Articles

The following are articles of interest and the musings and reflections of Felix Economakis.

If you do have any questions, comments or topics you would like to see being discussed, please contact us and let us know.

What To Expect In A Therapy Session

Occasionally some enquirers find it hard to believe that ‘major’ conditions such as depression, anxiety, phobias and other maladaptive behaviours can be treated often in just 3-4 sessions.   It is possible to effect …

Treatment for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a phobia related to trying new foods. A person with ARFID may sincerely desire to eat new foods, might even like the look and smell of new foods, but be unable to bring themselves to taste them. The most common reasons is that they start to gag or retch if they …

ARFID – What Every Parent Needs To Know

ARFID is not picky eating. It is a real and serious phobia or phobic aversion. Picky Eating is a normal phase for most children. They CAN eat foods but don’t want to yet. ARFID is based on a mini-trauma experience creating an aversion – the child WANTS to eat foods but CANNOT regardless…

SED – is now ARFID

The DSM-V (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition) published by the American Psychiatric Association, has now recognised SED as an official disorder. However, it now calls is “Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)“. Quite what was wrong with the far easier ‘SED’ I don’t know, but putting that aside the DSM V also …

Treatment for Long Covid Taste Distortion

I have now worked with three different people suffering from taste distortion from long Covid …

Treatment for Phobias

It’s estimated that over 30% of the UK population has a fairly serious phobia. The top places are usually filled by animal phobias (such as fear of spiders); fears around public speaking (performance & social phobias) and fears around death itself. Despite the intense distress and impact they have on people’s lives, phobias can often be very …

Treatment for Depression

Along with anxiety, the next most common referral in GP surgeries is for depression. The interesting thing about depression is that it is not a primary emotion. It is always a response to something else that is going on that remains unresolved. Effective treatment for depression therefore requires that we address the …

Treatment For Anxiety

Anxiety can be caused by a number of reasons. Anxiety can be generated by the environment (e.g such as that caused in the workplace); by unresolved issues from the past; by unresolved or on-going conflict from relationships; unhelpful beliefs …

Why I No Longer Use Conventional Hypnosis In Therapy

The short answer is: in most cases, it has caused more problems than it helped. So I developed an ‘open version’...

Is Hypnosis A Quick Fix?

As well as being a chartered counselling psychologist, I am a great fan of the use of clinical hypnosis and offer it to all my patients as part of the overall treatments plan. Many enquirers to my Practice have seen me demonstrate hypnosis for rapid change with extreme phobias on the BBC3 programmes ‘Panic Room’ and ‘Fussy Eaters’…

Is It ARFID or Sensory Processing Disorder?

Sometimes SPD comes off looking like SED, when it is still SED. Unfortunately, the converse is true too. Some people think they have a phobia when they have a SPD and are disappointed when there is no change after the treatment.

Recommended ARFID Practitioners

Practitioners, I have personally witnessed or confirmed successful results with.