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On the Other Side of the Chair: What It’s Like to Be an Autistic Counsellor
A look at “To understand the experiences of autistic counsellors: A United Kingdom phenomenological study” by Jade Rita Taylor and Michael Sims (2024) There’s an old, stubborn myth that autistic people lack empathy. If that were true, you’d hardly expect to find them in one of the most empathy-heavy professions going. Yet autistic counsellors are…
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“Who Are You?”: Queer Co-Mothers and the Professionals Who Don’t Quite Get It
A look at “‘We carry on living in this othered world’: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of lesbian/queer co-mothers’ relationships with professional support” by Beth Levy and Amanda Middleton (2025) Picture walking into a GP surgery, a school meeting or a hospital ward with your partner and your child, only to be met with a puzzled…
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Fifteen Years of Trauma Science in One Sitting
A look at “The impact of trauma and how to intervene: a narrative review of psychotraumatology over the past 15 years” by Miranda Olff, Irma Hein and 21 colleagues (2025) A gentle note: this post discusses trauma in general terms. To celebrate its 15th birthday, the European Journal of Psychotraumatology asked its editors, a who’s…
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Neurodivergent-Friendly Therapy: Adjustments You Can Ask For
Therapy is traditionally built around a very particular format: a 50-minute conversation, face to face, in a quiet room, with lots of open-ended questions and plenty of eye contact. For many neurodivergent people, that format is part of the problem. The good news is that it can be changed, and you’re allowed to ask. What…
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Busting the Monogamy-Superiority Myth: What 35 Studies Say About Satisfaction
A look at “Countering the Monogamy-Superiority Myth: A Meta-Analysis of the Differences in Relationship Satisfaction and Sexual Satisfaction as a Function of Relationship Orientation” by Joel R. Anderson, Jordan D. X. Hinton, Alena Bondarchuk-McLaughlin, Scarlet Rosa, Kian Jin Tan and Lily Moor (2026) Throughout this series, we’ve met plenty of studies hinting that people in…
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Player Two Has Entered the Relationship: How Gaming Together Brings Partners Closer
A look at “Relationship Benefits of Gaming Together: A Phenomenological Approach” by Kaitlyn Swecker, Carissa D’Aniello-Heyda, Kayleese Martinez, Abigail Nixon, Jaclyn C. Pickens, Alyssa Costa, Stephen T. Fife and Dana Weiser (2025) Most research on video games and relationships tells a familiar tale: one partner (usually imagined as a straight man) disappears into a headset,…
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Big Boys Don’t Cry? Masculinity, Femininity and Asking for Help
A look at “The role of gender norm conformity in men’s psychological help-seeking and treatment engagement: a scoping review” by Lewis Burns, Lisa Olive, Alyna Turner, Simon Rice, Anna Wrobel, Bronte Montgomery-Farrer, Bethany Norton, Zac Seidler and Alexa Hayley (2026) Men make up more than three-quarters of suicide deaths in Australia, where this review was…
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Welcome to the United Kink-dom: Furries, Pet Play and Beyond
A look at “A Survey of the United Kink-dom: Investigating Five Paraphilic Interest Groups and Their Demographic and Psychological Correlates” by Ashley Brown, Edward D. Barker, Stella Friedrich and Qazi Rahman (2026) With a title like that, we were always going to cover this one. Researchers at King’s College London surveyed people in five communities…
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The Bedroom and the Inner Critic: What Shapes Sexual Satisfaction for Gay Men?
A look at “A Theoretical Model for Predicting the Derivation of Sexual Satisfaction in Gay Men” by Rusi Jaspal, Anthony Gifford and Udo Scheinpflug (2026) Great sex isn’t just about technique or chemistry. It’s also about what’s going on in your head, including the voices you’ve absorbed over a lifetime. For many gay men, one…
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Peers, Pixels and Healing: Online Group Support for Queer Male Survivors of Sexual Trauma
A look at “Peer online motivational interviewing and affirmative care for sexual and gender minority men who are survivors of sexual trauma: A randomized clinical trial” by Joan M. Cook, Chyrell Bellamy, Amy E. Ellis, Vanessa Simiola, Steve Martino, Nicholas A. Livingston and Maria O’Connell (2025) A gentle note: this post discusses sexual trauma in…
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Non-Monogamy and Therapy: What to Expect and What to Ask
Polyamory, open relationships, relationship anarchy, swinging: consensual non-monogamy (CNM) comes in many shapes. It’s also far more common than many people assume. Yet plenty of people in CNM relationships go to therapy for help with something entirely unrelated, only to find their relationship structure becomes the focus. Here’s what the research tells us, and how…
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Good Intentions Aren’t Enough: The Ethics of LGBTQIA+ Therapy
A look at “Ethical considerations in LGBTQI+ clinical care” by Thomas G. Plante (2026) Most therapists would describe themselves as LGBTQIA+ friendly. But being friendly and being ethical aren’t quite the same thing. This short American paper, by a psychologist and ethics specialist, walks through the core principles of the American Psychological Association’s ethics code…
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Three Hours to Kink-Aware? Therapists, BDSM and Feeling Ready to Help
A look at “Are we ready to serve? Couple and family therapists’ attitudes toward BDSM and their perceived competence to help BDSM practitioners” by Zachary Lane Berman, Mona Mittal, Mariana K. Falconier and Jessica N. Fish (2025) In “Queer, Kinky and Coming Out Twice: What Clients Want from Sex Therapy”, queer kinky clients said they…
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Kink, Attachment and the Past: Untangling a Tricky Question
A look at “Childhood Sexual Abuse, Adult Attachment Styles, and Involvement in BDSM Practices in Adult Intimate Relationships” by Maja Selič and Vesna Jug (2025) There’s an old, tired assumption that anyone into kink must be “damaged” in some way. It’s an assumption that has done a lot of harm to people who simply enjoy…
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Can Video Games Treat ADHD? Level One Results Are In
A look at “Effectiveness of game-based digital intervention for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis using Beard and Wilson’s conceptualization of perception in experiential learning” by Haesun Lee, Seungjin Lee, Mina Hwang and Kyungmi Woo (2025) It sounds like every ADHD child’s dream: “Your treatment today is to play…
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Is It the Exams, or Is It Everything? ADHD, Stress and Burnout at University
A look at “Stress and burnout in university students with ADHD-like symptoms: The role of memory bias and daily stress” by Kerstin Erdal, Gordon Adami, Petra Gelléri and Jan Dettmers (2025) Picture a student juggling lectures, a part-time job and possibly a toddler, with a brain that has seventeen tabs open and one of them…
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Getting an ADHD or Autism Assessment in England: A Practical Guide
Wondering whether you might be ADHD or autistic, and not sure where to start? You’re far from alone. Demand for adult assessments has soared in recent years, and the system can feel like a maze. Here’s a guide to the main routes in England. Step one: your GP For an NHS assessment, the usual starting…
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Rolling the Dice: Neurodivergence and Gambling Harm
A look at “Neurodiversity and gambling harm: a Rapid Evidence Assessment” by Amy Sweet (2026) Flashing lights, instant rewards, the thrill of “just one more go”: gambling is practically engineered to grab a brain that craves stimulation. With gambling now available 24/7 on our phones, and gaming increasingly blending into gambling through loot boxes and…
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In It Together: Relationships, Drugs and Sexual Health for Queer Men in Open Relationships
A look at “Interdependence and Sexual Health: Relationship factors associated with sexual behavior among sexual minority males in non-monogamous relationships who use drugs” by Tyrel J. Starks, Joseph R. Hillesheim, Juan Castiblanco and Demetria Cain (2026) Most sexual health research treats people as solo decision-makers: one person, one choice about condoms, one risk. But for…
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Following the Money: What Insurance Data Says About Autism and ADHD
A look at “Real-world evaluation of prevalence, cohort characteristics, and healthcare utilization and expenditures among adults and children with autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or both” by Amanda L. Zaleski, Kelly J. Thomas Craig, Raiha Khan, Rebecca Waber, Wei Xin, Makia Powers, Una Ramey, Dorothea J. Verbrugge and Deborah Fernandez-Turner (2025) Numbers can tell…