Nothing lasts forever
When the certainty that a relationship will end organises the relationship — and ends up ending it. How rejection sensitivity works, and how to get out of it.
Read the article →Blog — Psychology and CBT
Articles on relationship psychology, CBT, well-being and personal development.
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One Year After Burnout: What Remains, and What Has Really Changed
At one year the episode is closed for everyone except the person concerned. What lastingly remains, what becomes an advantage, and why a second episode does not follow the same mechanics as a relapse.
Read the article →Performance Review or Career Development Review: Two Meetings, Two Purposes, Two Preparations
The two meetings are routinely confused, sometimes held within the same hour — and the employee is the one who loses out. What each is for, what you prepare for it, and why merging them serves nobody.
Read the article →Phased Return on Medical Part-Time: Who Decides It, and What It Really Changes
Part-time work on medical grounds is presented as half a day less. It is a scheme requiring several separate agreements, with one central flaw: half the hours almost never produces half the workload.
Read the article →Preparing for Your Performance Review: A Six-Point Checklist for Employees
Preparing for a performance review isn't re-reading your objectives the night before: it's re-reading a year of exchanges. A six-point checklist, with what to look for and what to write down.
Read the article →Questions to Ask Your Manager in a Performance Review: Twelve That Work, Five That Backfire
The moment you are asked whether you have any questions decides what will remain of the review. Twelve questions sorted by purpose, what each one actually produces, and the five that backfire.
Read the article →Quiet Firing: When the Company Pushes You Out Without Saying So
Work removed, silence, promotions that keep going elsewhere: quiet firing makes a job unliveable rather than abolishing it. How to spot it, document it and decide.
Read the article →Quiet Quitting: What It Actually Is, and What It Is Not
Quiet quitting is neither laziness nor resignation. A precise definition, what it really covers, the three profiles it hides, and how to tell which one is yours.
Read the article →Your Raise Was Refused: The Four Possible Next Steps
A refusal isn't the end of a discussion, it's a fork. The four routes genuinely available, the question to ask within 48 hours, and why the refusal in writing is the most useful document you'll get.
Read the article →Refusing to Work Because of a Coworker: The Costliest Misunderstanding, and What to Look For Instead
Many people look to the right to stop work for protection against a working relationship that has become unliveable. Why that is not the tool, which routes genuinely answer that need, and who to put the question to.
Read the article →Renegotiating a Job Offer You've Already Received — Without Losing It
The offer has landed, the number isn't right, and the fear of blowing it up freezes everything. What makes a renegotiation safe, what makes it genuinely risky, and why one round is enough.
Read the article →Repairing a Working Relationship After Conflict: What Can Be Rebuilt, and What Cannot
After the agreement, the relationship remains. The four levels of repair that are genuinely available, the sequence that makes them reachable, and the sign that you should stop at the third.
Read the article →Reporting a Behaviour to Your Manager: When, How and With What
What makes a report admissible or inadmissible: the three-criterion threshold, preparing the record of facts, wording the request, and the six mistakes that make it rebound.
Read the article →Resigning in the Middle of Burnout: What That Decision Costs
Leaving ends the exposure, not the exhaustion — and confusing the two is the expensive part. Why a decision to quit taken at the lowest point often backfires, and how to keep it available for later without losing it.
Read the article →Returning to a Management Role After Burnout
A manager coming back from long-term leave returns to a role whose load is made of availability and arbitration — precisely what lightens least. The four difficulties specific to management, and what gets decided before the return.
Read the article →Returning to Work After Burnout: A Phased Return in Four Stages
A return to work after long-term leave is decided in the six weeks before the date, not on day one. Four stages, and the three questions to settle before any return date is agreed.
Read the article →Running Performance Reviews for Your Team: Preparation, Wording, and What Remains Afterwards
From the manager's side: the four biases that distort an appraisal, the three-part feedback formula, how to run a difficult review, and the written record that commits — without ever describing the person.
Read the article →Negotiating Pay in the Public Sector: Contract Staff and Permanent Staff
In public service, part of your pay is fixed by rules and part is decided by a person. Where the line runs, why recruitment is the only real window for contract staff, and why no article can state your entitlements.
Read the article →Selling Yourself in a Performance Review Without Overselling: The Line Between Evidence and Boasting
Why an account of your results either rings false or vanishes, and the four-part formula that settles both: the fact, the context, the effect, the evidence. Including the case of invisible work.
Read the article →Sick Leave for Burnout: How Long, Why It Gets Renewed, and What It Actually Changes
What a period of medically certified sick leave for work exhaustion really changes: why the first certificate is short, why renewal is the norm rather than a failure, and the pre-return consultation almost nobody asks for.
Read the article →Over 2300 applied psychology articles
The Psychologie et Sérénité blog offers over 2300 articles written by Gildas Garrec, CBT Psychopractitioner. Each article is based on validated psychological models (Gottman, Young, attachment theory, CBT) to provide concrete keys to understanding.
Couple communication — Gottman's 4 horsemen, the 5:1 ratio, stonewalling, NVC
Attachment — Anxious, avoidant, disorganized styles, path to secure attachment
Emotional dependency — The 10 signs, self-assessment tests, CBT strategies
Ghosting & dating — Ghosting, breadcrumbing, curving, orbiting, zombieing
Manipulation — Gaslighting, control, narcissistic pervert, psychological violence
Infidelity — Understanding, forgiving, trauma bonding, reconstruction
Anxiety & stress — Relationship anxiety, burnout, rumination, insomnia
Jealousy — Pathological jealousy, retrospective, social media
Breakup & grief — The 7 stages, no contact, relationship PTSD
Couple & cohabitation — Moving in, arguments, libido, mental load
Parenting — Parental alienation, co-parenting, blended family
Young's schemas — 18 early schemas, cognitive distortions
Dating apps — Mental health impact, paradox of choice, dating fatigue
Mental health — When to consult, online therapy, CBT vs EMDR