The Therapy Journal
This is where psychotherapy steps out of the session and into conversation. From our defences that shape our daily lives to the emotions that drive our choices, these pieces explore the human mind through a psychodynamic lens.
Whether clinical or cultural, every post asks the same question: what happens when we stop avoiding our feelings?
Where therapy meets everyday life…
What Cures in Therapy Is Truth…
Psychodynamic therapist Rick Cox explains why insight alone doesn't heal. Discover how embracing emotional truth and confronting unconscious conflict (often avoided by shame and anxiety) is the core mechanism of ISTDP-informed change and the beginning of emotional freedom.
The Man in Black: How Johnny Cash (and My Therapy Uniform) Teach Us About Containment
Psychodynamic therapist Rick Cox explores containment in therapy, linking his trademark professional attire to the clinical lessons of therapy. Discover how a therapist's steady presence creates the safety needed to face anxiety and overcome emotional avoidance.
The Song That Saves You: What Johnny Cash Can Teach Us About Authenticity in Therapy
Psychodynamic therapist Rick Cox uses the when Johnny Cash met Sam Phillips Walk the Line scene to illustrate why authentic expression cures. Learn how ISTDP-informed challenges encourage clients past emotional avoidance to discover the emotional truth needed for long-term change.
The Therapy FAD? Rethinking our Feelings, Anxiety and Defences Across Modalities
Every client’s struggle follows the same human sequence: feelings trigger anxiety, and anxiety triggers defences. The “Therapy FAD” reframes this not as pathology, but as survival. When therapists learn to read defences as signals of unprocessed feeling, and regulate anxiety rather than chase thoughts, therapy becomes a space for transformation, not resistance.
From Pain to Possibility: What Nine Inch Nails: The Downward Spiral Teaches Us About Being Human
Psychodynamic therapist Rick Cox analyses the album The Downward Spiral to explore shame, trauma, and emotional avoidance. Learn how facing these core psychological fears is the only path to emotional integration and freedom
Why Therapy? The Real Question Nobody Asks
Psychodynamic therapist Rick Cox explains that therapy's true goal is building emotional capacity. Learn how ISTDP-informed depth work helps you face difficult feelings without collapsing into defences or letting anxiety keep you stuck.
The Power of Coming Back: Lewis Capaldi, Vulnerability, and the Quiet Strength of Resilience
Resilience rarely arrives with noise or drama. It grows quietly, moment by moment, through support, honesty, and courage. Watching Lewis Capaldi return to the stage after facing his mental health challenges was a moving reminder that what heals us in therapy is what heals us in life: connection, patience, and belief in ourselves.