Colchester Counselling & Psychotherapy Practice

12/10/2026

Have you ever known exactly how you wanted to respond, only to find yourself reacting very differently once pressure rises?

Understanding a pattern and being able to interrupt it in the moment are not always the same thing. This article explores why our usual clarity can become less available under stress, and what can help us create more choice in those moments.

Read the full article:

Why do we react badly under pressure even when we know better? Dr Tom Barber explores psychological availability, trauma, emotion and our ability to access what we know.

10/09/2026

One of the more frustrating experiences people bring into therapy is knowing what they should do, but finding that knowledge remarkably difficult to access at precisely the moment they need it.

You might know that becoming defensive during an argument is unlikely to help, yet hear yourself becoming defensive anyway.

You may understand perfectly well that the email you have just received is not a catastrophe, but still feel your body responding as though something significant has happened.

Read the article here:

Why do we react badly under pressure even when we know better? Dr Tom Barber explores psychological availability, trauma, emotion and our ability to access what we know.

14/08/2026

Discover your Integrated Intelligence Profile with PIIA. Explore Presence, Embodied Emotion, Meaning and Coherence in this free 32-question assessment.

30/06/2026

Self-awareness is only the beginning. Discover why insight alone rarely creates lasting change and how psychological capacity develops through the Psychernetics framework.

09/06/2026

People often assume that growth comes from finding the right answer...

04/06/2026

Artificial intelligence is changing the world at extraordinary speed.

Much of the conversation focuses on what AI can do, how powerful it will become, and how it might transform work, education, and society.

As a psychotherapist, I find myself increasingly interested in a different question:

What happens to human intelligence when we stop using it in the same way?

Over the last thirty years, I have worked with people facing anxiety, trauma, addiction, relationship difficulties, and major life transitions. One theme appears again and again. People often struggle when they become disconnected from their own capacity to reflect, think deeply, and make sense of their experience.

In a world of endless information, genuine understanding may be becoming more valuable, not less.

I've explored this further in a new article:

https://counsellingcolchester.co.uk/human-intelligence-age-of-ai/

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

A psychotherapist's perspective on artificial intelligence, cognitive sovereignty, deep thinking, and why human intelligence matters more than ever.

12/05/2026

Feeling sad in happy moments can reflect emotional depth, not dysfunction. Explore why mixed emotions can help you connect to psychological clarity.

06/05/2026

Hüzün reveals sadness within happiness and the depth of human emotion.

05/05/2026

Discover Unmachine Your Mind by Dr Tom Barber, the book that introduced Psychernetics and explores human intelligence in the age of AI.

13/12/2025

Discover Unmachine Your Mind by Dr Tom Barber & learn how AI reshapes psychology, reclaiming clarity, sovereignty, & conscious intelligence.