one afternoon. I had been on a break between appointments, drinking tea in the kitchen as usual, when my next client arrived a bit early. […]

(Published in the Sunday Independent 5/7/2015) Advances in brain science are also transforming how psychotherapy is practised, says psychotherapist Gayle Williamson A few years ago, a young woman called Laura (not her real name) came to see me for chronic anxiety. There was no part of her life where she felt relaxed and in control, […]

**Facing difficult emotions is the key to psychological liberation, says psychotherapist Gayle Williamson Christmas is an emotional time of year. Some of the feelings we have may be positive – peace, joy, relaxation, gratitude – but often the emotions are difficult ones: sadness, loss, loneliness. So it seems a good time to ask: “How are […]

First published in the Sunday Independent, We all struggle to be authentic, but a sadistic inner self could be to blame, writes psychotherapist Gayle Williamson “I don’t know who I am,” was one of the first things Sandra* (not her real name), said to me. An attractive professional woman in her mid-40s, she had become […]

I’m not sure where this year has gone – is it just me or has it gone by amazingly fast? Already we’re in the countdown to Christmas, and everything seems that much faster and more crowded – we’re all in a rush and driving faster, and the queues in the shops are growing. There’s no doubt […]

A MAJORITY of the anxious clients I see also suffer from  irritable bowel syndrome. It’s not surprising, since as I’ve written previously we essentially have what many refer to as a second brain in our stomachs. If you suffer from abdominal pain and spasm, the following breathing exercise, done regularly, is very effective at calming […]

By far the biggest issue I see in therapy is anxiety – it’s such a widespread problem. If you’ve never suffered from anxiety, it’s difficult to really understand just how bad it can be; how exhausting and how crippling. It makes doing anything in a typical day a challenge – driving your car, going to […]

We’ve been breathing all our lives so surely we should be experts at it? But it’s so automatic, many of us don’t pay attention to how we are breathing – unless we have a heavy cold or we experience panic, and suddenly we’re very aware of not getting enough breath. Anxiety sufferers have a tendency to shallow breathing […]

Doctors frequently see patients who complain of feeling sick but who are unaware that their symptoms are in fact caused by anxiety. Common anxiety-related symptoms, for example, are nausea, upset stomach and acid reflux. Many of the anxiety sufferers I see also suffer from Irritable bowel syndrome, involving constipation or diarrhoea, abdominal pain and cramps. […]

Written for Sunday Independent Unlike depression, anxiety can motivate you to fulfil your potential – as famous sufferers can attest. My client was obviously in a great deal of pain, worn down by her anxiety. “I feel so weak and pathetic that I can’t just get on top of it.” You’d be forgiven for imagining […]