Blog & Articles
Parenting Through the Storm: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Adolescence
Adolescence is not a problem to be solved, but for many Melbourne families the intensity of this period can leave parents feeling shut out, helpless, or frightened. Clinical psychologist Myles Medwell offers a psychoanalytic perspective on what teenagers are really navigating, why the conflict with parents is often necessary, and how families can find support before the distance becomes too wide to bridge.
Psychoanalysis vs ‘Healing Culture’
Modern wellness culture promises to regulate, optimise, and return you to wholeness — but psychoanalysis begins from a fundamentally different place. Rather than strengthening the ego or silencing your symptoms, a psychoanalytic approach invites you to listen to what your unconscious is already saying. If you’ve ever felt that conventional therapy wasn’t quite reaching the right place, this article explores why depth-oriented work offers something different.
Narcissism and the Fragile Self
Narcissism is often misunderstood as arrogance or excessive self-love. Clinically, however, many narcissistic traits are organised around a deeply fragile self-esteem — a self structured defensively against shame and collapse. Beneath sensitivity to criticism, relational volatility, or oscillations between confidence and self-doubt lies a fundamental question of recognition. This article explores narcissistic wounds from a Lacanian perspective and examines how psychoanalytic therapy in Melbourne can support the development of a more stable and integrated sense of self.
Why “Feeling Your Feelings” Is Not Enough
“Freud is frequently mischaracterised in popular psychology as an advocate of emotional venting. However, a close reading of The Unconscious (1915) reveals that repression operates primarily on the level of representations—the ideational content—rather than on the affect itself. This paper argues that the ‘hydraulic model’ of the psyche is a fundamental misunderstanding of clinical practice.”
Eroticising Diagnosis
In this reflection from the Brisbane Psychoanalytic Congress, Myles Medwell explores how diagnosis in psychology is often stripped of its deeper meaning. By rethinking diagnosis as something erotic – rooted in desire, mystery, and relational dynamics – he invites readers to consider how naming can both trap and transform us.
The Stranger Within
What if your thoughts don’t belong entirely to you? Friedrich Nietzsche once suggested that we are strangers to ourselves. In this post, we explore what happens when we stop trying to control every thought and begin to listen instead.