ATTherapy Blog
Reflections on counselling, relationships, and everyday mental wellbeing.
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Stone Age Mind in the Modern Office: Why We Follow the Confident Voice
Why do we look to the confident, dominant voice in a crisis, then resent them afterwards? Evolutionary leadership theory, dominance versus prestige, and a team audit.
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The Art of Letting Go: How Psychological Distance Helps You Recover from a Breakup
A breakup can feel like withdrawal, with urges to check, text and hope. How creating space, in distance, time, social circles and online, can help the heartbreak settle, and a four-point plan.
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The DEAR Technique: A Structured Way to Ask for What You Need
Describe, Express, Assert, Reinforce — Marsha Linehan’s DEAR technique, a DBT skill for making a request or setting a boundary without a conversation turning.
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Rebuilding Your Life After Loss: Julia Samuel’s Eight Pillars of Strength
Grief isn’t something to cure or rush through. Psychotherapist Julia Samuel’s Eight Pillars of Strength offer practical support structures for the rebuilding.
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When a Bid for Connection Is Rejected
Being vulnerable and getting shut down doesn’t just sting — it can trigger a “vulnerability hangover.” Why it happens, and what to do next.
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The Relational Loop: How We Get Stuck in Problem-Maintaining Patterns (And How to Break Free)
Learn to identify repeating relationship cycles, break unhelpful communication dances, and build healthier connections with support from ATTherapy.
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The Weight of Our Expectations: Understanding Your Locus of Expectations
Explore the Locus of Expectations, understand how unmet anticipations fuel disappointment, and cultivate emotional resilience with ATTherapy.
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Understanding Dunbar’s Number in a Hyper-Connected World
Discover Dunbar’s Number, the cognitive limit on human relationships, and learn to prune digital clutter to nurture meaningful connections with ATTherapy.
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Why Gottman Therapy Says Anger Isn’t Necessarily Negative
Learn the difference between feeling anger and how it’s expressed, replace harsh habits with soft start-ups, and strengthen your relationship with ATTherapy.
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Unwritten Scripts: How Your Demands & Rules Fuel Your Mood (CBT Explained)
Learn to identify unhelpful “shoulds” and “musts,” challenge rigid thinking patterns, and build emotional resilience with support from ATTherapy.
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Beyond Just Thinking Positive: 5 Steps to Boost Your Mood with Behavioural Activation
Learn how to rebuild motivation, schedule meaningful activities, and improve your mood through step-by-step guidance from ATTherapy.
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Sharpening Your Focus: Practical Concentration Aids for Individuals with ADHD
Discover practical concentration aids for ADHD—from sensory tools to body doubling—and learn how to harness your unique brain power with ATTherapy.
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Building Your Emotional Toolkit: Preventive Factors for Depression
Learn how to build your emotional toolkit, manage stress, and protect your mental health using practical, proactive strategies from ATTherapy.
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The Comfort Zone of Your Mind: Understanding Cognitive Conservatism
Learn how to identify rigid thinking patterns, embrace new perspectives, and unlock personal growth through support at ATTherapy.
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Beyond Just “Feeling Down”: How to Tell the Difference Between Low Mood and Depression
Understand how to distinguish fleeting sadness from depression, explore effective coping strategies, and rebuild well-being with ATTherapy.
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When You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know: Understanding the Dunning-Kruger Effect
Discover the Dunning-Kruger Effect, why gaining knowledge can trigger self-doubt, and how to build genuine self-awareness at ATTherapy.
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“I Just Can’t Be Bothered”: Common Blocks to Motivation and How to Move Forward
Discover why a lack of motivation is often caused by overwhelm, fear, or burnout, and explore strategies to move forward with ATTherapy.
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Why Your Yawn Might Be a Stress Response
Discover why yawning can be a stress response, how it stimulates the vagus nerve to cool the brain, and explore nervous system regulation with ATTherapy.
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The Secret to Healthier Arguments: Understanding Soft vs. Harsh Start-Ups (Gottman Method)
Learn the Gottman Method approach to healthier arguments—using “I” statements, soft start-ups, and clear requests—with support from ATTherapy.
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For the Middle-Aged Among Us: You Can’t Deny Your Parents Are Getting Older Forever
Learn how to move past denial, initiate difficult family conversations, and support your ageing parents with compassionate guidance from ATTherapy.
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Hikikomori: Extreme Social Withdrawal
Explore hikikomori—extreme social withdrawal born from societal pressure, burnout, and mental health challenges—with insights from ATTherapy.
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Coercive Control: Understanding a Hidden Form of Abuse
Understand coercive control—a subtle pattern of isolation, monitoring, and emotional abuse—and learn how to recognise the signs with ATTherapy.
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The Anatomy of a Hangover: What’s Happening Inside Your Body
Learn what really happens inside your body during a hangover, understand the impact of alcohol, and explore practical support at ATTherapy.
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You Are Not the Problem, The Problem is The Problem
Discover narrative therapy and externalisation to separate your identity from your struggles, reduce shame, and re-author your story with ATTherapy.
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From Worms to Us: The Universal Language of Neuromodulators
Learn how chemical messengers influence your mood, stress, and focus—and discover lifestyle strategies to nurture them with support from ATTherapy.
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Guilt Says “I Did Something Bad.” Shame Says “I Am Bad.”
Understand the critical difference between guilt and shame, break the cycle of secrecy, and cultivate self-compassion with support from ATTherapy.
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A Practical Guide to Harm Reduction for Alcohol Use
Learn how to pace your drinking, avoid triggers, and protect your emotional well-being with practical guidance from ATTherapy.
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Setting Healthy Boundaries: Protecting Your Energy and Relationships
Setting healthy boundaries isn’t selfish, it’s self-care. Learn how clear limits protect your energy and strengthen your relationships, with ATTherapy.
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The Psychology of a Deadlock
Learn practical ways to overcome relationship gridlock, reframe defensive conflict, and restore forward movement with support from ATTherapy.
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The Exhaustion of ‘Fitting In’
Learn practical steps to stop performing, embrace authenticity, and build genuine relationships through compassionate support at ATTherapy.
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Why Do Children Bully?
Learn how environmental factors, social pressure, and unaddressed trauma fuel childhood bullying, and how to foster empathy, with ATTherapy.
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The Comfort of the Known: Evolutionary Psychology and Our Attraction to the Familiar
Discover how evolutionary psychology explains our attraction to the familiar, the mere-exposure effect, and how to balance comfort with growth at ATTherapy.
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Dealing with Anger Towards Your Parents as an Adult
Learn practical strategies to communicate with intention, protect your emotional well-being, and process unresolved family conflict with ATTherapy.
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Letting Go of the Need for Certainty
Discover how letting go of the need for certainty can relieve anxiety, break analysis paralysis, and help you build true resilience with ATTherapy.
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One Needs Reassurance, One Needs Room: Different Needs in a Relationship
Explore how emotional safety and autonomy shape relationships, decode the push-pull dynamic, and build deeper connection with ATTherapy.
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The Psychology of Hope
Explore the science of hope, learn the Snyder framework (Goals, Pathways, Agency), and discover how to cultivate resilience with guidance from ATTherapy.
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Making those New Year’s Resolutions Stick
Learn how to ditch willpower struggles, overcome the all-or-nothing mindset, and build habits that stick with practical insights from ATTherapy.
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Fear of the Future
Learn how to shift from ‘what if’ to ‘even if’ thinking, build resilience, and find peace in uncertain times through support from ATTherapy
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Pets are great… for your mental health
Discover how pets boost mental health, lower stress through oxytocin, and bring purpose to daily life, with compassionate support from ATTherapy.
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The Dark Does Not Destroy the Light, It Defines It
Discover why accepting both light and dark emotions leads to deeper joy, empathy, and resilience, with compassionate guidance from ATTherapy.
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Approach your Children with an attitude of Curiosity and Care
Discover practical strategies like the ‘I Wonder’ technique to handle challenging child behaviour with empathy and care through guidance from ATTherapy.
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Purpose through Intentional Living
Learn practical ways to cultivate purpose, build connection, and overcome feelings of purposelessness through compassionate support from ATTherapy.
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A Silent Epidemic: Deaths of Despair
Learn about the societal drivers of hopelessness, suicide, and addiction, and discover compassionate mental health resources at ATTherapy.
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Growth vs. Fixed Mindset
Learn how to cultivate a growth mindset, reframe challenges, and embrace self-development through expert therapeutic insights at ATTherapy.
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Using Lists To Combat Procrastination
Learn how to use structured lists to beat procrastination, manage overwhelm, and regain control of your productivity with support from ATTherapy.
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To Feel Shame Is to Be Human
Uncover the roots of shame and learn how vulnerability and connection can help you move past isolation toward self-acceptance with ATTherapy.