Anna Blundy
Prospect Magazine
Italy
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Past articles by Anna:
When it comes to mental health, the best strategy can be to have no strategy
It is easy to get sucked into treatment plans and strategies, to be seduced by some new model promising a cure in only a few sessions. But life just isn’t like that → Read More
It’s my supervisor’s joke about Ottolenghi that helps my understand a tough patient
“Your patient finds being cared for unbearable,” he says. → Read More
What it’s like to start therapy later in life
Who have you been pretending to be for all these years? For older patients, it's all about finding out → Read More
How not to handle a near-death experience
My patient had been silent for about ten minutes—that's when I began to worry → Read More
There's one big question that all my patients ask me: "am I normal?"
A lot of therapy involves accepting what we are actually like instead of punishing ourselves for not being how we’ve been taught we ought to be → Read More
Whether it’s “Remoaners” or your wife’s lover, this is why we love to pin our problems on others
Brexiteers need Remainers, Capitalism needed Communism—and vice versa → Read More
Why are psychologists so interested in your mother?
A psychoanalyst once summed up glibly the two approaches: Freudian—your mum was mean to you. Kleinian—you think your mum was mean to you → Read More
If you're not attracted to your therapist, let's face it: you will be
It was my own urge to sexualise all my relationships that made me so defensive about my feelings for my analyst → Read More
Does online therapy work? Even with a four-year-old banging on the door, it’s better than nothing
There are challenges to long-distance therapy. But it also allows sessions to take place from anywhere → Read More
What kind of madness is forgivable? The psychology of murder
A barrister friend described a case to me. A gory crime was witnessed by multiple bystanders. “The defence is going for diminished responsibility. Maybe insanity,” he said, rolling his eyes. “But is the murderer mad?” I asked. My friend shrugged. “Presumably.” Diminished responsibility will reduce your sentence, but a plea of insanity might get you off altogether. So, for a jury to look kindly… → Read More
Freud isn’t sexist—in fact, psychoanalysis is feminist
Feminist thinkers often take issue with Sigmund Freud’s work Oh, hallowed halls of the Institute of Psychoanalysis. Bronze busts peer down from plinths, trainees skulk beneath clutching their wine glasses sweatily, and those who feel assured of joining the bronzes in the not too distant future smile benignly with an air of infinite wisdom. There are crisps. It’s a seminar on psychoanalysis and… → Read More
The idea that all therapists are content is stubborn—but wrong
My psychoanalyst’s hallway is full of puffy jackets, the kind of outdoorsy coats he and his family must need for their bracing but life-affirming hikes. Off they stride chatting and laughing, on the long journey that will eventually lead them back to their idyllic cottage where they’ll make a fire, get a roast in the oven and pour the wine. I think we all assume that our therapist is happy.… → Read More
View from Italy: The People’s Republic of Prato
Prato, a small Tuscan town 16 miles from Florence, is famous for the Lippi frescoes in the Cathedral of Santo Stefano, and for its ancient textile business, documented by the 14th-century merchant Francesco Datini, whose palazzo can still be visited. Or, rather, that is what Prato used to be famous for. For Prato is now famous mainly for its Chinatown, known as Santo Beijing and stretching from… → Read More
Life of the mind: The itch to diagnose Trump
United States President Donald Trump ©Olivier Douliery/DPA/PA Images Is your partner a psychopath? Is your partner a sociopath? Is Donald Trump suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder? My sister told me that eating the whole of an apple including the core means you are a narcissist. A psychiatric nurse told our seminar group that before studying psychoanalysis he’d always understood… → Read More
Life of the mind: The itch to diagnose Trump
United States President Donald Trump ©Olivier Douliery/DPA/PA Images Is your partner a psychopath? Is your partner a sociopath? Is Donald Trump suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder? My sister told me that eating the whole of an apple including the core means you are a narcissist. A psychiatric nurse told our seminar group that before studying psychoanalysis he’d always understood… → Read More
View from Italy: The People’s Republic of Prato
Prato, a small Tuscan town 16 miles from Florence, is famous for the Lippi frescoes in the Cathedral of Santo Stefano, and for its ancient textile business, documented by the 14th-century merchant Francesco Datini, whose palazzo can still be visited. Or, rather, that is what Prato used to be famous for. For Prato is now famous mainly for its Chinatown, known as Santo Beijing and stretching from… → Read More
Life of the mind: The constant life companion
My patient arrived puffy and sleepy from pregnancy. Although she had self-confessed difficulties with being a female mammal (as opposed to a male one), she has surprised both of us by relaxing happily into pregnancy. She looks comfortable in all senses. “Pete died last night,” she sighed. Her father-in-law had been ill for a year, diagnosed with terminal cancer about six months after the death… → Read More