by Bill Sheate
What are your dreams and expectation of university?
As the 2024-25 academic year begins you may be embarking on your dream course, or maybe you have all sorts of expectations of what university life will be like. Give yourself time to settle in, make friends, socialise - your social network (and by that I mean in-real-life friends and colleagues!) will provide you with the base from which to celebrate the good stuff and cope with the problems in life.
Here are a few of the common issues many students find can end up occupying their time more than they would want ........ [Read more]
by Bill Sheate
The ‘stickiness’ of labels…..
When we’re looking at anxiety or low mood, low self-worth or depression there is a wide range of so-called ‘disorders’ that can be found when searching the internet to try to self-diagnose, as many people will do. DSM 5 - the American Psychological Association (APA) diagnostic reference manual - lists a very long list of disorders and this list has grown with each update to the DSM over the decades, as more issues become classified or re-classified.
For some, getting a diagnosis of a specific disorder is key for opening up treatment and resolution, for example it may confirm something they have long wondered about. But for others, labelling something as a disorder can be a barrier to resolution……… [Read more]
by Bill Sheate
A 2 hour personalised, individual session on exam stress - now available for May and June 2019 only
Stressed out by exams?
Worried; wracked by self-doubt?
Tired from revision, but can't sleep?
Fearful; anxious about the outcome?
I'm offering - for a limited period only - a 2-hour one-off, personalised, individual session on exam stress at a highly discounted special student fee of £60 for the full 120-minute session. ……. read more
by Bill Sheate
Why do we seek the unattainable?
The search for perfection can be found throughout everyday life: the desire to be a perfect student, parent, child, lover, athlete, cook; to have the perfect life, body, relationship, and so on. Advertisers use perfection to sell cosmetics, fashion, body image, affecting women's and men's sense of self-worth as they compare themselves to unattainable perfection. 'Comparisonitis' invariably co-exists with perfectionism as the perfectionist constantly compares themselves to others who seem to have it all………
by Bill Sheate
Building good mental health while doing a PhD
Studying for a PhD can be demanding, challenging, sometimes exhilarating and sometimes deeply stressful. Starting out on a PhD is like no other academic study you will have done before. On the one hand you seem to have a long time ahead of you to get things done, and on the other milestones, deadlines and sometimes competing demands create pressures that you never faced as an undergraduate, on a Masters programme or even in an outside working environment……..
by Bill Sheate
What do we mean by self-awareness?
Increasingly educational psychology recognises the importance of students developing self-awareness competency - the ability to reflect on one’s own role in society, to be able to evaluate one’s actions and to deal with one’s emotions and desires.
Typically, this involves five key aspects: ……..
