Fully Human Psychotherapy

14/08/2025

https://avigail.substack.com/p/episode-10-stress

Episode 10 in ‘Taking the Mystery Out of Therapy'

14/08/2025

https://avigail.substack.com/p/the-politics-of-depression

How Western psychology betrays its own research and the people it claims to help

01/08/2025

My new podcast is on personality disorders.

Episode 8 in 'Taking the Mystery Out of Therapy'

26/07/2025

I have started a series of free podcasts that I call: ‘Taking the Mystery Out of Therapy’. You can find them on my Substack (the link below is to the first episode on Substack). I also post them Spotify and on my YouTube channel.

My aim in this series is to share with everyone, free of charge, everything that my clients learn in therapy. The framework of Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) that I use in my work should be available to all. Many people can begin to apply the same practice that my clients are using to enjoy the same results that lead to growth towards our innate potential and to robust mental health. Most people can live anxiety-free, recover from past traumas and fulfil their potential. Our psychology is too important to leave to chance and given what we know now, there is no longer any excuse for psychotherapy and psychology to remain a mystery that most people don’t understand. So I tell all.

Real psychotherapy is not about fixing people—most people are perfectly healthy and don’t need ‘fixing’. Psychotherapy is a process that supports people to change the architecture of their brain so that they can get back on the path to optimal development—the path they would have been on if they were given all the ingredients they needed to develop into their full humanness. If that wasn’t available in childhood, neuroplasticity enables most people with a healthy brain to begin to grow and recover at any stage in life.

There are seven episodes so far and I try to release a new episode every Wednesday. In the first two episodes I used a script but from the third episode onward I just speak naturally. You can write comments or questions in the comments section on all three platforms, or send me an email to: podcasts@fullyhuman.co.uk The podcasts will always remain free and you are welcome to share them widely.

A free podcast series by Avigail Abarbanel

11/01/2025

I have started a new page on Bluesky to replace this one. I will not delete this page for the time being but will no longer post on it, check it, or respond to comments. This is my last post on this FB page.

You can find me on Bluesky here: https://bsky.app/profile/fhpsychotherapy.bsky.social

I have kept the appearance of the page the same as FB so people know they have come to the right place.

**For those who don’t know, Bluesky was created by the original creator of Twitter, but he is no longer involved with it. Bluesky is now run and predominantly owned by chief executive Jay Graber as a US public benefit corporation.

It is not clear how Bluesky will support itself financially given that it does not use advertising, and is not likely to sell user data as Meta (owner of FB Instagram and WhatsApp) and X do. So we’ll have to keep an eye and see. Bluesky is gaining about a million users a day, so I hope it copes. Please join me on Bluesky and consider stating your own page there.

Bluesky has a word limit on posts, like X, which is why it’s not exactly like FB. But perhaps saying less is more...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8dm0ljg4y6o

Bluesky is picking up one million new users every day at its current rate.

10/01/2025

I have decided to close both my personal and work Facebook accounts and relocate to the platform Bluesky. (I have already deleted my X account and I have never used Instagram).

Social medial platforms like Facebook have been beneficial for many groups and causes, even as a way to disseminate useful information. But I cannot continue to support Facebook and its questionable, often disturbing practices.

The self-interested billionaire owners of these platforms have unprecedented powers, I have no wish to continue to contribute to. These people are not doing what they do to benefit humanity, but only for their own purposes, mainly for power and profit. Their interference with politics is especially disturbing and their manipulation of public opinion, and knowledge cannot be supported. This is dangerous in societies that call themselves democracies.

The idea of social media has been good, and social media can be used for good, but we need to use alternatives to these huge monopolies.

I will put a final notice here before I close this account permanently.

To find out about my work, or if you wish to contact me, please visit my website: fullyhuman.co.uk

My writings are available on Substack under Avigail Abarbanel’s Fully Human Essays.

22/11/2024

I will be on leave for three weeks, from 16th December. I get back to work on 6th January in the New Year. I have no free slots left between now and until I start my break. If you are hoping to see me fro the first time, please take into account waiting until January. I always encourage people to find someone who can see them sooner rather than later.

To find out about how I work and my therapeutic framework, please visit my website fullyhuman.co.uk

I write about my work and my framework in a way that anyone can apply in my short book, _Therapy Without A Therapist_. It is the second post from the top and it includes an excerpt from the book.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100061293522469

Book series

24/09/2024

I have recently produced these little cards for those among my clients who are parents. The printed version is the size of a business card, just like the reminder cards I produced for people’s own vertical integration work. If you are a current client and want a copy or copies, just ask me next time you see me.

Feel free to to print, share, and use as you see fit. This practice should be used with newborn babies, toddlers, primary school children, and teenagers alike. People in their twenties would appreciate it too. Remember that adults have direct impact on children and young people’s brains until age 25 or so.

This should not come as a surprise to anyone, if you think about how babies and small children learn anything. Everything is wired in from the outside, as the child’s brain responds to outside stimuli, circumstances, direct teaching, adult emotional states, and experiences.

In adulthood we have to make a conscious effort to wire/change our own brain, because other people cannot wire us directly anymore. But in childhood the brain wires itself in response to what goes on outside of the child/young person.

The most important component for children’s growth and healthy development, and for a robust and healthy psychology is their relational environment with adults. To benefit children’s development their relationship with adults must be regulated by the *child’s/young person’s needs*, and adults have to validate young humans’ inner states and feelings. It is OK to offer reassurance, perspective, or information, but only *after* validation. Validation must come first and it has to be unconditional.

We are all much more receptive to hearing others’ point of view, or perspective, or learn something new, when we feel validated. Validation wires the brain of children in the direction of healthy growth and development, and lets people know that we are not judging them.

Let’s make psychotherapy obsolete, and make humanity more mature, and healthier. Today’s children are tomorrow’s adults. All those who care for children and young people shape the world directly!

14/09/2024

How many lives have to he ruined by domestic abuse before the police start to enforce the law, and stop protecting their own?…

Four years on from a super-complaint over officers’ violence against women and girls, a new report finds little progress has been made on promised reforms

26/08/2024

A lovely client of mine shared this beautifully made video with me. No words necessary.

Unlocking a Brighter Future and overcoming the Shadows of ChildhoodImagine a world where every person you meet carries an invisible suitcase, filled with mem...

19/07/2024

How *not* to do therapy, a brilliant parody of CBT, and CBT therapists.

A tribute to the great Bob Newhart, RIP.

(You can’t say to people, ‘don’t feel what you feel because it doesn’t make any sense’. This is more or less what CBT does…)

Stop It is a timeless comedy sketch performed by legendary comedian Bob Newhart, known for his brilliant wit and impeccable timing. This iconic video, which ...

07/07/2024

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/healthcare-in-crisis-experiences-from-gaza-tickets-928476898397?aff=oddtdtcreator

Join us for an event organised by and for healthcare workers in the Highlands for informative speeches and conversation about Gaza