A reflection on reading, Compassion Focused Therapy, and taking psychological formulations out of the therapy room and into understanding literary characters

A Guest blog post written for balancedminds.com

I’m very proud to have been able to contribute to the Compassion Focused Therapy blog for Balanced Minds. It was a chance to step back and reflect on my relationship with reading and consider the insights that can be gathered from applying a psychological lens to literature, in particular Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). In this I discuss the impact the writing of Graeme Armstrong and Douglas Stuart had on me and their important role in the inception of The Paperback Psychologist. I then use my psychological formulation of Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies to look at the application of CFT to literature.

I first encountered CFT as an Assistant Psychologist 10 years ago whilst working in Ayrshire. At the time, it was a great opportunity to be part of a team developing a CFT group under the supervision of Dr Chris Irons. This was a formative experience in my journey as a Clinical Psychologist and has been something I’ve strived to continue to develop. Then as a newly qualified Clinical Psychologist, I was fortunate to have been able to attend CFT training and supervision from Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland, which has only strengthened my passion and use of this approach further.

Chris and Charlie are two of the three directors of Balanced Minds and their CFT blog at balancedminds.com is a fantastic resource exploring compassion and how it can bring change to people’s lives. Thanks Chris and Charlie for inviting me to contribute to such an enlightening blog!

You can read my full guest blog post here.