Guy Butterworth Counselling
COUNSELLING & PSYCHOTHERAPY FROM EAST LONDON
Thoughts on ‘Dopamine Nation’.
There can be an element of pleasure-seeking in different types of problematic behaviour. That can be to do with the pleasure response from eating, using drugs and alcohol, or from collecting things. That last one is part of my own personal experience. Anyway, Dr. Anna Lembke's book gives clear examples of how our brain chemistry […]
Expectations
Yes, that image is from the far inferior version of the cover art for the Rolling Stones' 'Beggars Banquet' LP, and I prefer the 'party invitation' sleeve variant by far, with the bacchanalian colourised image inside, but it's a good song from a great album, and it relates to my thoughts for this post. […]
Dropping the Disorder
Over the last few years I've read several PCCS books that focus on what is referred to as the 'medicalisation' of distress. This is where the pharmaceutical industry has aligned with modern psychiatry to create a list of diseases that are supposed to help us understand our difficult feelings and experiences. 'Drop the Disorder […]
Guidance for Psychological Therapists
When I became aware of this book, it made me think about the clients with whom I've worked over the years, who have been given psychiatric medication, and not been told how long they should expect to use it for. I decided that while I'm not trained to be able to either diagnose or prescribe, it might be useful for some of my clients to be able to talk to me about the impact that their medication has on them, and what it might be like for them to reduce their use of that medication.
I've read a number of PCCS books, and I have a couple more on my reading pile to get through. On the PCCS site it states that 'this guidance seeks to provide such support in two distinct ways: firstly, it aims to support therapists in deepening their knowledge and reflection on working with the said client group. Secondly, it invites therapists to familiarise themselves with core issues relating to the role of psychiatric drugs in therapy.'
I would say that following my reading this book I now have a much clearer understanding of some of the medication that my clients, and sometimes their family members, are using, and what the impacts of that medication is. I think that I am now more capable of having conversations around medication with clients, while being clear about the risks of reducing medication, and clear about the limits of my own competence as a counsellor, not a medical professional.