First Psychology blog

What do you see when you see a swan swimming? You see a serene bird effortlessly gliding along. What you don’t see is the effort going on below the water. Swans are working hard, but we often only see the graceful appearance above the water. Whenever you see someone who appears to achieve a goal effortlessly, remember swans. It takes a whole lot of hard work to achieve that graceful exterior. Try not to judge yourself too harshly against others because we don't know how much paddling is taking place below the surface when others glide by.  If you feel you tend to jump to conclusions and punish yourself accordingly, cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) can help you challenge your unhelpful thoughts. Download our free booklet to find out more about CBT.

We know from the questions we're asked that many people find the different types of psychological therapy confusing. So we thought we'd give a brief summary of each type of therapy. Counselling Counselling is a popular therapy that involves talking to a trained practitioner about your problems and issues. It provides a safe place to talk about and think about your thoughts and feelings with someone outside of your social circle. Counselling is usually a short-term therapy and typically lasts from six to twelve sessions. More about counselling > Psychotherapy Psychotherapy, like counselling, involves talking about problems and difficulties. However it is a more in-depth process which involves looking at your life as a whole rather than looking at specific problems. Psychotherapy provides a regular space for clients to talk about how they are and to work through patterns and issues they find difficult. One popular type of psychotherapy is IPT or interpersonal therapy,...