DARVO: the three-step strategy that makes you the accused
DARVO: deny, attack, reverse victim and offender. Understand the sequence that turns you from complainant into accused, and what disarms it.
Read the article →Blog — Psychology and CBT
Articles on relationship psychology, CBT, well-being and personal development.
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The double life: public charm, private destruction
Why the man everyone adores is the one you dread, and why nobody believes you when you talk about it.
Read the article →A failed career change: what it actually taught you, and how to start again
A career change fails for three very different reasons, and they do not call for the same next step. How to read what happened and restart from a fact, not a hunch.
Read the article →Favouritism at Work: What It Does to Those Left Out
Why favouritism erodes people more than harshness, how it forms without anyone deciding, what separates it from a legitimate difference in treatment — and what can actually be done.
Read the article →How to Document a Toxic Manager: What Actually Counts as Evidence
What makes a record usable — texts, emails, work documents, witness statements, medical certificates, ideally dated — and why a chronology of facts is worth more than a verdict.
Read the article →How to Talk About Workplace Distress Without Putting Yourself at Risk
Saying work is harming you without weakening your position: the difference between a feeling and a dated fact, what belongs in a conversation, what must be in writing.
Read the article →"I Don't Know What to Do With My Career": A Method When Nothing Stands Out
Having no clear calling is not a flaw, it is the majority case. Why waiting for a vocation fails, and the method built on exposure and elimination that works instead.
Read the article →Job interview stress: what actually works on the day
Interview nerves are not a flaw to eliminate. What damages performance is the interpretation, not the shaking. Useful preparation, three things that work on the day, three that don't.
Read the article →Leaving with Nothing Lined Up: What Work Psychology Says
Leaving your job with nothing lined up: what work psychology observes, the three weeks that destabilise, and how to get through without losing yourself.
Read the article →Men cry too
Why do a man's tears make people uncomfortable? What the ban on crying costs, and why male depression so often goes unnoticed.
Read the article →The Micromanaging Boss: How to Spot It, Cope With It, and Get Out
Micromanagement usually comes from the manager's anxiety, not from a wish to crush anyone. What separates it from normal oversight, what it costs, and the levers that actually make it recede.
Read the article →Narcissistic abuse experts: Racamier, Hirigoyen, Cyrulnik
Who coined the phrase narcissistic pervert, who made it public, and why it appears in no medical classification.
Read the article →New Job Stress: How Long Is Normal?
The real question isn't how many weeks — it's which way it's going. Three trajectories to tell apart: normal decline, the plateau, and worsening.
Read the article →Preventing Work-Related Stress: What Is Yours to Change, and What Isn't
Breathing exercises don't change a high-demand job with no control over it. An honest split between what an employee can genuinely do and what only the employer can fix.
Read the article →Reporting Workplace Distress: Who to Tell, and What Each One Can Actually Do
Occupational health, employee representatives, your union, HR, the labour authority: what each can do, what each cannot, and what to prepare before the first appointment.
Read the article →ScanMyJob: turning your work messages into a dated record of facts
ScanMyJob analyses your real work conversations — WhatsApp, Slack, Teams, email — and produces a dated, sourced, exportable record of facts. What it does, what it refuses to do, and why that refusal works in your favour.
Read the article →Sunday night dread: what it actually signals
The Sunday scaries are an anticipation response, not a character flaw. Three criteria for reading what they signal, a three-week record, and the point at which to see a doctor.
Read the article →A Toxic Boss During Probation: Leave Early or Hold On
Probation changes everything: little to lose, little information, and a reversibility that later disappears. How to tell new-job discomfort from a real signal, in three to six weeks.
Read the article →Toxic Boss: When to Stay and When to Leave
A four-step method: separate the boss from the job, measure the real cost of staying, work out your fallback before you negotiate, and set a dated review with criteria written in advance.
Read the article →Toxic Boss: What to Do When Leaving Isn't an Option
You can't quit yet. Six practical levers to reduce exposure, keep a dated record of facts and hold your ground — without labelling anyone and without waiting for a turning point.
Read the article →Over 2300 applied psychology articles
The Psychologie et Sérénité blog offers over 2300 articles written by Gildas Garrec, CBT practitioner. 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