A good night’s sleep has positive effects for us all, but in modern times with pressurised schedules this is an aspect of our daily living which may not be prioritised. Springtime is an ideal time to kick start some new sleep habits with a view to boosting your sleep, or just trying something new. 1. If possible, avoid using electronic devices at bedtime. 2. If possible, avoid using electronic devices through the night. 3. Set an ideal sleep time and try to loosely plan around it. 4. Check that your […] The post How To Give Yourself a Springtime Sleep Boost In Ten Steps first appeared on The H ..read more

Don’t Be Put Off by First Impressions The new series of Love Island started last week and with it some quite strong opinions based on first impressions of the Islanders. People can be quick to judge and judge harshly those that put themselves out there. These young people with their bravado and bikinis, who are still working out who they are and how they want to be, can become easy targets for the anger and frustration that some of us hold on to for other things in our lives. I […] The post Why You Should Watch Love Island – Bravado And Bikinis first appeared on The Harley Psychology & The ..read more

I was invited to join a book club recently, and the first book on our reading list was Spare, Prince Harry’s memoire. Before anyone had picked up the book there was outrage among some of the members, who refused to read it, to come to the first meeting even. The person who had chosen the book felt she had to justify her choice, stating it was a “guilty pleasure” something we knew we shouldn’t do but all secretly wanted to. How have we got here? Analysis shows that Meghan gets […] The post Why Do We Love To Hate Harry And Meghan? first appeared on The Harley Psychology & Therapy Group ..read more

Back to Work Blues The majority of the working population has started going back to work at some stage this week. And if you were amongst that group of people, you most likely felt a little bit sad and miserable about it… Feeling blue when going back to work after holidays is a recognised phenomenon and has been variously named ‘post-vacation hangover’, or ‘back to work blues’ – the internet has been full of memes about returning to work this week, and it’s been trending on twitter under #backtoworkblues. Symptoms […] The post Back To Work Blues first appeared on The Harley Psychology & Th ..read more

When we are faced with something new or unfamiliar our threat or fight/flight response kicks in.  We have evolved to respond in this way, it’s a survival strategy, if we aren’t sure what awaits us, nature believes it is best to expect and prepare for the worst: In the days when we might have found ourselves foraging for food, if a nearby bush rustled it was best to assume there was a predator lying in wait and run, if we were wrong all that was lost was some foraging time.  […] The post Coping With Back To School Anxiety first appeared on The Harley Psychology & Therapy Group ..read more

Dry January is a Bad Idea! At a glance it seems that giving up alcohol for a whole month, especially after the excesses of Christmas, is a good idea.  However, on closer inspection is it possible that this recently popular way of dealing with January is just another version of the feast or famine approach to life that we seem so drawn to. As a society our relationship with alcohol is far from ideal.  Its social acceptability has allowed many of us to fall into the trap of ‘using’ it […] The post Dry January Is a Bad Idea! first appeared on The Harley Psychology & Therapy Group ..read more

Dear Dr Gray, I am worried that there is something wrong with me. I really didn’t enjoy Christmas, if I’m honest, I never do. I am surrounded by my family, have time off work and pretty much spend the whole time counting the days until I can return to normality. This makes me feel really depressed, everyone else is having a wonderful time and spends all year looking forward to it and I dread it then spend the time feeling depressed and anxious that I am not like everyone else. […] The post Christmas Has Made Me Depressed first appeared on The Harley Psychology & Therapy Group ..read more

Challenges to our mental health seem to be a part of life, a part of life with an important function. These challenges create the opportunity to learn, to develop, to evolve. The suffering that they involve providing the impetus for that development. However, there is a line past which these challenges create more suffering than is, useful. So, I’m going to tweak the question slightly and ask instead, how do we stay the right side of this line, the side where we are able to live in a world that […] The post Can You Prevent Mental Health Problems? first appeared on The Harley Psychology & T ..read more

For most of us she has been the Queen for our whole life and as a result and without us knowing it, she will have been one of the most consistent parts of that life. Liz Truss said that she was the ‘rock upon which modern Britain was built’ but maybe this under states who the Queen was for us and what it means now that she has left us. Personal views on the monarchy are a separate issue. Have you ever used money that didn’t have the Queen on […] The post Queen Elizabeth II – Our Great Loss first appeared on The Harley Psychology & Therapy Group ..read more

It seems that heatwaves are becoming more and more common, and with them, the warnings about their potential danger to health. You might think this just refers to physiological issues such as heatstroke and dehydration, but for some people, especially those with pre-existing psychiatric conditions, the mental impact can also be profound. How hot weather impacts mental health The increasing prominence of heatwaves has led to scientists researching a possible heatwave and mental health link. Every time there is a heatwave, it seems that hospitals experience an uptick in patients […] The post Do ..read more