Inner Radio All the body’s organs work. The heart beats. The lungs breathe. The brain thinks. Only a dead brain is free of thoughts. The conscious mind is endlessly active. If we become aware enough, we can listen to these thoughts. They are usually like a constant stream of dialogue, an inner radio. This radio has different channels. Some channels...[ read more ]
Paul fumed about his wife – “she expects me to do everything, I can’t get a moment for myself”. Paul felt constantly under pressure, at home and at work. He felt himself surrounded by demanding people and fantasised about escaping, being alone. Despite Paul feeling like he was being pushed around, he never got into fights or arguments. “What’s the...[ read more ]
How does psychotherapy work? People who come to see a psychologist hope and expect that they will change from the process. I ask all new clients “what do you hope to get out of therapy?” Most people hope and expect that they will change perspective or habits or both. But what does this change mean? What is happening in the...[ read more ]
Is it better to be lonely than to have bad people in your life? In my last post I wrote about how children and adults will often display a preference for bad attention from others rather than no attention. We know that people will often maintain “toxic” friendships and relationships over no friendships or relationships at all. This is what...[ read more ]
Children love attention. They feel both safe and energised when they are seen, heard and held by parents and other trusted adults. Not all attention is equal. Kids prefer attention which makes them feel special, wanted, contained and protected. This is positive attention. Giving the right kind of positive attention helps the child navigate through their current problem. If they...[ read more ]
We are born small and weak. Baby ungulates walk within minutes of leaving the womb. And yet here we are weak and tender for years on end. We are not capable enough to care for ourselves and if we perceive and believe that we aren’t good enough to be independent, its because its true. It won’t be true forever, but...[ read more ]
A lion creeps, undetected, toward a grazing gazelle. Suddenly, the gazelle’s head perks up, she’s heard something. The lion, not wanting to miss its chance, leaps forward and begins the chase. Although the gazelle is caught off guard it is agile and is quick to flee, all the more quicker in its state of panic. The lion, understanding innately that...[ read more ]
Your mind on Imagination Researchers at the University of Boulder, Colorado recently taught 68 people to fear a harmless bell. They did this by repeatedly pairing the sound of the bell with an electric shock(!). They then placed these people into a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) machine which maps brain activity. They then played the bell to some of...[ read more ]
“Are people getting crazier?” A client bluntly asked me not long ago. One of the most common types of questions I get asked is about whether the prevalence of mental health problems is increasing. People usually frame it in terms of their current diagnosis or problem: “Are more of us depressed?”; “Is there an anxiety epidemic?”; “Why are so many...[ read more ]
Hi! Welcome to the Justin Hendriks Psychology blog. I’m a clinical psychologist who has a practice in Maroubra Junction, Sydney, Australia. This blog is written by me (Justin) on topics that interest me and that I think will interest my clients and readers who like to think about the mind and how to best live life. Given that I’m a...[ read more ]