Paul Wadey Associates - Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist
Counselling & Psychotherapy: Individual work with adults and young people; Couples Counselling & Psychotherapy; Family counselling & psychotherapy
28/08/2025
This essay contests the view that modern authoritarians manipulate emotional intelligence (EI). Instead, it argues their power derives from EI's systematic and spectacular negation. Drawing on a Bourdieusian framework, the essay posits that in a political field saturated by a therapeutic doxa, the strongman cultivates a "habitus of contempt". This embodied disposition generates "disruptive affective capital" by violating dominant emotional norms. This strategy is an act of symbolic violence: it reclassifies empathy as political weakness and elevates ruthless indifference to a liberating authenticity. The result is a potent counter-affective economy that validates followers' grievances, offering them affective emancipation through sanctioned psychoanalytic processes like splitting and projection....
This essay contests the view that modern authoritarians manipulate emotional intelligence (EI). Instead, it argues their power derives from EI’s systematic and spectacular negation. Drawing o…
20/08/2025
Paul Wadey M.Sc M.Res MBACP (Accred.) Introduction: A Heuristic for Charting a Paradigm Shift The evolution of systemic psychotherapy from its initial Milan-inflected, cybernetic moorings to its post-Milan, social constructionist formulations represents one of the most significant paradigm shifts in the recent history of the therapeutic arts. To chart this profound intellectual journey, we require a coherent analytical framework. John Burnham’s (1992) model differentiating systemic activity into three recursive levels—Approach, Method, and Technique (AMT)—provides just such a heuristic....
Paul Wadey M.Sc M.Res MBACP (Accred.) Introduction: A Heuristic for Charting a Paradigm Shift The evolution of systemic psychotherapy from its initial Milan-inflected, cybernetic moorings to its po…
19/08/2025
Paul Wadey M.Sc M.Res MBACP (Accred.) There is a myth I have lived by, a grand and intricate story I told myself with such scrupulous conviction that it assumed the force of reality: the myth of my contented solitude. The purpose of this essay is to deconstruct this myth, not as a dispassionate academic exercise, but as an act of personal and, I hope, universal cartography....
Paul Wadey M.Sc M.Res MBACP (Accred.) There is a myth I have lived by, a grand and intricate story I told myself with such scrupulous conviction that it assumed the force of reality: the myth of my…
06/08/2025
The concept of trauma within psychoanalysis is not a settled territory but a theoretical battlefield, defined by a persistent, often unacknowledged, struggle to theorise the failure of symbolisation....
The concept of trauma within psychoanalysis is not a settled territory but a theoretical battlefield, defined by a persistent, often unacknowledged, struggle to theorise the failure of symbolisatio…
31/07/2025
This essay deconstructs the contemporary ideal of “polite assertiveness,” arguing it functions as a cultural fantasy that misrepresents the nature of communicative difficulties. It posits that such difficulties are not mere skill deficits but complex, embodied “compromise formations” rooted in unconscious conflict. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, particularly the work of Winnicott, the analysis traces these inhibitions to early relational environments where a defensive “false self” was constructed to preserve attachment at the cost of authentic expression. The argument extends beyond individual psychodynamics to demonstrate how these psychic structures internalise broader political forces. Social hierarchies of gender and class are shown to inflict a “structural violence” that becomes embedded within the superego, creating permanent psychic constraints. Consequently, the essay rejects therapeutic models that promise complete resolution. Instead, it proposes an “ethics of structural limitation,” reframing effective therapy and personal authenticity not as the overcoming of these deep-seated limitations, but as the development of conscious, creative adaptations within them. This approach calls for an honest acknowledgement of the interplay between personal history and political reality in shaping the communicating self....
This essay deconstructs the contemporary ideal of “polite assertiveness,” arguing it functions as a cultural fantasy that misrepresents the nature of communicative difficulties. It posits that such…
21/07/2025
It is not loneliness, this quiet room,This chosen distance from the social fray,But rather, a reprieve from the assumed,And often hollow, interplay.The world, a stage of unexamined need,Where masks perform and shadows take the lead.To stand apart is not an act of pride,But a retreat to where the self can mend,Where the clamour of the tribe has died,...
It is not loneliness, this quiet room,This chosen distance from the social fray,But rather, a reprieve from the assumed,And often hollow, interplay.The world, a stage of unexamined need,Where masks…
02/04/2025
The concept of trauma permeates modern discourse, often portrayed as a monolithic force inevitably leading to pathology like PTSD. This essay challenges this pervasive 'Trauma Myth,' arguing that such a view obscures the intricate reality of human responses to adversity. Drawing upon clinical insights, resilience research (Bonanno), cultural critiques (Summerfield), and post-traumatic growth theory (Tedeschi & Calhoun), it dismantles the assumptions of universal response and inherent destructiveness. Instead, it unveils the often-overlooked prevalence of resilience, the crucial role of cultural context in shaping experience and expression, the power of meaning-making and narrative reconstruction in healing (Neimeyer, White & Epston), and the potential for profound positive transformation (PTG). By advocating for a more nuanced, culturally sensitive, and strengths-based paradigm, this work offers crucial implications for both therapeutic practice and societal attitudes, urging a move beyond simplistic narratives towards a more compassionate and complex understanding of suffering and survival....
The concept of trauma permeates modern discourse, often portrayed as a monolithic force inevitably leading to pathology like PTSD. This essay challenges this pervasive ‘Trauma Myth,’ ar…
21/05/2024
Paul Wadey, May 2024. I I am incensed, humourless, seeking refuge,gathering with others to rechargein a kaleidoscope of colours and sensations,finding solace in red brick sprawland grey-black concrete expanses. I see myself in them, and they in me,denizens adrift, some wearing weary symbolsyearning for redemptive warmth,perhaps the taste of life bursting with spice,...
Paul Wadey, May 2024. I I am incensed, humourless, seeking refuge,gathering with others to rechargein a kaleidoscope of colours and sensations,finding solace in red brick sprawland grey-black concr…
10/01/2024
by Paul Wadey, 10.01.2024 Decoupled in a public sphere Where truth—now a nomad—dwelt, Scales weigh unevenly, Truth became untrustworthy, displaced by Dunning-Kruger’s map, And or Bonhoeffer’s guide to idiocy. That where fleeting glimpses of valid coherence twinkle, Darting, speedy, caught for a moment, Thus we're left to communicate, detached, unanchored, Neither cohesion nor congruence to light our way. Adrift on shifting sands, once firm earth diminished,...
by Paul Wadey, 10.01.2024 Decoupled in a public sphere Where truth—now a nomad—dwelt, Scales weigh unevenly, Truth became untrustworthy, displaced by Dunning-Kruger’s map, And or Bonhoeffer’s guid…
02/01/2024
by Paul Wadey 02.01.2024 Whispers of time, soft and deep, ache,In relentless pain, unyielding, our children break,Each moment calls for change, so rare,New bells might ring clear, in crisp calm air. Memories hold, old tunes that pine,Unyielding to the new, in time's own line,Echoes break, past stories, lore,New bells might sound change, forevermore. Not just enough, but striving for best,...
by Paul Wadey 02.01.2024 Whispers of time, soft and deep, ache,In relentless pain, unyielding, our children break,Each moment calls for change, so rare,New bells might ring clear, in crisp calm air…
12/12/2023
Chesterton's Fence is a principle that stresses the importance of understanding the rationale behind existing traditions or norms before attempting to change or abolish them. The idea was first put forth by G.K. Chesterton, a renowned British writer and philosopher, in his 1929 book, 'The Thing.' The principle argues that we should not blindly dismantle or alter a longstanding practice simply because we don't understand its purpose or value....
Chesterton’s Fence is a principle that stresses the importance of understanding the rationale behind existing traditions or norms before attempting to change or abolish them. The idea was fir…
07/12/2023
by Paul Wadey, 07.12.2023 You were Genoveva, the artisan of shadow-laden reveries, and you embroidered your cryptic arras in the chiaroscuro of your cloistered domain. Beneath the polarity of nocturne and lunar radiance, your narrative unfurled—a tessellation of luminescence and obscurity. Your digits, akin to crepuscular arachnid limbs, pirouetted across the loom, each gesture a masked murmur of your concealed chronicle....
by Paul Wadey, 07.12.2023 You were Genoveva, the artisan of shadow-laden reveries, and you embroidered your cryptic arras in the chiaroscuro of your cloistered domain. Beneath the polarity of noctu…
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Contact The Practice
Send a message to Paul Wadey Associates - Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist:
Consulting clinical supervisor, psychotherapist, & systemic family practitioner
Whether you or someone important to you has a specific issue requiring attention, a complex emotional or behavioural problem, or perhaps an enduring non-specific sense of dissatisfaction for no easily apparent reason, counselling and psychotherapy can be hugely beneficial to find a greater sense of clarity, understanding and relief, as well as providing practical methods to unlock our inherent potential. As an experienced integrative counsellor, psychotherapy practitioner and psychologist, I see individual people, couples, young people and family groups based within the wider CO6 area. On my contact page, one may access a map of the Colchester area. Please do get in touch if you are looking for clinical supervision, psychotherapy, counselling or a systemic family & couples practitioner. Substantive experience in the following areas:
Acute and/or Chronic psychological health
Practice-based or Outreach work
Couple and/or Family work
Children & Young People (7-18yrs) work
Psychosexual problems
Mood dysregulation
General and/or specific Abuse concerns
General and/or specific Anxiety issues
Major and/or minor Depressive disorders
General or specific Phobias
Psychotherapeutic training of students
Clinical supervision
Compulsive and/or Addiction
Post-Traumatic Stress disorder
Professional or Stress related matters
Disability and/or Health / Wellbeing matters
Parenting issues
Young people and young adult issues
Anger management
Risk-taking behaviours
Humano-Existential and/or Creativity issues
Emotional dysregulation
In my counselling & psychotherapy practice I strive to maintain deep and sustained emotional contact with individuals and/or groups, whilst also maintaining a high degree of reflexivity to the demands made by modern living on those whom, like so many today, urgently need to find someone well-qualified and experienced with which to build a genuine and trusting therapeutic alliance. Professionalism, ethical practice, strict confidentiality and discretion are assured.
I hold professional memberships with the British Psychological Society, British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy, Association of Family Therapy & Systemic Practice, and British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies.
