The compassion cure
The Australian Women's Weekly|June 2020
Anxiety has become an emotional pandemic and the world is desperate for a cure. Samantha Trenoweth meets a new wave of psychotherapists who believe a dose of good, old-fashioned compassion just might do the trick.
Samantha Trenoweth
The compassion cure

Joanne Corrigan smiles with her eyes, offers affection with gusto and when she’s worried about a friend, is quick to step in with a walk in the park, a pot of tea, an invitation to dinner, a shoulder to cry on. She’s a loyal friend, the magnificently encouraging mother of two bright-spark university students and a clinical psychologist with a Master’s degree and 20 years of successful practice under her belt. Yet until not long ago, Joanne thought she was “a bit of a loser”.

“My constant companion,” she explains, “was a part of me that said, ‘You’re not good enough. Other people do it better. What do you know? Who do you think you are?’”

That voice was so insistent, vicious and so convincing, it defeated every attempt to battle it with reason, and dragged her into dark spaces of depression, anxiety and despair.

Joanne wasn’t alone. The World Health Organisation has estimated anxiety and depression will be the number one health concern globally within a decade. They’re debilitating conditions that suck the joy from life, and kill. But there’s a new movement in psychotherapy that believes the key to defeating them might lie in a motivating force that exists alongside them in the human brain.

Professor Paul Gilbert OBE, the instigator of compassion-focused therapy, champions the power of kindness. It’s not a panacea, he admits, but it’s one of the most effective tools we have against anxiety and depression. The human impulse to kindness and compassion can be directed within to heal ourselves and beyond to heal the world.

Bu hikaye The Australian Women's Weekly dergisinin June 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye The Australian Women's Weekly dergisinin June 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
Hitting a nerve
The Australian Women's Weekly

Hitting a nerve

Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.

time-read
5 dak  |
July 2024
Take me to the river
The Australian Women's Weekly

Take me to the river

With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.

time-read
4 dak  |
July 2024
The last act
The Australian Women's Weekly

The last act

When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?

time-read
8 dak  |
July 2024
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
The Australian Women's Weekly

MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN

When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.

time-read
8 dak  |
July 2024
The wines and lines mums
The Australian Women's Weekly

The wines and lines mums

Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.

time-read
10 dak  |
July 2024
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
The Australian Women's Weekly

Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?

Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.

time-read
10+ dak  |
July 2024
Growing happiness
The Australian Women's Weekly

Growing happiness

Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy

time-read
8 dak  |
July 2024
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
The Australian Women's Weekly

"Thank God we make each other laugh"

A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:

time-read
7 dak  |
July 2024
Winter baking with apples and pears
The Australian Women's Weekly

Winter baking with apples and pears

Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.

time-read
10+ dak  |
July 2024
Budget dinner winners
The Australian Women's Weekly

Budget dinner winners

Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.

time-read
5 dak  |
July 2024