Irish Times, Tue, Jul 23, 2013, 01:00
A new book gives five coping strategies to recognise and resist the triggers that cause anxiety and to break the cycle of the pursuit of perfection, writes Brian O’Connell
Cognitive behavioural therapist Enda Murphy first came upon the idea for his book, Five Steps to Happiness, when he began delivering training programmes to GPs. The idea was to teach GPs practical psychotherapeutic interventions that could be used within their practices to help patients who suffered from stress or anxiety. Since qualifying as a psychotherapist in 1999 (before that he worked as a community nurse), Murphy has taken a practical approach to treating mental health issues and uses cognitive behavioural therapy to help patients overcome their issues.
“The focus is not so much on where you’ve come from. The focus is on what is the problem today and how are we going to solve it,” Murphy explains.