Christi Gadd Clinical & Neuropsychologist

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Christi Gadd Clinical & Neuropsychologist Clinical Psychologist in Garsfontein/Faerie Glen, Pretoria East. I'm intrigued by the essence of hum

I am a clinical psychologist with a passion for human relationships. I enjoy working with individuals, couples and families in order to assist them in dealing with whichever challenge they are currently facing. The human brain and the manner in which it regulates our behaviour intrigues me. In this regard, I provide psychotherapy to assist a person and his/her family in adjusting to the impact of a brain injury or illness. I am employed full-time at 1 Military Hospital, where I am responsible for the neuro-rehabilitation ward. I also run an after hours private practice in Faerie Glen, Pretoria-East.

Most of us were taught that guilt means we did something wrong. So when it turns up, we either argue with it or obey it....
17/10/2026

Most of us were taught that guilt means we did something wrong. So when it turns up, we either argue with it or obey it.

There is a third option, which is to ask it what it wants.

Guilt is not a verdict. It is a check. It wants to know whether what you did lines up with what you value, and there are three honest answers to that — not two.

The third one is the answer nobody warns you about. Both at once, which usually means two things you care about have collided. You wanted the hour to yourself, and you love the person you left. The discomfort is not evidence you got it wrong. It is what carrying two real commitments feels like.

Swipe for the whole thing. Save slide seven for the next time guilt turns up without explaining itself.

Where do two of the things you care about collide most often?

The full piece is on the blog: https://www.christigaddpsychology.co.za/feeling-guilty-vs-being-guilty/ (link in my bio too)

All of my clinical work is through Thrive Wellbeing Centre in JLT, Dubai — in person there, and online for clients elsewhere.

Back in my beautiful Dubai after some much-needed time in South Africa. Full heart, and missing home already.In-person s...
17/10/2026

Back in my beautiful Dubai after some much-needed time in South Africa. Full heart, and missing home already.

In-person sessions resume this Monday at Thrive Wellbeing Centre , JLT.

What helps you settle back in after time away?

He is at home. He is completely fine. So why does one hour feel like something I have to explain?I have been thinking ab...
15/10/2026

He is at home. He is completely fine. So why does one hour feel like something I have to explain?

I have been thinking about a woman at a small cafe table. Her baby is safe. Her friend is laughing. The coffee is good. And underneath all of it, she feels guilty.

Nothing she is doing goes against what she values. Ask her outright whether a new mother is allowed an hour with a friend and she would say of course she is — warmly, to any other woman in her seat. Her own guilt did not get the message.

Feeling guilty is not the same as being guilty.

Guilt is asking you something. It wants to know whether what you did lines up with what you value. That is the whole of its job, and the answering part belongs to you.

What does your guilt turn up for, even when nothing has gone wrong?

The full piece is on the blog: https://www.christigaddpsychology.co.za/feeling-guilty-vs-being-guilty/ (link in my bio too)

All of my clinical work is through Thrive Wellbeing Centre in JLT, Dubai — in person there, and online for clients elsewhere.

14/10/2026

I keep reaching for the same line when someone tells me they are falling apart: in the human software, this is a feature and not a bug.

Emotions are something like the psyche’s immune system. The only way the world inside you knows what is happening outside you is by checking in with what you feel. It is information arriving, not a system failing.

A fever is not the illness. It is the body doing its job.

That matters most in a hard stretch, when the instinct is to treat the feeling itself as the thing to fix. Usually it isn’t. Usually it is the part that is working.

What you are feeling is human and normal, and it is so okay to fall to pieces when life around you feels scary and overwhelming and you are dealing with things you have never dealt with before.

I have said that line so often that I have apparently built something on it. There is a new series starting here — Emotions as Messengers, one feeling at a time, and what each of them is actually for.

It begins with guilt, because guilt is the one I most often see mistaken for a verdict on a person’s character, when it is only ever information about their values.

Feature, or bug — which have you been treating yours as?

With Dr. Sarah Rasmi on thrivewithusdxb · Thrive Wellbeing Centre

The first episode, on guilt, is on the blog:
https://www.christigaddpsychology.co.za/feeling-guilty-vs-being-guilty/ (link in my bio too)

Last week I told you I labelled every jar in my kitchen.Soothing, or rebuilding? Honestly — it depends entirely on the w...
12/10/2026

Last week I told you I labelled every jar in my kitchen.

Soothing, or rebuilding? Honestly — it depends entirely on the week I was having.

That is the part I keep coming back to. The same act can steady you or it can move you, and which one it is today has nothing to do with the act itself. It depends on why you reached for it.

Food. Exercise. Work. Tidying. Crochet. The phone. Every one of those can hold you together. Every one of those can also be the thing you do instead.

And you cannot tell from the outside. Not the people who love you, watching you cope. Often not you either, until you stop and ask.

Which is why it is a question rather than a test. Not “should I be doing this” — there is no marking scheme. Just: is this soothing me, or is this rebuilding me?

What did you reach for this week?

With Dr. Sarah Rasmi on thrivewithusdxb · Thrive Wellbeing Centre

The full piece, and the podcast episode it came from: https://www.christigaddpsychology.co.za/the-messy-middle/ (link in my bio too)

Is responding to this email important, or is it a crisis?Coming out of a hard stretch, if everything starts to feel like...
11/10/2026

Is responding to this email important, or is it a crisis?

Coming out of a hard stretch, if everything starts to feel like a crisis, that’s a red flag to me.

What else do we numb with? Food, which can numb or nurture. Exercise, the same. The phone. And work, the most socially acceptable one — the one you get a high five for.

Brené Brown (Brené Brown) named it years ago:

“’Crazy-busy’ is a great armor, it’s a great way for numbing. What a lot of us do is that we stay so busy, and so out in front of our life, that the truth of how we’re feeling and what we really need can’t catch up with us.”

Some numbing is appropriate to a crisis. What matters is telling which steps are soothing you and which are rebuilding you.

It’s from my conversation with Dr Sarah Rasmi on the Thrive With Us podcast in Dubai.

What’s your crazy-busy — work, food, or the phone?

With Dr. Sarah Rasmi on thrivewithusdxb · Thrive Wellbeing Centre

The full piece on the messy middle: https://www.christigaddpsychology.co.za/the-messy-middle/ (link in my bio too)

This week, on a beach walk in Mauritius 🇲🇺, I came across this little tower of stones. Nobody built it on their own. Peo...
10/10/2026

This week, on a beach walk in Mauritius 🇲🇺, I came across this little tower of stones. Nobody built it on their own. People walk past, add a stone, and carry on with their day.

It’s World Mental Health Day, and I’ve been thinking about what mental health actually means to me.

To me, mental health is feeling that life is worth living, even when things get hard and messy.

It’s everything, really. All the achievements in the world mean very little if you don’t have the mental health to enjoy them.

This year’s theme is “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change.” Your lived experience matters. And you don’t have to carry it alone.

Together, we can build safer, kinder mental health for everyone.

What do you need the world to know about your lived experience?

09/10/2026

One foot in front of the other.

That is the whole philosophy, and I am aware of how unimpressive it sounds.

There is no version of the messy middle where you leap out of it. What there is: the next step, taken towards whatever currently carries meaning for you. Then the one after that. Pivot when you need to.

Small steps count. In the middle they are usually the size that is available.

What is your next small step?

With Dr. Sarah Rasmi on thrivewithusdxb · Thrive Wellbeing Centre

The full piece, and the podcast episode it came from: https://www.christigaddpsychology.co.za/the-messy-middle/ (link in my bio too)

My partner just died — how can I laugh?I have just moved here — am I betraying home if I let myself love it?People in th...
08/10/2026

My partner just died — how can I laugh?

I have just moved here — am I betraying home if I let myself love it?

People in the middle of something hard often believe they are not allowed the good bits. The word that answers this is and.

You can be deeply grateful to be safe and still annoyed that your table at the restaurant was taken. The gratitude does not disqualify the annoyance. The annoyance does not cancel the gratitude.

It feels awkward the first few times. Do it anyway.

Try one: “I am ______ and I am ______.” What are your two?

With Dr. Sarah Rasmi on thrivewithusdxb · Thrive Wellbeing Centre

The full piece, and the podcast episode it came from: https://www.christigaddpsychology.co.za/the-messy-middle/ (link in my bio too)

Address

633 Windsor Avenue
Pretoria
0081

Opening Hours

Monday 12:00 - 19:00
Tuesday 12:00 - 19:00
Wednesday 12:00 - 19:00
Thursday 12:00 - 19:00
Friday 12:00 - 19:00

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