You’ve heard all the cliches about ageing. You know the ones – when you get older you’ll be frail and helpless, grumpy and depressed, alone and lonely. Of course those cliches are rarely true! Older people have well established and enjoyable social and family contacts, and in general have even less depressive or anxious symptoms […]
There is something that can be quite excruciating about the ending of a human life through suicide, particularly for those of us fortunate enough to have had emotional support or professional help to get us through difficult times. The suffering and waste of potential is tragic and even more tragic is the knowledge, after the […]
Most people have similar goals in life such as health, prosperity, sound career prospects, rewarding personal and family relationships, leisure pursuits, religious or spiritual experiences. The way in which these goals are approached differs with each individual, but the principles are much the same. An effective individual, relaxed and enjoying the pursuit of these goals, […]
Research shows that nicotine addiction is one of the hardest dependencies to kick, on a par with narcotics, so anyone who has taken up the challenge to stop smoking should be supported at every turn by those around them. They will need all the encouragement they can get. However, one of the things that will […]
Relationships are one of the richest and most rewarding experiences of the human journey, but they can also be one of the most difficult. There are so many intricacies involved and so many personality variations that we are really not aware of as we move through the experience, that if it all goes wrong, our […]
Creating and sustaining relationships is one of the most rewarding of all human endeavours. However, it is also one of the most difficult. As infants, we start learning about relationships from the people closest to us, and the quality of those early relationships set the pattern for our interactions with others as adults. As we […]
Australia is one of the most multi-cultural countries in the world, with people from over 200 countries calling it home, and sharing their language and cultural practices with indigenous Australians, and the descendants of the first settlers from the British Isles and later Europe. It is therefore inevitable, given the extraordinary diversity of this cultural […]
The human journey offers many opportunities to experience the whole range of emotions available to human beings, from ecstatic happiness and joy through to abject fear, grief and despair. Most of us at some stage will feel some, if not all of these emotions, and while life would be much easier if there were no […]
In this current liberal social environment, there are very few subjects that most people won’t tackle in general conversation. People now talk openly about topics that would only have been whispered about a few years ago, and certainly not raised in mixed gender group discussions. Social issues such as sexual assault, violence against women, incest, […]
There are a million ways that people can be brought down by society and made to feel less than they are as human beings. Violence in the home or on the streets, bullying and intimidation at work or in important relationships, blows to self confidence from real or perceived incidents are just some of what […]
