The GLOP Podcast

Ep 14. It’s Christmas: ‘Don’t throw me in the Briar Patch!’

Imy & Gerri review the year that was with mixed results. Imy is unhappy. Gerri is encouraged. Christmas is a time of exhaustion and aspirational Self Reflection. How did we go? Did we cover everything that was and was not - discussed? Was something important missed? The clashing between Counselling and Clinical Psychology reaches an inevitable climax as Imy identifies the contradictions of primary and secondary processes. There are further shocks as Imy reveals her carnivorous compulsion to continue on – is flagging. The necessity of numinosity for a ravenous Psychologist needed to fuel the onward journey is, sadly, declining. Imy wants to give focus to the relationship, to what happens in the between space, to explore intimacy for predators in a last ditch attempt to resurrect the creation myth of GLOP. Gerri counters with a powerful observation, she perceives Imy’s disclosures are not sufficiently personal. Themes of Self Awareness and the benefits of ‘Inner Work’ for the development of the Psychologist, the Profession and the Community are touched upon. Imy makes an offer to finish 2021 and closes out the year on the edge of a perceptual cliff. What will happen? Thanks for joining GLOP this Year, we hope you enjoyed being along for the ride. Please accept our Best Wishes for you and your family over Christmas. YouTube says what we mean in a way - we cannot, just CLICK THE LINK. #TheGLOPPodcast #womensupportingwomen #peaceout

 

Ep 13. The Finger of Blame turns upon itself

Gerri wants to continue on with GLOP’s investigation of difficult themes and bravely introduces the topic of ‘treatment failures’. This intrepid investigation is introduced with all the crowd pleasing nuance of humility disguised as confidence winked at with a confusing double signal pointing to the protective, reassuring, cloaking presence of a “webinar”. Trouble in the therapeutic relationship complicated by external stresses is examined within an inch of its life. Gerri has fronted up to a job interview under lockdown conditions. Results sadly, fell short of what was desired. Leading with complete authenticity can itself create a group process at an inconvenient moment. Imy introduces the inherent strictures of business and the unavoidable impact this has on practice. Gerri was surprised by the interviewer’s bravery scoping out the minefield of “how to handle ruptures in the therapeutic alliance” and experienced frontal cortex load ‘overload’. Declining levels of estrogen, the hormone disrupting effects of soy products and the concomitant impact on bladder resilience was revisited. Themes of Psychologists’ Safety in practice were once again reviewed. Imy experienced pressure within a working environment to provide after hours services, completely alone on site. Imy widens the discussion to include female health care providers responding to male clients presenting and wanting to ‘impress’ by displaying their reproductive organs. The presence of an archetypal predator is detected but not located thereby increasing the sense of threat. What is the take home? When voyaging in to the darkness, never question the aggregate knowledge of the Ancestors. Instinct. 

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Ep 12. Shadow? What Shadow? It’s always noon where I am.

GLOP find themselves staring in to a familiar abyss, the doledrums of long haul practice and its concomitant demands. Gerri wants to mess about with the existential angst Psychologists encounter at different stages of their working life, particularly the later stage. She has not broken with tradition and has constructed a model to try and clear up the gloom. Results are mixed and inconclusive. Gerri spends the first quarter introducing the GLOP Model of Career Progression which promises seat adhesion. Imy describes the much dreaded and at the same time paradoxically anticipated receipt of a client complaint to the Board. The elusive issue of safety for the Psychologist in the therapy room re-emerges as a topic of mystery and interest. Imy and Gerri face off the four horseman of the Experienced Psychologists’ Apocalypse; being seduced by a client, the joy of going to Court, brushes with death and the unanticipated malevolence or avoidance or cowardice exhibited by colleagues where the result squarely lands you in it. It is hard to find humour in the horrific but GLOP find a way, either accidentally or on purpose as they comb through what could-a, would-a, should-a or should not have happened. How do you handle yourself in the presence of the Board? Can predators finally learn the skills of intimacy? And is there a role for Authentic Communication in these most stressful of moments? Follow along #TheGLOPPodcast on Facebook Twitter YouTube and join the conversation. #womenpodcasters #psychologystuff #lifestory

Ep 11. The ‘Half Arsed’ Check In - RUOK?

Gerri wants to discuss using that loaded question “RUOK?” She is not happy with the insincere form or the “half arsed check in”. Continuing on with GLOP’s ‘Working Girl’ analogy, Gerri compares the variation of RUOK? Check Ins across ‘Multiple Madams’ and agencies where she “turns tricks”. Shadows of declining coping in response to the Lockdowns and Pandemic lurk everywhere. This rising panic and disturbance to an already ruffled equilibrium throws insincere “Check Ins” in to sharp relief. Imy, on the other hand, has attended an Online Symposium with the tag line ‘Unpacking Trauma’ and throws a light on the diverse, evidence based approaches to treating trauma in its many forms. This topic throws Gerri in to something approximating distress and immediately prompts a review of the ‘literature’. Remaining congruent with Australian’s tendancies to look to an overseas landscape for guidance and reassurance, Gerri has been reading sources that were once the ‘Newspaper’ for the low down on just what is going on and reports the findings regarding which society groups are most affected by Lockdowns, not to mention the increased burden of TeleHealth on the practitioner. Wistful longings for the bladder strength and control of a younger women is briefly mentioned and then released. GLOP conclude this episode with a surprising examination of why Clinical Psychologists end up with a particular kind of person. This compelling topic is opened but not concluded. Until next time … Join Us on Facebook Twitter YouTube and follow along. #womenpodcasters #psychology #RUOK

 

Ep 10. It is never about the ‘Washing Up’

Gerri has been to an ‘Eating Disorders Conference’ and is left wondering if the Conference tag line was sincere. Accreditation confirming the skill set requirement to work with ‘eating disorders’ is discussed and examined in terms of its symbolic meaning as a possible antidote to a wobbly personal identity. The current demand in Australia for mental health support is examined together with a discussion about Provisional Psychologists being able to offer medicare rebated services. Gerri is nervous. Imy is keen. Gerri is concerned about the level of care offered and will it be enough? Gerri introduces a lesser known Clinical Assessment Tool to assist resolve the dilemma, “Dilbert’s Heirarchy of Workers’ Needs”. And draws some kind of line or link or association with the legacy of adverse childhood experiences. This focus cues Gerri to remember the losses of Australian Animals in the Bushfires. Defining the “losses” proved difficult, possibly due to dissociation. Imy recalls an experience in childhood with a Platypus and Gerri recalls her experience with a Kangaroo. The deeper psychological meaning of Australian Animals is considered and discussed. Kangaroos are always going forward. They also like being put in a sack if distressed, an attachment memory of being bundled in to a pouch. Skills in building and rebuilding relationships across the lifespan are discussed. The carnage of Couple Work reveals Gerri’s ultimate tag line “Love is never enough”. Imy is not so sure, “Love is a lot” and some of it involves ‘listening’ deeply. Things have a greater symbolism but what they represent is not clear. Conflict with a partner is not always what it seems. It is never about “the washing up”, so what is it about? Really? #Platypus #Kangaroo #Psychology

Ep 9. “Is daydreaming or having an imaginary persona healthy?”

Gerri’s alter ego Aidan is discussed through the lens of clinical appraisal. No stone is left unturned. Imy wends her way around to piping up about the benefits of person centered care as opposed to a problem centered approach. Gerri is left unconvinced and presents a welterweight of evidence on MD, which we understand does not mean Major Depression in this instance. Instead it refers to the practice of ‘maladaptive daydreaming’. The presence of a powerful critic is felt but not placed in the empty chair. The tendency of Clinical Psychologist to generate jargon in pursuit of that elusive perfect intervention which promises the return of “rightness” to the world is discussed. The case of trauma and Complex Post Traumatic Stress is examined in relationship to the phenomenon of maladaptive daydreaming. The use of Dr Google to direct both diagnosis and treatment for many an avid amateur psychologist is discussed together with undesirable and unwanted side effects. For example, young people developing critical cases of anxiety after watching YouTube videos and self diagnosing themselves with a range of rare presentations. Dr Google is very able and willing to confirm and disconfirm diagnosis depending on what is paradoxically both feared and desired. Daydreaming is also discussed in terms of its potential adaptive response.  Join Us on Facebook  Twitter  YouTube and follow along. #womenpodcasters #psychologystuff #lifestory

Ep 8. “When is a cliché the right thing to say?”

‘Cliches’ in practice are bothering Gerri and the issue of the sometimes needed and even authentic use of cliché is considered and embedded within the context of safety at work. The much needed but not always considered safety for the practitioner hovers around the edge of the discussion like Banquo’s ghost. Not being exactly on the same page, Imy interprets the business of cliches in a different direction resembling a position of something approximating self reflection. The conversation winds around to resentment, in particular how to deal with resentment in a colleague in a work place. Imy raises the confusing double speak often present within the work place where mysterious magical forces steer away rather than towards achieving the goals of utopian mission statements. Gerri describes the 1984 practice of colleagues reporting on one another in an attempt to purge themselves of the grip of internal corruption. The viral nature of resentment is observed and discussed within the confines of the work place. Humour is proposed as a way forward and Imy describes an attempt at work place community building on April Fool’s Day where practical jokes were not only permitted but resulted in coming very close to insight and even growth. Did it work? Who can say. You be the judge, jury and … #womenpodcasters #psychologystuff #lifestory

Ep 7. “Are Books better ‘low rent’ friends?”

Gerri begins with an impressive middle-of-the-road laundry list of “professional reading”. Or atleast, that is what we are calling it as far as Gerri’s tax accountant is concerned. A visual inspection of the data is suggestive of an immediate fool proof cure for insomnia. However a closer ‘under the hood’ examination revealed, as per usual, deeper more mysterious forces at work. On this occasion, Tiger is cast aside as a transitional object and books are employed instead, substituted as … well Imy and Gerri try to work out exactly what it is they do represent. Themes of certainty, authority, acceptance, perfectionist thinking, procrastination and  its reliable shadows of unrelenting standards and self sacrifice are all welcomed, then interrogated and maybe transformed? Any effects observed maybe due to placebo. Or if not transformed, are awaiting the informed consent required for transformation to occur. Neither could locate the current proforma and paperwork in use. This difficulty is followed by the derivative discussion about Schema Therapy and its underpinings versus … well Imy digs up a fossil and wants to revisit a relic from the Ancient World, the School of Object Relations. In particular, how important is the role of ‘the Other’, the one looking at you, in the development of psychological wellbeing. And if no one is looking at you, do you exist? Imy has had an interesting dream about Gerri, the night before and spends much of the session trying on and off to determine why Gerri looked different, as in more glamourous in the dream. Lipsticks, makeup and books on high rotation are reviewed in terms of efficacy with inconclusive findings. That’s it. Onward. #psychologystuff #lifestory #nevergiveup

Ep 6. “Is my Professional Willy as big as yours?

Gerri revisits the delight and self assurance she derives from wearing articles of Uniqlo. Imy insists on a deeper examination of the phenomenon and the issue of group membership as an aspect of identity. Specifically as it relates to the challenges of dealing with colleagues and juggling the role of “Psychologist” with the many other roles vying air time and the opportunity to speak. Imy brushed the dust off the School of Ego Psychology and proposed unstable object relations as the likely causal culprit. Gerri counters this proposal by referencing Schema Therapy. Finding themselves at a therapeutic stand off Gerri seizes the opportunity to review micro-aggression within professional circles and their gatherings. Discrepancies between the chronological and developmental age of the colleagues gathered was noted but not concluded. Gerri describes an experience of being at one gathering and stumbling in to a conversation about herself that inconveniently was not intended to include her. Awkward moments and using mindfulness to tolerate discomfort is discussed in some detail. Themes of belonging and not belonging are reviewed. Imy reviews a recent dinner with colleagues where individuals compared their relative success in relation to each other as defined by an unknown heuristic. Findings were more confusing than conclusive however – significant showing off was observed. Findings did indicate potential therapeutic application for sleep disturbance, however, as is often the case in the noble discipline of Psychology – further investigation is indicated. #gloptrotter #women #womenpodcasters

Ep 5. “Blood Feuds: Is Justice ever done?”

Imy discloses a legacy issue from her distant past that is as yet unresolved. GLOP consider the variety of legitimate and otherwise responses to the dilemma of ‘injustice’ when it arrives in the therapy room. The need for therapeutic support being a close colleague of injustice in all its forms. The phenomenon of the abuse of power by those we are bound to through a relationship of dependence, inferiority, necessity or circumstances are examined. Comfort and familiarity with conflict in close relationships or with agencies of authority are cautiously tippy toed around. The risks of being exploited when young by those senior members of society, due to - the circumstances of being young, i.e. you are essentially compelled to trust and look to Elders for guidance, are examined. Gerri brings the focus on the pitfalls of pursuing justice too far, the dangers of obsession. Imy counters with a condition, it all depends whether the violation of justice experienced also threatens an individual’s survival. Shadows of Jordan Peterson and the Dominance/Competence Hierarchy lurk everywhere. Gerri suggests food and sharing food in the spirit of hospitality might provide answers in some unexpected places – the area of relationships and social reciprocity. Eating disorders are reviewed and Imy describes the role of ‘self hatred’ corner in Group Therapy. #gloptrotter #women #womenpodcasters