Articles

Catch-22 is what happens when you are hemmed in by mutually exclusive rules or conditions that work against you. Try to break one and you comply with the other. Break the other and you have complied with the first. Once such rules or conditions apply to you, you cannot control them, because trying to break them means keeping them. How does Catch-22 show up in real life?

Should you confide in your children? Let them in on the secrets of your private life? Answer questions like "Mum, why did you two quarrel?", "Dad, why did you split up?", "How are the two of you getting along?", "What’s going on in your love life?" The answer:

Imagine you have a bad cold and a fever. What do you normally do? You go to the doctor and get treatment. If someone asks how you are, you say: "Not great, I’ve caught a cold." Perfectly normal, isn’t it? But what would you do if you had trouble communicating, outbursts of anger or a low emotional state? Would you look for help the way you do with your body? Almost certainly not. And yet our psyche needs our attention and care

Inna was one of those clients who take over the initiative straight away, barely noticing that they have taken it over. People like her have "I’m alive!!!" written on their forehead in huge red letters framed with flashing coloured bulbs — and for anyone slow on the uptake or short-sighted, Inna will always demonstrate her enjoyment of life in practice. Not because she has to, but because she simply cannot do otherwise.