Westpsych - Psychologists

27/04/2026

Happy Freedom Day! 💚 🇿🇦

21/04/2026

"Clover And Mosses"

21/04/2026

21/04/2026

Feeling more out of control lately?

Geo-political instability, war in the Middle East, socioeconomic pressures, stress, trauma, and the fear of what the future holds for us all has left millions of people all over the world feeling more anxious, ungrounded, depressed, angry and out of control than ever before. Counselling Psychologist Ms Ronel Carver and Journalist Mariette Snyman talk about how we typically respond when we feel out of control and how we can overcome our own limited response patterns to become more resilient to stress and trauma. By facing our fears and choosing not to allow them to control us, but rather discovering our own innate wisdom, courage and strength with BrainWorking Recursive Therapy (BWRT) we can face the unknown with infallible determination 💪🏼🔥

Listen to this inspiring Podcast here 👇

https://www.mariettesnyman.co.za/blog/learned-helplessness-or-hyper-independence

Thank you once again to the lovely Mariette Snyman for sharing her energy, time and expertise in the conceptualisation, recording and editing of this Podcast ✨ if you are a practitioner in the field of health and wellness and you would like to record a podcast, please reach out to her directly to find out more.

Do you sometimes feel that - despite your best efforts - you have no control over what happens in your life? Or, perhaps, that the only person you can fully rely upon is yourself? Counselling psychologist Ronel Carver explains how loss of control may be expressed as learned helplessness or hyperinde

20/04/2026

This is how we grow alongside our children and break generational patterns of trauma

Child Psych Podcast Episode #178 Eli Harwood is a licensed therapist, attachment expert, and widely known as “The Attachment Nerd.” With over two decades

19/04/2026

Powerful insights for 💚✨

14/04/2026

Fascinating! 💡this is where and how we feel emotions in the body

Emotions are not just mental experiences; they are deeply physical events that produce distinct sensation patterns across the human body. A landmark study conducted by a team of Finnish researchers at Aalto University explored how different emotions activate or deactivate specific bodily regions.

The study involved over 700 participants from Finland, Sweden, and Taiwan, who were asked to color body silhouettes based on where they felt increased or decreased activity while experiencing various emotions.

The results revealed remarkably consistent patterns across cultures. Anger, for example, produced strong activation in the chest, head, and arms, reflecting the body's readiness for confrontation.

Fear triggered sensations primarily in the chest and head area, while the limbs showed relative deactivation. Happiness was the only emotion that produced widespread activation across the entire body, suggesting a full-body sense of vitality.

Sadness and depression, in contrast, showed significant deactivation in the limbs and a slight increase in the chest and throat areas, consistent with feelings of heaviness and fatigue.

Love generated warm activation in the chest and head, as well as moderate activity in the lower body. Anxiety closely resembled fear but with stronger chest activation, aligning with the well-known sensation of a "knot in the stomach." Contempt, pride, shame, and envy each displayed unique but more localized patterns, often concentrated in the head and chest.

These findings have important implications for understanding psychosomatic health, emotional regulation, and cultural universality of emotional experiences. The body maps suggest that emotions prepare the body for specific behavioral responses, supporting theories in embodied cognition.

Top References:
Nummenmaa, L., Glerean, E., Hari, R., & Hietanen, J. K. (2014). Bodily maps of emotions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(2), 646–651. Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. Barrett, L. F. (2017). How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain.

14/04/2026

Life brings us many transitions, including menopause, retirement, or accompanying an adolescent to adulthood, which may seem like a never-ending saga😉
I'd love you to subscribe to my NEWSLETTER (link below) to receive my April offering: using your intuition as a strategic decision-making tool, pain points & solutions regarding retirement,
Thanks to Benita Conde Lizanne de Jong Nidhi-Amanda Chaitow - Life. Grief and Death Doula Dr Faryal Luhar Erica Terblanche Dr Terri Henderson and Sandy Lewis for sharing your expertise!
https://www.mariettesnyman.co.za/newsletter

13/04/2026

We can only hope that those implicated will be held accountable! So many lives lost and so many families devastated as a result of negligence.

[BREAKING] The NPA is set to prosecute people implicated in the Life Esidimeni tragedy. At least 141 psychiatric patients died after their unlawful removal. More details to follow. Tune in to , channel

09/04/2026

Size DOES matter!! …. The size of your heart 🩷 Bless this young man wherever he is! He is an example of humility and compassion and how an act of kindness is far more powerful than winning!