The false self
12 December 2020
All of us have a persona - by which I mean the ‘social self’, or the part of us that we project out into the world and which people who don’t know us well will recognise. That’s not a problem.
What is a problem is when we have become identified with a false self. This is a concept developed by British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, who argued that the false self develops when we have not been accepted for who are as infants. We have learned that we need to be a certain way in order to be accepted by those around us, especially parents. This is called a narcissistic wound and it relates to our deep sense of self.
Living with the long-term effects of cancer
9 November 2020
It’s often really hard for people who have had cancer to accept, and talk about, the longer-term effects of the disease and its treatment.
In many ways this is a taboo subject - the medical profession, friends and family usually expect the person who has been treated to be ‘grateful’ about the ‘ success’ of the treatment and to return to their normal life.
Yet psychologist Cordelia Galgut points out in her book, Living with the Long-term Effects of Cancer, that life after cancer is often extremely challenging psychologically and physically.
The importance of of the ‘wild man’ archetype
18 October 2020
Many men have lost their ‘wild man’. What do I mean by this? I’m talking about the part of men that symbolises passion, wildness, strength, aggression. It is often seen as men’s darker side, but while this energy can potentially be destructive it also contains many positives.
It may seem strange to promote this idea when we see all the damage that violent or domineering men have caused in the world.
But when I’m talking about the importance of the wild man energy I’m not talking about toxic masculinity, in which men oppress or bully others, but rather a healthy connection to the internal life force that enables a man to hold boundaries, not be pushed around, give up being a people pleaser.
