Dr Phillippa Stunzner

29/08/2025

A strong desire to feel in control can skew our thinking in an overly pessimistic direction and lead to procrastination and anxiety. These thoughts can help restore balance and autonomy.

28/08/2025

When you choose to listen with full attention, you make others feel valued, you open the way for trust, and you create the conditions for honest and constructive dialogue that can strengthen relationships every day.

20/08/2025

Cognitive Biases

31/07/2025

https://apple.news/Avaw0qfIeTU6nva2OLezCxg

“Grandma hobbies” like knitting are making a comeback among Gen Z—but it’s not just for nostalgia. Neuroscience shows these tactile pastimes may help preserve brain health as we age.

12/07/2025

"Their success stories are right around the corner, in their own time."

06/07/2025

https://apple.news/AjZAXFO1oQPWt_7uBNqi6Jw

Q. My therapist has asked me to stop trying to block my intrusive thoughts — the anxious ones that loop around my brain at 3am. I don’t understand how this is supposed to help. I have constant mental intrusions. I’ll be walking down a train platform and suddenly think, what if I pushed someone...

28/06/2025

Language shapes how we understand and respond to domestic abuse. Notice the transformation in these examples:

❌ "The couple has domestic violence issues."

✅ "His pattern of coercive control undermined family functioning."

❌ "She didn't protect the children from exposure."

✅ "He chose behaviors that harmed the children despite her protective efforts."

❌ "She keeps returning to the relationship."

✅ "He created barriers to safety through financial abuse and manipulation."

How has shifting to perpetrator pattern-based language changed your practice? Share your examples below!

23/06/2025

The trouble with parent-child enmeshment.

20/06/2025

1. Go slowly and watch what they do.

16/06/2025

4. Never underestimate the power of simply reaching out.

15/06/2025

Experts say there are some key signs of a trauma bond in a relationship.

31/05/2025

The difference between normal worry and anxiety disorders is the severity of the anxiety. While feeling anxious is a natural reaction to stressful situations, anxiety becomes a disorder when it interferes with a child’s ability to handle everyday situations or prompts them to avoid things that most people their age enjoy. Here are some guidelines for distinguishing an anxiety disorder from ordinary anxiety.

Severe anxiety is unrealistic.
After having s*x, a girl might worry that she has become pregnant. Someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder might worry that they are pregnant even though they have never had s*x.

Severe anxiety is out of proportion.
A high school sophomore might stress over taking the SAT. Someone with generalized anxiety disorder might stay awake at night worrying about the same test — even though they are only in third grade.

Severe anxiety is being overly self-conscious.
A boy might feel nervous about talking to girls in his class. Someone with social anxiety disorder might avoid ordering in a restaurant because they’re afraid of humiliating themselves.
Severe anxiety is often unwanted and uncontrollable.

A kindergartener might cry at school because they misses their mother. Someone with separation anxiety might cry at school because they can’t stop thinking that their mother will die if they are away from her.

Severe anxiety doesn’t go away.
While anxiety symptoms are common and even expected after a disturbing experience, over time most children bounce back from them. Three months later, someone with post-traumatic stress disorder will still be having nightmares.

Severe anxiety leads to avoidance.
A child might be nervous about going to a birthday party. Someone with a specific phobia of loud noises might refuse to go to birthday parties at all because they’re afraid that a balloon might pop.

Read more of our resources on anxiety and how to support anxious kids in school and at home:
https://childmind.org/topics/anxiety/