Topic
Anxiety
Anxiety is a normal reaction to danger or uncertainty; it becomes a problem when it is too intense, lasts too long or leads you to avoid more and more situations. The resources in this topic explain how it keeps itself going, through worry, avoidance and attention fixed on threat, and offer exercises drawn from cognitive behavioural therapies, including gradual exposure. They cover generalised anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, phobias, health anxiety and anxiety in children.
34 resources
For the public
My child won't go to school any more
Stomach aches every morning, pleading at the door, then whole days at home: school refusal wears families out, and it gets worse when you wait. This guide helps parents understand what their child is avoiding, check first that they are not being bullied, depressed or struggling with learning, and then build a return with the school in small steps, starting with the mornings.
Eco-anxiety: living with worry about the climate
A video of a wildfire watched at midnight, guilt in the vegetable aisle, a dinner cancelled because you no longer have the heart to laugh. This guide explains why worrying about the climate is not an illness, how to tell a worry that has its place from a worry that takes over your life, and offers a method for taking back control of information, of thoughts that go round in circles, of emotions and of action, without ever telling you what to think.
The fear of being ill: health anxiety
A lump under the skin, a headache that keeps coming back, a reassuring test result that only reassures for three days. This guide explains how the fear of being seriously ill takes hold and keeps itself going: the body checks, the online searches, the reassurance that brings relief and then evaporates. It offers the method that has proved itself and the way to set a frame for your medical consultations.
Phobias: exposure step by step
A spider in the bathroom, a flight to catch, a blood test, a lift, a dog in the street: the fear rises, you avoid, and the fear grows. This guide explains how a fear becomes a phobia, why avoidance keeps it going, and how to be rid of it through well-conducted graded exposure — including the special case of blood and injections.
Constant worry: generalised anxiety disorder
Worrying about work, about the health of those you love, about money, about a message that has gone unanswered, and starting again the next day with another subject. This guide explains why worry takes hold and feeds on itself, how to tell the worry that serves a purpose from the worry that spins on the spot, and offers the method that has proved itself: worry time, problem solving, and learning to live with uncertainty.
Panic attacks and agoraphobia
A racing heart, the feeling of suffocating, the fear of dying or going mad, then the fear that it will happen again — and life narrowing down to the places judged safe. This guide explains what a panic attack is, why it feeds itself, and how to get out of it: correcting catastrophic interpretations, deliberately exposing yourself to the sensations you dread, giving up safety behaviours, and winning back the places you avoid.
Social anxiety: the eight-step programme
The problem is not that you are awkward: it is that your attention turns inwards at exactly the moment it needs to be outside. The mechanism, and the treatment with the best results in this disorder.
Understanding and easing anxiety
What relieves you in the moment is what keeps anxiety going. This programme explains exposure in the opening pages, then puts it to work in eight precise steps, from the week of observation to the relapse plan.
Post-traumatic stress: understanding it and rebuilding
Images that come back without warning, broken nights, places you no longer go near, and the feeling that the danger has never quite passed. This guide explains what distinguishes the normal reactions of the first weeks from post-traumatic stress that has taken hold, what keeps it going, and which treatments have proved themselves. It then offers a concrete method for regaining your footing in daily life, which prepares and supports the work done with a therapist.
Tinnitus: easing the distress when the noise won't go away
A whistling that nobody else can hear, which fills the quiet of the evening and eats into your nights. This guide first sets out which signs mean you should see a doctor quickly, then explains why the distress varies so much from one person to another. It then offers a step-by-step method, drawn from the therapies that have proved themselves, so that a sound that will not go away stops running your days and your sleep.
Menopause: mood, sleep and hot flushes, and what psychology can do
Hot flushes in the middle of a meeting, nights broken by sweats, a mood that wobbles for no obvious reason: the perimenopause can shake up far more than the body. This guide explains what is happening, what the large studies say about mood and sleep, and what cognitive behavioural therapy can change, with a step-by-step method for hot flushes, nights, low spirits, work, self-image and sexuality.
After the birth: baby blues or postnatal depression?
Tears on the third day are often the baby blues, and they pass within a few days. A sadness, an anxiety or an emptiness that lasts for weeks is something else, and it can be treated. This guide helps new parents and those close to them to tell the difference, to recognise the one situation that calls for action the same day, to understand the frightening thoughts that go through the minds of so many parents, and to get back on their feet, starting with the nights.
Perfectionism: high standards without burning out
Rereading a two-line email five times, putting off a report because it will not be perfect, remembering only the two marks lost out of twenty. This guide tells the high standards that help apart from the perfectionism that hurts, explains why the bar goes up every time you reach it, and offers a method that has been evaluated: spotting your rules, testing "good enough", widening what your worth rests on and answering self-criticism differently.
Stop overthinking: getting out of rumination
Replaying Tuesday's conversation, analysing why you are the way you are, wondering what the other person meant, and going to bed at midnight with the same questions you had at six in the evening. This guide explains the difference between thinking and ruminating, why rumination gives the illusion of being useful, and what actually gets you out of it.
For professionals
These manuals are written for psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners. Anyone can read a preview; the full text is reserved for practitioners who have submitted proof of their professional status and who hold a professional plan.
Treating selective mutism in children: a therapist's manual
A twenty-session protocol, eight of them at school, for selective mutism in children aged 3 to 10: graded exposure to speaking through stimulus fading, shaping and reinforcement, conducted with the parents and the teacher. The adults learn to talk to the child differently, with forced-choice questions, a waiting time and specific praise, and gradually to stop answering for them, without pressure or punishment. The differential diagnosis with the silent period of bilingual children, language disorders and autism, a measured response criterion, the cautious place of medication, preparing for each new school year, eight worksheets and full references.
Eco-anxiety: a therapist's manual
A ten-session protocol, individual or in a group, for adolescents from the age of fifteen and for adults who seek help for distress linked to the climate and environmental crisis. Eco-anxiety is not a diagnosis: the manual distinguishes a proportionate worry, which is not something to treat, a distress that takes over life, which is its indication, and a diagnosable disorder, which calls for its own treatment. In the absence of sufficient controlled trials, it assembles components proven elsewhere — work on worry, acceptance and values, activation, collective action — and says so. It also covers triage, safety, measures and the therapist's stance, with worksheets to hand over and full references.
Health anxiety and somatic symptoms: a therapist's manual
A twelve-session protocol, session by session, for illness anxiety disorder and somatic symptom disorder in adults. First triage and formulation, then two explanations put to the test rather than a diagnosis argued over. The core of the work addresses what keeps the fear going: attention to the body, checking, online searching, reassurance, and the avoidance of medical care or its multiplication. A consultation rule written with the GP, the warning signs that warrant a medical opinion, the place of functional neurological disorder, of medication and of those close to the person, worksheets to hand over and full references.
Panic disorder and agoraphobia: a therapist's manual
A twelve-session protocol, session by session, for panic disorder with or without agoraphobia. First the formulation: what is feared is not the place but the body. Then interoceptive exposure — producing the sensations in session — before situational exposure. The removal of safety behaviours, the question of the medical work-up, the problem of benzodiazepines, controlled breathing and why it is not in the programme, the particular situations, worksheets to hand over and full references.
Treating specific phobias: a therapist's manual
An eight-session protocol, session by session, for specific phobia — animals, heights, flying, dentists, injections, driving, vomiting, enclosed spaces. First the sorting, because four different situations produce the same avoidance. Then exposure conducted along inhibitory learning lines: what matters is not that anxiety comes down, it is that the prediction is disconfirmed. The special case of blood and injections and its own technique, the removal of safety behaviours, the single-session format, the return of fear, phobias that carry medical consequences, worksheets to hand over and full references.
Treating anxiety-based school refusal: a therapist's manual
A protocol of fourteen sessions, session by session, for the child or adolescent who can no longer get to school. First the sorting: four situations carry the same symptom and do not call for the same response. Then assessment from three sources, a graded written return plan, a detailed morning protocol for the parents, and a whole session devoted to the school itself. The pace is tight at the start because time is the main variable. Bullying, physical complaints, compulsory schooling, the place of medication, worksheets to hand over, and full references.
Treating anxiety in adolescents: a therapist's manual
A protocol of fourteen sessions with the adolescent and four with the parents, session by session: risk screening, social anxiety and its cognitive model, checkable predictions, safety behaviours and their manipulation, video feedback, peer surveys, panic, perfectionism, school and exams. Detailed conduct of exposure designed as an experiment, the question of medication, worksheets to hand the adolescent, and full references.
Treating anxiety in children: a therapist's manual
A protocol of fourteen sessions with the child and six with the parents, session by session: the normal fears of each age, the diagnostic sorting, the thermometer, the fear ladder, graded exposure with a written prediction, separation and bedtime, reassurance, school. Detailed conduct of exposure, reducing family accommodation, selective mutism and school refusal, the question of medication, worksheets to hand the child, and full references.
Treating generalised anxiety disorder in adults: a therapist's manual
A fourteen-session protocol, session by session, targeting worry itself: intolerance of uncertainty, beliefs about the usefulness of worry, the worry outcome diary, imaginal exposure, certainty-seeking behaviours. Diagnostic criteria, assessment, common mistakes, worksheets to hand the patient, and full references.
Treating social anxiety in adults: a therapist's manual
A fourteen-session protocol, session by session, built on the Clark and Wells model and on the NICE guideline. Diagnostic criteria, treatment goals, a step-by-step run-through of each session, the mistakes that make a session fail, worksheets to hand the patient, and full references.
Tinnitus: a therapist's manual
A ten-session protocol, session by session, for adults whose tinnitus causes them suffering, delivered in liaison with the ENT specialist. It begins with the ENT assessment and the signs that call for prompt medical advice, then draws on cognitive behavioural therapy for tinnitus, enriched with acceptance and mindfulness: understanding the sound, relaxing the body, making attention more flexible, re-examining thoughts, giving up unnecessary protection, getting sleep back, stopping the struggle. It does not promise silence: the established effects concern the impact of tinnitus, not its loudness, and the manual says so. It also covers associated hyperacusis, suicide risk, and the place of hearing aids, sound therapy and medication, without any doses, with worksheets to hand over and full references.
Perfectionism: a therapist's manual
A ten-session protocol, session by session, for adults whose personal worth depends almost entirely on their results, based on cognitive behavioural therapy for clinical perfectionism. First the triage, because perfectionism is not a diagnosis, because it often accompanies an eating disorder, OCD, depression or burnout that have their own treatment, and because suicide risk hides behind control. Treatment then addresses the circle that maintains perfectionism, the "good enough" experiments, the reduction of checking and putting off, evaluation biases, the sources of self-worth and self-criticism. The manual also sets out the debates on the dimensions of perfectionism, the measures and their status, what the trials really show and what they do not, with the worksheets to hand over and full references.
After a traumatic event: early intervention — a therapist's manual
A stepped programme for the first month after a traumatic event in adults. For everyone, psychological first aid and three dated contacts over four weeks, with a measure each time, because most people get better on their own and those who are not improving need to be identified. For those who present acute stress disorder or significant symptoms that are not coming down, trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy in five sessions at most, started within the month, and a hand-over to the PTSD manual if symptoms remain significant beyond one month. The manual explains why routine psychological debriefing and preventive medication are advised against, and covers suicide risk, children and victim support services; worksheets to hand over and verified references.
Stopping benzodiazepines and sleeping pills: a therapist's manual
A ten-session protocol, followed by three booster sessions, for providing psychological support when a benzodiazepine or a related sleeping pill taken over the long term is stopped, once stopping has been decided and is conducted by the prescribing doctor. The psychologist does not touch the dose: they prepare the decision, put ways of sleeping and of easing anxiety in place before the first step, teach the person to distinguish withdrawal symptoms, rebound and relapse, and prevent a return to the medication during the six months following the last dose. The manual also covers safety, with the emergencies of withdrawal, alcohol, opioids, pregnancy and the older person, as well as those close to the person, and provides worksheets to hand over and full references.
Body dysmorphic disorder: a therapist's manual
A sixteen-session protocol, session by session, for body dysmorphic disorder in adults, with a section on adolescents. Safety first, because suicide risk is high, and a working agreement that never goes through a debate about appearance. Then the inventory of rituals, perceptual mirror retraining, exposure without camouflage and with response prevention, attention turned outwards, reassurance and those close to the person, thoughts, and what appearance is supposed to say about personal worth. Surgery and cosmetic procedures, muscle dysmorphia, the place of medication, ten worksheets to hand over and full references.
Perinatal depression and anxiety: a therapist's manual
A twelve-session protocol, session by session, for depression and anxiety disorders arising in pregnancy and in the first year after birth, based on cognitive behavioural therapy and on interpersonal therapy. Emergencies first — postpartum psychosis, maternal suicide risk, thoughts of harming the baby that must be told apart with care — then sleep, activation, the demands of the good mother, intrusive thoughts, the couple, the role transition, the bond with the baby and a birth experienced as traumatic. The place of medication during pregnancy and breastfeeding, fathers and co-parents, perinatal bereavement, ten worksheets to hand over and full references.
Sexual dysfunctions: a therapist's manual
A twelve-session protocol, session by session, for sexual dysfunctions in adults, individually or as a couple, whatever the orientation. First the medical assessment, because a sexual difficulty can be the first sign of an illness or the effect of a treatment, and the identification of violence, because no exercise is prescribed without free consent. Then a common core — psychoeducation, the model of performance anxiety and avoidance, sensate focus, attention, cognitive work, sexual communication — and modules for desire and arousal, erection, ejaculation, orgasm and genito-pelvic pain. The place of medication, worksheets to hand over and full references.
Post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents: a therapist's manual
A fourteen-session protocol, session by session, for post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents, with child time and parent time in every session. Safeguarding first: if the child is still exposed to violence or abuse, reporting and making the child safe come before treatment. Then the components of trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy and of cognitive therapy for PTSD in children — understanding, regulating, telling what happened in a way that fits the child's age through play, drawing or writing, taking back what is avoided, sharing the story with the non-offending parent, learning to keep safe. Presentations by age, differential diagnosis, school, legal proceedings, the place of medication, worksheets to hand over and full references.
Avoidant personality: a therapist's manual
A sixteen-key-session protocol, within treatment lasting about a year, for adults who want relationships but flee them for fear of being judged, criticised or rejected, and who experience themselves as inferior or inadequate. First an alliance that anticipates avoidance of therapy itself, goals oriented towards a chosen life, and an assessment that looks for depression, alcohol use and isolation. Then the avoidance cycle, what it protects and costs, and safety behaviours. Next graded exposure, behavioural experiments that put the belief to the test, emotional avoidance, assertiveness, intimacy and real rejection. A belief of inadequacy revisited, self-criticism eased, the distinction from shyness and introversion, an honest account of the level of evidence, and references.
Post-traumatic stress disorder in adults: a therapist's manual
A twelve-session protocol, session by session, for post-traumatic stress disorder in adults. First present safety, because you do not treat a trauma that is still going on. Then the work on the memory — imaginal exposure, hot spots, in vivo exposure — and on what often lies behind failures when it is left out: guilt, shame and anger. Dissociation and the window of tolerance, complex PTSD, traumatic grief, the place of medication, those close to the person, worksheets to hand over and full references.
Other topics
- Addictions10
- ADHD6
- Attention & focus9
- Autism4
- Children & parents35
- Depression & mood25
- Eating disorders4
- Emotions24
- Gender identity1
- Grief7
- Loneliness5
- Longevity5
- Mindfulness1
- Neurocognitive disorders3
- OCD7
- Personality disorders12
- Psychosis8
- Relationships14
- Self-esteem7
- Sleep12
- Stress & burnout10
- Studying3
- Tics & Tourette1
- Trauma10
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