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…
The Unseen Battle: What Netflix’s Stranger Things 5 Teaches Us About Trauma, Shame, and the Inner Critic
Psychodynamic therapist Rick Cox (MBACP) links Stranger Things 5 to depth therapy. Vecna embodies the inner critic and shame; the Upside Down mirrors unconscious conflict. Healing requires the courage to face emotional avoidance and build the capacity for emotional freedom.
You’re Not Relating. You’re Re-Enacting…
Psychodynamic depth work explains why you repeat painful relationship patterns. Discover how therapy targets repetition compulsion and emotional avoidance to help you break free from the past and find genuine intimacy.
Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story: When the “Monster” Speaks
Psychodynamic psychotherapist Rick Cox analyses Netflix’s Monster to explore how trauma leads to emotional fragmentation. Learn how containment fails and why facing internal shame and emotional avoidance is the core of therapeutic change.
When Growth Feels Like Collapse
Psychodynamic therapist Rick Cox explains why change feels overwhelming: anxiety rises as old defences break. Learn how this necessary 'collapse' signals the emergence of your authentic self, leading to long-term emotional freedom.
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 Psychology of the Inner Critic: How the Voice Inside You Took Power
Psychodynamic therapist Rick Cox explains how the punishing internal voice takes power, linking it to shame and past emotional avoidance. Learn how we use The Therapy FAD Framework (Feelings, Anxiety, Defence) to shine a light on the self-attack and challenge the inner critic to achieve emotional freedom.
Why We Repeat What Hurts Us: The Pull of Familiar Pain
Psychodynamic therapist Rick Cox explains how repetition compulsion keeps you stuck in destructive relationship patterns. Discover how depth work targets unconscious conflict and builds the courage needed for emotional freedom.