TW; discussions around suicide. This week we are talking about gaslighting, where the term originates from and how it has helped us name a particular type of coercive control. We also talk about how it has been more recently adopted in casual conversation and how therapy talk doesn't always serve us when it’s overused or taken out of context. As always, our insights are informed by popular culture - namely the Archers, Jury Duty and Married at First Sight Australia (we’re talking to you, Harriso...
Jul 16, 2023•45 min•Season 5Ep. 5
This week on Best Friend Therapy, we are reflecting on regret. As usual, we strive to keep our conversation authentic, which is why you’ll hear us singing along with Edith Piaf, receiving deliveries from the postman, battling with flies and playing a quick round of Just a Minute… NONE of which we regret because we come to the conclusion that regret really means mourning a life un-lived and, well, we’ll all have plenty of those. We also have the life we are living right now and we reckon this is ...
Jul 09, 2023•46 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Hey Listener... We have a podcast we think you'll like! Listen to 'It Can't Just Be Me' now wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Wednesday.
Jul 05, 2023•30 sec
This week we're talking all things menopause. Emma and Elizabeth share their journeys so far, through the wild ride that is peri-menopause, and look at the good (no longer doing things you don't want to do), the bad (next-level anxiety) and the ugly (who knew anyone could sweat this much?). Menopause has gone from being the taboo of previous generations, to a subject discussed openly in mainstream media and we wanted to celebrate this transition into a new stage of womanhood - one that is as muc...
Jul 02, 2023•44 min•Season 5Ep. 2
This week on Best Friend Therapy, we're talking about DIY! Ok, we're not but, with all of our references to sanding and painting, we might as well be. We are actually talking about how we need friction to make meaningful bonds and how a glossy finish can get in the way of connection. Because this week we're talking about perfectionism and how it can hold us back. Exploring toxic positivity, the sense of dissatisfaction we're often sold by the beauty industry, and the impact of social media, this...
Jun 25, 2023•43 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Welcome back, to Season Five of Best Friend Therapy! We're kicking this season off with a conversation all about co-dependency - what does it mean and why is it a problem? We chat about how co-dependency shows up in our families, our friendships and our romantic relationships... how we all need someone but why the person we need most is ourselves. This conversation is a journey from validation to self-validation via the wisdom of Vanderpump Rules and Cilla Black, and even a nod to the potentiall...
Jun 18, 2023•44 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Welcome to this season finale of Best Friend Therapy, in which we're talking about something we could all do with a bit more of in life - crone energy and the empowerment it brings. Far from the Cambridge English dictionary’s definition of a crone as an "ugly, old woman", we are talking about the stage in a woman's life when she reclaims her feminine power and agency, and we chart a journey through the stages of maiden, mother and crone, with a view on women's health, responsibilities and relati...
Apr 16, 2023•43 min•Season 4Ep. 8
This week we're talking about those familiar situations, friendships and relationships, in which people take more from us than they give. We look at the difference between boundaries and demands, and explain why our tolerance for narcissistic traits in other people might wear thin as we get older. Elizabeth explores why she has a habit of giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, and Emma shares how her journey through peri-menopause has helped her separate the wheat from the chaff. We leave you...
Apr 09, 2023•42 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Guilt is a feeling that plagues so many of us that we felt compelled to dedicate an entire episode to it! Emma explains the difference between authentic guilt and the misplaced guilt we can feel when we turn anger back in on ourselves, and Eizabeth shares 40 things that made her feel guilty in 2021 (and some that still make her feel guilty now!). We talk about how men and women do guilt differently, how guilt can function as a form of self-preservation, why parental guilt stops us problem-solvin...
Apr 02, 2023•41 min•Season 4Ep. 6
This week's Best Friend Therapy is all about teenagers - the ones we used to be and the ones we need to parent, whether that's now or in the future. Elizabeth tells us about her late rebellion and Emma explains why we need to help our adolescents learn to put their coats on, even when we tell them to (which will make much more sense when you listen to the episode!). We look at what's bad behaviour and what's developmentally normative and explore ways to support yourself as a parent and help keep...
Mar 26, 2023•46 min•Season 4Ep. 5
This week on Best Friend Therapy, we're tackling the thorny issue of self-worth, or the lack of it. Emma explores the difference between self-esteem and "others-esteem" and why we can fall into the trap of outsourcing our sense of self to other people. Elizabeth compares her self-worth to a solar panel and reveals why chunky socks are a better way to keep warm. --- Emma references the psychoanalytical theory of object relations and the work of Donald Winnicott: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obje...
Mar 20, 2023•43 min•Season 4Ep. 4
This week on Best Friend Therapy, we are lucky enough to have an access-all-areas, behind the scenes pass to Elizabeth's brand new book, Friendaholic: Confessions of a Friendship Addict , published by 4th Estate on 30th March 2023. She tells us why she felt this subject was one she had to write about, how the language of friendship has been lacking so far and left us ill-equipped to set boundaries and evolve our friendships into something more authentic. Emma talks about the difference between b...
Mar 13, 2023•45 min•Season 4Ep. 3
This week on Best Friend Therapy, we are responding to the many requests we've received for a conversation about therapy itself: when to seek therapy, how to find a therapist, how to become a therapist, where to start and what to expect. Emma shares the path she took from selling perfume to private practice and Elizabeth shares some of her experiences as a client in therapy. --- We reference the work of Windy Dryden and you can read more here: https://www.windydryden.com Emma trained at the foll...
Mar 06, 2023•47 min•Season 4Ep. 2
TW: Trauma, miscarriage. Welcome back to season four of Best Friend Therapy! We wanted to open this new beginning with a conversation about ending because the two go hand in hand and because grief is a subject that touches us all. It has been one of our most requested topics and we hope we can do it justice, as we discuss aspects of grief such as anticipatory grief, traumatic grief and collective grief, how to support others who are grieving, and how to parent children through loss. Emma explain...
Feb 27, 2023•49 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Happy New Year from Best Friend Therapy! We're so delighted to be back with you for another year of conversations where we talk about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds. And we're kicking off with this bonus episode on the timely topic of flexibility - from flexibility in exercise, to worklife and relationships. We explore how we can tune in to our emotional equalizers to tell us what we need and what we have to give, as we head into the new year. Emma explains why a balance between...
Jan 09, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Merry Christmas from Best Friend Therapy! Or not. Because, however your festive season has been this year, and however you chose to celebrate, you’re welcome in this conversation. So join us, as we ease our festive hangovers together (both literal and metaphorical). Special occasions and holidays can be a flashpoint for emotions, and expectation can be the thief of joy. We’re not responsible for other people’s enjoyment of Christmas and yet the pressures to shop, socialise, cook, dress, eat and ...
Dec 26, 2022•47 min•Season 3Ep. 8
You’ll never be left out from Best Friend Therapy, but if it’s a feeling you know elsewhere in your life, this week’s episode might be for you. We’re talking about FOMO, not being invited to the party, or sitting at home in your pyjamas while everyone else is out having fun (although, this sounds like Emma’s idea of heaven). Born into the world dependent on others and racked with self-consciousness throughout puberty, it’s no surprise that humans are sensitive to feeling left out. We’re here to ...
Dec 19, 2022•45 min•Season 3Ep. 7
It’s a bit of a different episode this week, as Emma takes Elizabeth through a live therapy process of dream analysis. Listen along while Elizabeth unpacks her deepest subconscious, meet her happy-go-lucky island and her all-seeing sky, and hear what Emma has to say about the meaning behind the dream. And learn for yourself how to interpret your own dreams, so that you too can unpack the valuable insights that your night-time mind has to offer. --- You can read more on Carl Jung here: https://en...
Dec 12, 2022•47 min•Season 3Ep. 6
This week, on Best Friend Therapy, we’re talking about feeling anxious (and we're feeling quite anxious while we’re doing it). Anxiety can take many forms, be it seasonal, situational, or a post-pandemic hangover. As a diffuse term, it's not always helpful, so we’re here to break it down and challenge some of the assumptions attached to those sensations we get when we’re living with ambiguity, coping with life outside of our control or, dare we say it, even a bit excited? Emma shares her blissfu...
Dec 05, 2022•46 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Lots of our lovely listeners have asked us what it’s like to work with your best friend, so this week we’re here to spill the tea. It’s take your bestie to work day. We talk about what we've loved, from sharing a joint purpose, to finding out more about each other (and sneaking off for lovely recording weekends!) We talk about what we’ve learned, including our fear of letting each other down, what our different metrics of success can teach us, and how to keep the relationship at the heart of eve...
Nov 28, 2022•40 min•Season 3Ep. 4
This week, on Best Friend Therapy, we’re talking about attachments. No, not the Velcro and poppers kind, but the way we *emotionally* attach to other people. We look at the work of psychologists like John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, to get a better understanding of the way we develop expectations of other people, and how we might have created emotional defences to protect our vulnerability. We explain how strategies that set us up for safety in childhood might actually get in our way as adults, w...
Nov 21, 2022•46 min•Season 3Ep. 3
This week's episode of Best Friend Therapy *cue gravelly trailer voiceover* tells one woman's courageous journey through the world of online dating, and what it took to survive on the apps... Only joking, Elizabeth, it wasn't that bad! We do discover how good she is at succession planning, however, and we offer our advice for how to navigate all the different dating advice that's available (see what we did there?). Rejection may be one reality of dating but we also look at its potential for data...
Nov 14, 2022•50 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Welcome back to Season Three of Best Friend Therapy! We are so delighted to be with you for another season of conversations and this week we’re talking about something that gets a bad rap in our society and is often misunderstood – it’s the feeling of anger and it’s one of Emma’s favourites. We talk about the difference between anger management and anger expression, understand why Elizabeth shut herself in a cupboard and gave herself a good talking to, and we explain why guilt and anger are so o...
Nov 07, 2022•48 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Season Three of Best Friend Therapy is coming very soon! We can't wait to be back with you next week, for more conversations about the topics that get us all talking... starting with the things that make our blood boil. Subscribe now and make sure you don't miss a single episode!
Oct 31, 2022•1 min
Welcome to Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds, and we've come to end of Season Two already! So we're throwing in the towel, we're giving up, we're admitting defeat - oh no, wait a minute, we're not actually quitting, we're just *talking* about quitting this week. Phew! We would never abandon our lovely listeners because quitting is a bad thing... it's an admission of failure... it's a sign of weakness. Right? Well, it turns out we're not so s...
Sep 04, 2022•46 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Welcome to Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds, and this week we're doing something a little bit different. We're going down the rabbit hole and we're taking you with us, as Emma therapises the hell out of Elizabeth. Using Transactional Analysis techniques, Emma takes Elizabeth on a journey of self-discovery and hopefully sets you up to do the same. Bring a question or a situation of your own and follow along, as you discover your internal voi...
Aug 28, 2022•45 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Welcome to Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds, and this week we're turning up the volume on some Tammy Wynette (not Dolly Parton, Emma) to talk about D.I.V.O.R.C.E. Stigmatised by society as a shameful failure, or presented as an opportunity to grow and evolve, divorce (as the name suggests) can be divisive. We challenge the notion that a long-lasting marriage is a successful one, draw a distinction between "fair" and "equal" when it comes to...
Aug 21, 2022•49 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Welcome to Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds, and this week we're bringing you a Feelings 101 - everything you ever needed to know about what we feel, why we feel, and how feelings can be our best guides when it comes to meeting our needs. Sadness, anger, fear, joy, jealousy, envy, guilt or shame. Pick your poison. There's a feeling for every situation and an action required for every feeling. This week we join the dots to help you know what...
Aug 14, 2022•46 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Welcome to Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds, and this week we're talking about a hotly requested topic - toxic friendships. We talk about how the pandemic reset friendship protocol for many of us, how introverts and extroverts get along, different definitions of friendship and what a co-dependent friendship feels like. We practice using conflict constructively to negotiate healthy friendship boundaries and we tackle that dreaded question, h...
Aug 07, 2022•48 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Welcome to Best Friend Therapy, where we chat about what's on our minds, to get deeper in our minds, and this week we're talking about jealousy. Do you have a touch of the green-eyed monster? Well, that might not be a bad thing. Because jealousy can show up to tell us when a relationship we value requires some maintenance - we jealously guard something because it matters to us. Sometimes that relationship will be with a friend or loved one, but sometimes the relationship that needs our attention...
Jul 31, 2022•45 min•Season 2Ep. 3
