top of page
Blog
Our blog is here to provide you with information to help you. If you want to view a specific category please click on relevant 'Read more' below
Therapies, Techniques and Research
Creating a future you want
Relationships
Children & young people
Neurodiversity
Healthy Living


ARFID and the Neurodivergent Brain: When Food Avoidance Isn’t About Body Image
Draft for review If eating has become a daily negotiation, you may already know how quickly food avoidance is misunderstood. A child may be called “fussy”. An adolescent may be accused of seeking attention. An adult may be told to “just be more disciplined”. Meanwhile, the person is navigating sensory distress, fear, low appetite, anxiety or a nervous system that does not experience food as neutral. This is one reason it is so important to understand avoidant/restrictive food

Dr Danielle Baillieu
1 day ago6 min read


Autistic Burnout vs. General Exhaustion: Why Standard Stress Management Fails Neurodivergent Adults
If you are a neurodivergent adult living in the modern world, you have likely heard this refrain more times than you can count: "Everyone feels exhausted right now. You just need to get an early night, take a weekend holiday, and practise a bit of mindfulness." When you are dragging your bones through another week, struggling to string two coherent sentences together, and feeling like your entire neurological system has been short-circuited, being told that your profound coll

Dr Danielle Baillieu
5 days ago5 min read


Surviving the Summer Holidays: A Practical Guide for Parents of Neurodivergent and Busy Children
👉 GRAB YOUR FREE HOLIDAY SURVIVAL GUIDE As the sun climbs higher and the school gates close for the long summer break, a peculiar cultural narrative takes hold. Magazines, social media feeds, and advertisements bombard us with idyllic imagery: sun-drenched picnics, smiling children building sandcastles, and relaxed families drifting effortlessly through long, golden afternoons. Yet, for many parents, particularly those raising neurodivergent children or managing complex, hig

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Aug 23 min read


The 'Friendship Recession': Why 1 in 10 Britons Have No Close Friends (And How Adult Loneliness Mimics Trauma)
We live in an era of hyper-connectivity, where our pocket-sized screens beam the highlights of thousands of lives directly into our retinas twenty-four hours a day. Yet, beneath the veneer of digital omnipresence, a quiet, corrosive crisis is unfolding across the United Kingdom. Fresh data reveals a sobering statistical reality: approximately 1 in 10 Britons now report having zero close friends (YouGov, 2026; The Independent, 2026). Furthermore, this "friendship recession" cu

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 304 min read


The 'Eyes' Have It: How Ocular Biomarkers are Proving ADHD is More Than Just a 'Behavioural' Label
For decades, individuals living with ADHD have been tethered to a narrative that their struggles are primarily behavioural. They have been told that their distractibility is a matter of "willpower," their impulsivity a lack of "discipline," and their cognitive fog a "choice." This societal framing has birthed a gaslighting epidemic, where neurodivergent people are forced to doubt their own biological reality. However, a groundbreaking study released yesterday, July 25, 2026,

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 274 min read


The Middle-Aged 'Surge': Why 40% More Women are Seeking ADHD Support (and the Menopause Connection)
For decades, the cultural archetype of ADHD was a young boy unable to sit still in a classroom. However, a seismic shift in our clinical understanding is currently underway, revealing a hidden demographic that has been suffering in silence for a lifetime. On July 24, 2026, new data released by The Independent and the BBC revealed a staggering 40% increase in ADHD prescriptions for middle-aged women in England, specifically those aged 50-59, in just a single year. This "surge"

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 264 min read


The AI Therapist in Your Pocket: What the July 2026 NEJM Trial on Generative AI for Mental Health Actually Means for Real Therapy
On July 23, 2026, the psychological community was shaken by the release of a landmark randomised clinical trial in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The study analysed 'Therabot', a sophisticated generative-AI chatbot designed to deliver psychological therapy via smartphone. The results were, on the surface, staggering: a 51% reduction in depression symptoms and a 31% reduction in anxiety among participants. Perhaps more surprisingly, the study reported that users f

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 244 min read


The 'Tribunal Gap': Why the Law is Finally Calling Out ADHD Workplace Invalidation
For many neurodivergent professionals, the workplace can feel like a high-stakes performance where the script has been written in a language they weren't taught to speak. This isn't merely a matter of "burnout" or "stress"; for those living with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), it is often a bone-deep exhaustion resulting from years of masking debt. Yesterday, on 22 July 2026, a groundbreaking meta-analysis of every published ADHD employment tribunal in Britai

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 234 min read


The 'Tribunal Gap': Why the Law is Finally Calling Out ADHD Workplace Invalidation
For many neurodivergent professionals, the workplace can feel like a high-stakes performance where the script has been written in a language they weren't taught to speak. This isn't merely a matter of "burnout" or "stress"; for those living with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), it is often a bone-deep exhaustion resulting from years of masking debt. Yesterday, on 22 July 2026, a groundbreaking meta-analysis of every published ADHD employment tribunal in Britai

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 234 min read


The 'Label Currency' Controversy: Why ADHD Diagnosis is About Survival, Not a Trend
In recent weeks, a provocative narrative has taken hold across the UK media landscape. Headlines from July 2026 have suggested that ADHD and autism diagnoses have become a form of "label currency", a diagnostic "ticket" utilised by families and adults to navigate an increasingly overstretched education and healthcare system. From the reports in AOL and the Daily Mail to government-ordered reviews of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims, the conversation has shifted towa

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 224 min read


The Pursue–Withdraw Trap: Why 74% of Couples Get Stuck in the Same Argument (and How to Break Free)
It is a scenario played out in countless living rooms across the country: one partner is speaking with increasing intensity, seeking a response, a resolution, or a sign of connection. Meanwhile, the other partner is retreating, physically moving away, looking at their phone, or simply becoming a "stone wall" of silence. To the person speaking, it feels like they are shouting into a void. To the person retreating, it feels like they are being hunted. This is not just a "bad da

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 204 min read


The ADHD PIP 'Surge' & The Gaslighting Epidemic: Why the UK Workplace is Failing Neurodivergent Adults
In the early months of 2026, a quiet tectonic shift in the UK’s social landscape reached a breaking point. Headlines across the BBC and Al Jazeera began reporting a "surge" that had been building for years: over 100,000 UK adults are now claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP) for ADHD and Autistic Spectrum Disorders. To some, this is a fiscal crisis or a "fitness for purpose" debate; to those of us working on the clinical front lines, it is something far more profound.

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 165 min read


Beyond the Prefrontal Cortex: The New Brainstem Science of Distractibility
For many of us, the experience of attention isn't a steady beam of light. Instead, it feels like a bone-deep struggle to keep a frantic bird from fluttering against the cage of our own skulls. You might describe it as "ping-ponging" between thoughts, or the feeling that your brain is a "mental pinball machine," where every external sound or internal itch triggers a new, involuntary trajectory. For decades, the clinical narrative has focused almost exclusively on the Prefronta

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 145 min read


Strategies for Procrastination: For the ADHD Brain
For many individuals living with ADHD, the word "procrastination" carries a heavy, "bone-deep" weight of shame. You might have been told, or told yourself, that you are "lazy," "unmotivated," or "lacking discipline." However, as we delve into the latest clinical research from 2026, it becomes increasingly clear that procrastination in the ADHD brain is not a moral failing or a character flaw. Rather, it is a complex biological and systemic reality rooted in how your brain pro

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 85 min read
ADHD & Relationships: Why Standard Counseling Might Be Failing (And the Fix)
In the quiet of a therapy room, many couples sit with a heavy silence between them, a silence that is not for lack of love, but for a lack of understanding. If you or your partner have ADHD, you may have already tried relationship counseling, only to find that the progress feels like sand slipping through your fingers. You discuss communication; you agree on "chore charts"; you leave with hope. Nevertheless, within forty-eight hours, the old patterns return. The forgotten bin

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 74 min read


"Reverse SAD": Why Summer Heat Can Trigger Anxiety, Irritability, and Low Mood
As the UK grapples with the record-breaking heatwave of July 2026, many of us find ourselves retreating indoors, not just for the shade, but for an emotional respite. While the traditional narrative of summer is one of vibrancy and outdoor joy, a significant number of people are experiencing something far more clinical and debilitating. Recently, searches for Summer Seasonal Affective Disorder (Summer SAD), often referred to as "Reverse SAD", have seen a staggering 285% spike

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 14 min read


"Reverse SAD": Why Summer Heat Can Trigger Anxiety, Irritability, and Low Mood
As the UK grapples with the record-breaking heatwave of July 2026, many of us find ourselves retreating indoors, not just for the shade, but for an emotional respite. While the traditional narrative of summer is one of vibrancy and outdoor joy, a significant number of people are experiencing something far more clinical and debilitating. Recently, searches for Summer Seasonal Affective Disorder (Summer SAD), often referred to as "Reverse SAD", have seen a staggering 285% spike

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jul 14 min read


Know Your Mental Health at Work Rights UK: The Ultimate Guide for 2026
Navigating the modern workplace can often feel like walking through a "task tapestry" where every thread is a competing priority. For those of us living with anxiety or ADHD, the friction between our internal processing and external demands can lead to significant burnout. Nevertheless, it is vital to understand that your brain's unique wiring is not a character flaw; it is a biological reality that the law is increasingly designed to support. In 2026, the landscape of UK emp

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jun 264 min read


Purpose Matters: Why Existential Therapy is the Cure for Digital Burnout
In our hyper-connected era, the primary source of exhaustion is no longer merely physical. It is a profound, cognitive, and spiritual depletion known as digital burnout. You may find yourself stuck in a cycle of endless scrolling, reactive emailing, and the relentless ping of notifications, yet despite being "connected" to the entire world, you feel increasingly isolated and hollow. At Life Changes 4 Good Consulting, we see this phenomenon daily. It is not just "screen fatigu

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jun 255 min read


Looking For a Life Reset? Here Are 10 Things You Should Know About Existential Therapy
Perhaps you have arrived at a juncture where the narrative of your life feels increasingly disconnected from your internal truth. You might be experiencing a persistent sense of "stuckness," an underlying hum of anxiety about the future, or the disquieting feeling that you are merely performing a role rather than living a life that is authentically yours. At Life Changes 4 Good Consulting, we often meet individuals who describe this as a "crisis of meaning." While contemporar

Dr Danielle Baillieu
Jun 245 min read
bottom of page






