During lunch, a marketing manager peruses job postings on the fifth floor of a glass office tower, just beyond a reception desk that showcases framed awards. She makes a good living. Her benefits are substantial. Reputable titles abound on her LinkedIn profile. Nevertheless, she has a silent thought that she hardly ever expresses out loud as she looks at her image on the dim computer screen: she fears Monday. She reminds herself to be thankful. In today’s workplace, the word “appreciative” has become both a shield and a shackle. Gratitude is promoted almost as a corporate virtue in uncertain economies…
Author: Jack Ward
Money rarely arrives loudly in therapy offices, those quiet spaces with angled chairs, soft lamps, and a box of tissues within reach. It enters sideways. A customer casually brings up a credit card. Another makes a joke about being “bad with money,” grinning too hastily. When the invoice is brought up, a third pauses and looks down at the carpet. CategoryDetailsFieldFinancial Therapy / PsychotherapyNotable VoiceBari TesslerFocusEmotional & somatic responses to moneyCommon SymptomsAvoidance, self-blame, anxiety, dissociationTherapeutic LensTrauma-informed, attachment-based careKey ConceptSeparating self-worth from net worthReferencehttps://baritessler.com One of the least recognized but most prevalent emotions in therapy may be money shame. Bari Tessler,…
Many people thought something nearly utopian would happen when offices were cleared out in 2020. No need to commute. No fluorescent lights. No awkward silences in elevators. The idea was straightforward: people’s anxiety would decrease if they were given control over their schedules. Even so, it’s difficult to ignore the fact that the tension hasn’t gone away after a few years. Sometimes it has simply changed form. The goal of flexible work—remote, hybrid, and flextime—was to bring equilibrium back. More job flexibility is associated with less psychological distress, according to research conducted by Monica Wang at Boston University School of…
A routine takes place on a calm Tuesday night in a dimly lit apartment where the TV is humming but no one is actually watching. Someone looks at their phone. No response. The mind becomes tense. There is a late project update. The supervisor has not replied. The headache lasts a bit too long. The brain has drawn a grim future in a matter of seconds. What seems like caution might actually be something else. Psychologists refer to this cognitive tendency, which is frequently disguised as prudence, as catastrophizing. It’s difficult to overlook the irony. Seeing danger before it happens,…
Unmarked police cars rolled silently onto the Sandringham estate shortly after eight in the morning. The Norfolk fields were blanketed in a thin, pale February light. At a distance, photographers gathered, their cameras aimed at Wood Farm, the residence of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Officers in plain clothes simply stepped out and approached the house without any fanfare or shouting. The news of Britain’s former Prince Andrew’s arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office was inevitable by midday. Profile Overview – Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor CategoryDetailsFull NameAndrew Albert Christian Edward Mountbatten-WindsorFormer TitlePrince Andrew, Duke of YorkBornFebruary 19, 1960Age at Arrest66Alleged OffenceSuspected misconduct in…
A practice nurse, with sleeves rolled up and a vaccine tray balanced on a stainless-steel trolley, moves briskly between cubicles in a small general practitioner’s office in Kent on a chilly January morning. The waiting area has a slight disinfectant and wet coat odor. In plastic chairs, patients—older couples, parents with young children—check their phones for appointment times. It’s a familiar rhythm. Effective. Nearly imperceptible. Something is straining, though, behind that rhythm. According to a warning from the British Medical Association, if funding doesn’t increase, some general practitioner practices might stop participating in the flu vaccination campaign next winter. A…
At a networking event held on a rooftop in London during the autumn of last year, a woman, while wearing a navy blazer, balanced a glass of white wine while responding to the question that was bound to be asked: “So, what do you do?” She responded with ease, being the head of strategy at a rapidly expanding technology company. Immediate action was taken in response. Those who are impressed nod. The questions that follow up. She is being drawn closer to the center of the circle by the force of social gravity. Then, someone inquired about her activities outside…
You can still find the champagne glasses sitting on the counter in the kitchen. We are still receiving messages of congratulations, which are lighting up the phone. A promotion has been secured, a company has been sold, a book has been published, and a goal that has been fought for a very long time has finally been accomplished. Observing it from the outside, it appears to be arrival. Inside, there is a feeling that is… off. There is a possibility that the most disorienting aspect of success is not the ascent itself, but rather the silence that has followed it.…