“You’re overthinking it.” It’s one of those phrases that most of us have either heard or said. Usually, it’s offered with kindness. We don’t like seeing people we care about feeling anxious, caught in circles of uncertainty or unable to make a decision. Telling someone they’re overthinking can feel reassuring, almost like an invitation to put the problem down. Lately,…

August has a way of asking us whether we’re happy. Perhaps it’s the holidays, the long evenings or the endless photographs of people making memories in the sunshine. There seems to be an unspoken expectation that this is the season to enjoy ourselves, to make the most of life and, somehow, to have the evidence to prove it. I’ve been…

Maternal Mental Health Month tends to bring a particular kind of conversation into focus, although it is often not the one that gets said directly. What I find myself noticing, both in practice and more generally, is how quickly people begin to measure themselves against an idea of how this period is supposed to feel, and how easily that comparison…