A full audience of TAP members and guests attended to Paul Sunderland’s most engaging presentation ‘Introduction to modern addictions’; held in the contemplative setting of the Friends Meeting House in Taunton.

With 30 years’ experience of working, researching and managing in the field of addictions, Paul provided many thought provoking insights into addiction; possible origins, treatment process and the place of the therapist.

He provided an introduction to conditions of substance misuse, finance, couple relationships, romance, love and sex addiction.  It was fascinating to learn of the basic criteria that define and describe addiction as a disease and how these symptoms are shared with a wide range of compulsion processes.

There is a preoccupation, a loss of control; abstinence, tolerance, withdrawal and impact of functioning, possibly leading to symptoms of depression and anxiety, relational and legal issues – all amounting to a ‘full time job’.

Addition can be described as a ‘migrating disease’, often showing up as a dis-ease in other areas of life.

Treatment approaches begin with addictions of ingestion, abstinence, the disease process and the underlying trauma, or dis-ease. Group therapy as well as individual has been found to be effective in treatment and we heard how ‘people get well in counter-transference’.

Therapists may remind themselves that in order to be effective and compassionate require three basic elements: learning. Supervision and work on themselves.

Paul referred to addictive experience as ‘a thing’. Individuals are not bad, or weak, but primarily unwell. Behind it all tend to lay negative cognitions and un-thought knowns. The limbic brain stores trauma. There is a suggestion that we have many brains and that in the case of addictive conditions, the limbic brain acts before the frontal cortex has a chance.

‘You can’t change what you don’t know’.

Psychotherapy and counselling aid and support the knowing.

A vote of thanks on behalf of the TAP Council, members and guests was followed by copious applause and no doubt, plenty to think about.

Feedback showed that over 90% of attendees thought both the workshop and Paul Sunderland as speaker were 'Excellent'.

On 15 September the greatly anticipated presentation by Cathy Towers entitled `Filthy Lucre – Therapists Relationship with Money` took place at the Friends Meeting House, Taunton and as expected attracted a large audience.   Cathy is a Workshop Leader and Speaker and Mind and Body Therapist with over 30 years experience and is based in the Exmouth area.

Cathy began her talk with a classic pop song extolling the virtues of money and with the distribution of chocolate coins.  This quickly moved into Freud’s obsession with his poorhouse neurosis and his strict viewpoint on charging for his services.  The audience heard how in modern times, the therapist’s relationship with money is often fraught and so requires the therapist to make decisions on charging based on a clear, coherent and consistent rational.   

Cathy explained how she used to rent out rooms to therapists, only to find that they would put in their leaflets and just wait for something to happen.  Because they had not addressed the issue of marketing or constructed a viable business plan, many of these enterprises were doomed to failure.  With quite a brave change of policy, Cathy began to turn down many of the applications for rooms and instead started to have people that she felt had thoroughly researched their venture.  However this initially resulted in a drastic plummeting of her income.

The question of a free counselling service was addressed and the audience heard how at one point Cathy worked for such an agency.   Even though there was no charge, attendance was poor with only 70% of clients actually keeping their appointments.  This changed significantly however, when a fee was introduced and attendance increased to 90%.  This shift appears to indicate the lack of accountability attached to pro bona work.

Interacting with the audience, Cathy explored attitudes to money and found it can represent success, freedom and can enhance self esteem.  The downside was seen as shame, either at having too much or too little.  The talk concluded with the audience dividing themselves into three groups – those who regard themselves as charging averagely, higher than average and those below the average.   This exercise, although light-hearted, focused many on their own charging structure.

Tea and coffee was served following a vote of thanks by TAP Council member David Trott and a warm round of applause acknowledged an enjoyable and educational presentation by Cathy. 

The next TAP Talk takes place on Friday 20 October when Lisa Foote speaks on the subject of `Looking Beyond labels – Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder.  However, before then TAP has a Saturday workshop on 7 October when Paul Sunderland presents `An Introduction to Modern Addictions: The Financial, Work, Sex and Love Addictions. How do they work and how can we treat them?  To book a place at this rare event, please phone 01823 661601 

TAP members and guests gathered at the Friends Meeting House in Taunton on Friday 16th June 2017 to hear a thoroughly engaging presentation: ‘A new approach to healing the past.  An introduction to Pesso Boyden psychotherapy.’
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The presenter was Matthew Harwood, a Jungian psychotherapist in private practice in Bath and Bristol. He enviably trained at the CG Jung Institute in Zurich. More recently he has undertaken training on Pesso Boyden Psychotherapy and Internal Family Systems (IFS).

Matthew described having a healing experience during a CPD Pesso Boyden workshop and was inspired to develop his knowledge and application.

Pesso Boyden therapy began life thanks to Albert Pesso and Diane Boyden, a married couple from the USA, now sadly deceased.  Interestingly they were originally both dancers and then dance teachers. It became apparent to them that some dancers appeared blocked from performing a full range of movements, hampered by past trauma.

The approach is not well known in the UK, but the couple developed and evolved the approach over 50 years, together and then just Albert after his wife died.

So, what is the aim of Pesso Boyden Psychotherapy?  In keeping with other approaches;  ‘to help us become who we really are.’

Mainly a group work approach differing significantly from other therapy group processes, it concentrates on an individual in the group, with other members role playing and bearing witness to the evolution of healing the individual’s past.

The approach can be used in a one to one setting too, although slightly less common, with the facilitator assuming the witness roles.

The audience was fascinated by a series of chronological video clips charting the process in action.

It is generally accepted that the roots of trauma lie in early life and we are born with a genetic expectation that our basic needs will be met by  loving care givers. The Peso Boyden approach works towards supplementing memory experiences, not cancellations. It is the protagonist that does the work.

The speaker emphasised to the audience that the best way to understand Pesso Boyden, is to have the experience.

An engaged and enthusiastic audience was represented by a vote of thanks on behalf of the TAP Committee.

The next TAP Talk takes place after our summer break, on 15th September 2017, when psychotherapist Cathy Towers will speak on the subject 'Filthy Lucre - Therapists' Relationship with Money'.

The Taunton Association for Psychotherapy  annual conference was held on Saturday 18th March, with the title “Cutting Edge Connections Between Spirituality and Psychotherapy.’ Both these disciplines involve an investigation into what gives individuals meaning and purpose. In recent years the overlaps between the two have attracted more interest than was the case even thirty years ago.

In 1999 the Royal College of Psychiatry -a scientific body-formed a Special Interest Group (SIG) on spirituality and today it is the largest SIG. Mental health and spirituality used to separate and now there is more recognition of their connections. One of our speakers, Larry Culliford, who is both a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist, played a part in setting it up.

Other developments in the wider world have caused some re-assessment of that split. Near Death Experiences, of which we now have thousands of accounts, point to the possibility of consciousness existing apart from the brain. 

Secondly, consciousness is thought by some scientists to be a factor in quantum physics in ways which are not yet fully understood.

The conference speakers addressed the relevance of the subject to practitioners.

The first speaker was Melody Cranbourne-Rosser, recent Chair of the Spirituality division of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, and a Senior Lecturer at the University of South Wales. Her presentation was called ‘Spirituality; Necessity or Nonsense.’ She explored the difficulties of defining the term, which involves the relationship to one’s inner self and reaches beyond the self and others in the transcendent realms of experience. She drew attention to the recent research; particularly the benefits of spirituality to mental health. There is, however, also a down side, such as the effects of ‘spiritual abuse’  experienced by some people in cults for example.

Spiritual expression can take many forms ranging from acts of compassion and yoga to meditation or faith based activities. It can take an important role at the end of life and it is important  that psychiatric and medical staff are sensitive to the religious, cultural and spiritual needs of a diverse population. It is important to engage with the whole person but there is still a way to go before it becomes generally accepted.

Larry Culliford gave a rich presentation and tackled several forms which we can only indicate here. One was the role of suffering and the process of healing and growth. Secondly, he explained the research of James Fowler’s stages of faith and how it can change from simple responses to spiritual maturity and the problems of transition between the stages. Some of the fruits of spiritual maturity include living spontaneously and compassionately, putting values about material gain, an acceptance of people on the same path but from a different tradition. a sense of harmony and other things. It is a journey, not a destination. 

The speaker presentations are available to download from our Annual Conference page HERE.

Our thanks to all the participants and those behind the scenes who helped make the day run smoothly. The subject for next year's conference is already under discussion, and if you have any thoughts please do get in touch. 

On 20 January, TAP Council member Andrew Wilcox welcomed fellow members and guests to the first talk of the New Year with the exciting news that tickets for the TAP Conference on 18 March at Taunton Racecourse were selling fast.  Outlining the excellent speakers that are attending and the sumptuous lunch that will be provided, Andrew shared with the audience TAP’s Council’s belief that the conference was on track to be an outstanding occasion.

The evening’s presentation was given by Dr Damian McCann and was entitled `Exploring the dilemmas of disclosure in 'coming out' in family, couple relationships and in therapy`  Damian is a  Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist working as Head of Clinical Services at the Tavistock Centre, London and works with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual clients.  The audience heard how there is a clear distinction between `coming out` and `being out` but both positions can still carry social stigma which in turn can attract discrimination even from one’s own family. 

With the aid of slides, Dr McCann explained that often an individual may have suffered so much anxiety, guilt and shame that they reach a breaking point where they no longer want to hide an essential part of themselves.   `Coming out` is said to an evolutionary process and not a single goal oriented event and is considered a psychologically healthy state for individuals as well as an important developmental task for the well-being of the individual’s future relationships and the identity of the self.

Damian’s presentation moved into ethical dilemmas, which gave the audience the chance to think hard about what they would do in these situations and how they might be taken to supervision.  This interesting and highly informative evening was rounded off by TAP’s council members serving hot beverages and biscuits.
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The next TAP talk will take place on 17 February when Farhad Dalal presents `The relational and the analytic: an inquiry into Practice`.  This talk will examine the two paradigms of ‘analytical’ and ‘relational’ and raise questions of `kind` and `degree`.  All are very welcome.

​David Trott, TAP Council Member

by Ian Stevenson

This year's TAP Conference, which takes place on 18th March, is headlined Cutting Edge Connections between Spirituality and Psychotherapy and features top speakers Melody Cranborne Rosser and Larry Culliford. (Find out more and book HERE) But what do we mean by 'cutting edge'? Here long-time TAP Council member Ian Stevenson puts forward his thoughts....

What is 'cutting edge spirituality'? It’s a good question. Just before the last OFSTED inspection I had to endure, the Head shared a worry. “In the last inspection, the lay assessor said he saw little spirituality in the school. What did he mean and how can we improve on it?’

There were various answers: ‘a sense of awe’ said the Head of Science, who was a churchgoer;  a sense of community; having prayers in Assembly (we didn’t do that very often) and encouraging moral behaviour. Personally, I think we have other words for these things. To me, spirituality implies something meta-physical, something beyond the material world. (As it turned out, it was not commented on in the inspection.)

Is Spirituality just a nice idea or do we have reasons for thinking it is more than that?
In my youth, 1960s, spirituality more or less equaled religion. When, as a new teacher, we took information on pupils for registers there was a box marked religion. Many children said, ‘I’ll have to ask.’ I was told, if uncertain, ‘Church of England’ would do! 

Religion was something you believed in or not. There were a few who looked for a more empirical approach. The Society for Psychic Research, which goes back to 1882, investigated supernatural, or in more modern terms, para-normal phenomena. Despite a vast amount of data, few educated people gave it much credence. The end of the sixties did see what was dubbed “the New Age’, which was a bottom up exploration of new ideas in psychology and science blended with old teachings from around the world such as Buddhism. It ranged from the ridiculous to high philosophy. Carl Jung, who died in 1961, was the most quoted psychologist but there were others such as Maslow or Grof. However, the ‘New Age’ thinking was largely ignored by the educational and religious establishments even though ‘New Age’ books sold well. It was also ignored by the scientific world although meditation and yoga became popular albeit usually justified by its therapeutic properties.

New ideas often infiltrate themselves into public acceptance as the older generation passes on and a new generation looks for different answers to perennial questions. There were more university educated people looking for meaning and now they could glean information from a wide range of available resources thanks to modern communications. New leaders began to emerge.

For the last thirty years the Dalai Lama (who has endorsed one of our speakers’ -Larry Culliford-books) has held a conference at Dharamsala or elsewhere with  Western scientists and they discuss their understandings of such subjects as meditation and  neuroscience; the role of emotions, and the interface between modern physics and ancient wisdom. When they started, the Dalai Lama said if they showed something that Buddhism believed to be scientifically wrong, then Buddhism wold have to change. In fact they didn’t find anything.

In 1973 Dr Edgar Mitchell, the Apollo 14 astronaut, founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences. On the way back from the Moon, he had an experience of being part of ‘Universe of Consciousness’. Noetic means using intuitive knowledge. Together with the scientific (left brain?) approach, the Institute  addresses the questions raised by the experience. He felt it could bring about a deeper understanding of who we really are and would help to bring people together.

In that same year, 1973,  In Britain, George Blaker and several others founded the Scientific and Medical Network. They thought that neither orthodox religion nor conventional science could give adequate answers to ‘the mysteries of he Cosmos’. The materialist explanation of the brain didn’t seem to explain a lot of things. The SMN has numbered such people as -Dr. Mary Midgeley , Sir John Polkinghorn, Sir Crispin Tickell, Sir Roger Penrose and …me (to dilute it a bit )!
In 1999 Dr.Antony Powell at the Royal College of Psychiatrists formed a special interest group on Spirituality. Other groups include  working with the elderly or in criminality. Today it is the largest special interest group and one can read their newsletter on the web. Our speaker, Larry Culliford was part of this.

I would also include Dr.Gary Schwatrz’s research in the US. We have probably seen on TV , Darren Browne who describes himself as a ‘mentalist’. He says he can replicate the results achieved by mediums and clairvoyants by using techniques such as cold reading. Schwartz put the mediums and the ‘sitters’ in  different rooms where they could see or hear each other, and the mediums continued to get results. I have given a talk on this in Bristol. The work is criticised by some but I thought the criticisms were generalities and did not address the points raised. 

So what has emerged to engage these very distinguished people? I could suggest several things but there are two main ones: the ability to investigate the brain in greater depth e.g. with fMRI, and the implications of that such as the near death experiences ; 2) the greater understanding of quantum physics and how that relates to consciousness.
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Some quantum physicists see consciousness as a fundamental property of the universe and not something produced by the brain, but rather mediated by it as a radio is not the origin of a program but the medium by which we hear it. This would imply we do indeed swim like fish in an ocean of consciousness.

These are raise exciting and fundamental  questions as to who we really are but one may ask; what has this to do with counselling and psychotherapy? We do things like finding out what is of meaning to our clients and helping them to have a better relationship with themselves and live more resourcefully. But what could a study of spirituality add?

This was a question when we first had brain scanning equipment. How would knowing which parts of the brain ‘light up’ when we experience certain emotions, actually influence therapy. But I think many would answer it has been , for many, a useful contribution. We gain a better understanding of who we are.

I suggest there are several areas it could influence.

We can look at evidence for a metaphysical ( beyond or above ) dimension and not just take it on faith. Of course, there are persuasive people who argue the opposite, like Daniel Dennett, but we have evidence we can assess, rather than believe it or not.

Our sense of connection with the wider universe. This is the traditional area of religion and philosophy, where the field of universal consciousness, or whatever you wish to call it,    might influence us giving meaning and purpose to our lives. The study could enable one to see the different religions as tributaries flowing into a common stream. Surely of use  in the modern world?

Spirituality suggests we are not separate collections of neutrons but individuals as having a part in the universe, and  relationships with others and the natural world. 

To end on a personal note, when I look at the neurological information and the ethics of spirituality in their several forms, I am reminded of  Paul Gilbert’s Compassion Focused Therapy which we heard so ably presented by Dr. Christopher Irons in the 2013 conference . Those concepts have enhanced my practice. 

One doesn’t need to accept all the concepts I’ve outlined here in order to derive some benefit from the study. My hope is that the conference won’t just be the delivery of information on the day but an encouragement to find out more.

We would love to know what you think - please do post comment below.