Tonight On… Misogyny Island… 1960’s Attitudes

Maybe it’s just me, but this year has seemed more bizarre and misogynistic than ever on the annual visit to Love Island. From the start the language used has been more reminiscent of Michael Cain’s infamous ‘Alfie’ of the 1960’s, with women being called ‘Birds’ and...
Women and Risk

Women and Risk

(Based on an online talk given to the Royal London Group’s Women’s Network on 16.11.21) Women have got bad press when it comes to taking risks: they are seen generally as being wary, more cautious, and less adventurous. Yet, look back and you’ll see many women...
Lockdown Easing – a piece of cake, or the need for peace?

Lockdown Easing – a piece of cake, or the need for peace?

Corinne will be speaking online at the Oundle Literary Festival, 13th May 2021: https://oundlelitfest.org.uk/events/corinne-sweet-everyday-self-care-for-busy-lives-series/. Over the past year, plunged deep into a pandemic, many of us have dreamt of the moment when we...
Beat Blue Monday

Beat Blue Monday

Yesterday was Blue Monday.  I’ve been on BBC Radio Kent talking about it from a psychological perspective.   Since 2005, it’s been calculated that this is a day when we feel most gloomy, down and depressed.  The party is over (Christmas and New Year – well,...
Learning to Lose

Learning to Lose

My mother was a bad loser. I remember her pushing me backwards into a bed of nettles when I beat her once at tennis.  I was eleven.  She could not bear to lose and stormed off, racket in hand, leaving me floundering and stinging.     Like Trump, my mother...
Change Your Expectations to Find Christmas Cheer

Change Your Expectations to Find Christmas Cheer

I’ve been on BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Kent in the last two days, talking about our ‘great expectations’ for this coming Christmas.  After the Victoria Derbyshire comments about wanting to break the Covid-19 rules at Christmas, the airwaves have been quivering with...
The Addictive Pull of the Lockdown

The Addictive Pull of the Lockdown

The current lockdown is challenging us in so many ways psychologically and emotionally.  The stress of not being able to do what you want, when you want, or to simply go out and stay out, see people, have fun, and do all the things you usually do, is taking its toll....
Keep Calm and Don’t Catastrophise

Keep Calm and Don’t Catastrophise

For the past few years ‘Keep Calm And Carry On” has been reprised.  The old 2nd World War slogan has had a second life in our techno-hectic zeitgeist.  The slogan is on mugs, socks, cards, towels, t-shirts, exhorting us to calm down everywhere we are.   However,...
The Dark Side of Covid: Attacked at Ally Pally Lake

The Dark Side of Covid: Attacked at Ally Pally Lake

At 6.30pm on Friday 27th March 2020, I had just finished a long day of writing and working with psychotherapy clients online.  I decided my reward was my favourite daily allowed walk to my local park, Alexandra Palace, to look at the ducks.   I’d been...