Patrick is a respected and qualified therapist. He publishes monthly articles in the Westmeath Examiner. Have a look through some of his articles here.
Get the most out of your day Whether you are considering or wanting to change something about your current lifestyle the following tips may be useful. Starting your day off right is an important step for how you feel about the rest of the day. Try to eat a light nutritional breakfast and take five…
Self-esteem/Self-acceptance My View of Myself Self-esteem is made up of factors such as self-worth, self-competence, and self-acceptance. When a person is severely or chronically depressed their self-esteem is diminished. Part of the difficulty with depression is that one perceives everything from the dark or negative side and this offers little hope of change. This affects…
Assert Yourself-Be Confident To assert oneself is to express a message of confidence. Non-verbal behaviours are as important as verbalising your assertiveness. The signals that a person sends, as well as receives, are crucial to the success of assertive communication. Non-verbal cues include eye contact, body posture, personal space, gestures, and facial expressions, tone of…
Anger management Anger is a normal, healthy emotion. When it is expressed appropriately you are letting go of the stress and frustration that you are experiencing, and those around you understand and accept that you are upset. When anger is expressed inappropriately with blame and aggression it can be a destructive force- both to the…
Fatigue or Sleep Deprivation There is a strong relationship between fatigue and sleep deprivation to severe difficulty coping. Sometimes the inability to cope results in suicidal thoughts. If you are experiencing either or both of these issues try to get help. Consult with your doctor and if possible try and contact a counsellor/psychotherapist. Tell your…
Low Mood or Depression? Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just to take the first step. (Martin Luther King Jr.) Depression is a common human experience. Many people will at some time in their life experience depression. One of the first signs can be a lack of…
A word from Charlie Charlie Chaplin wrote this poem about self-love, on his 70th birthday (April 16th 1959). As I Begin to Love Myself As I begin to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth. Today I know this as “AUTHENTICITY”.…
Emotional intelligence Emotional intelligence is an important role in our personal and professional success. Some of the central qualities that make up emotional intelligence are self-awareness in relation to the ability to recognise a feeling as it happens and an increased awareness and understanding of “gut feeling”. You need to be able to take responsibility…
What is Mental Health? Mental health is a level of psychological well-being .It is the mental health state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment. Mental health may include an individual’s ability to enjoy life, and create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience.…
Watch out for stress? Stress is the body’s physical, emotional, and psychological response to any demand. It is generally perceived mentally as pressure or urgency to respond, which is experienced as mental strain. Stress is associated with the more primitive survival “fight” or “flight” response. When confronted with danger, the body responds physiologically with the…