About Man Chimp

I’m a forty something guy, married with a young daughter. I worked for 17+ years in IT and 7 years ago I retrained into Counselling and Psychotherapy and I now work as a Counsellor in my own private practice. I’m also a qualified supervisor. I’ve recently started running as a way of exercising and there is very good research linking regular exercise to good mental health as well as physical health. During my running training I’ve become interested in the application of psychology to my performance.

Why are using a pseudonym?

I work hard to keep my private life out of my client’s life as it has the potential to pollute the work and so it’s better for them if I remain in the shadows. Lurking, like a great lurky thing.

Psychology

Why Man V. Chimp?

At the heart of my therapeutic approach is relationships:

• external relationships to others and or context
• (crucially for this blog) internal relationships to sub-personalities that we all possess.

As I sit with my clients I’m used to noticing the different aspects of their personalities and how they complement or clash with each other. I try to help my clients to notice these dynamics, to notice the ‘other’ and to listen to their messages. With this increased awareness of the other, a dialogue can start and this can lead to harmony and common goals.

In 2012 Consultant Psychiatrist Professor Steve Peters published The Chimp Paradox in which he presented the idea that we have a primal part of our psyche which is driven by emotions which he called The Inner Chimp. When stressed The Inner Chimp can take control of our responses without asking permission. Peters argues that you are not responsible for the nature of your Chimp however it is your job to manage it.

And what is the relevance?

Professor Peters has used this approach with many successful sportsmen and women, including The British Cycling Team, Team Sky, Ronnie O’Sullivan, UK Athletics and Liverpool FC. But you don’t have to be an elite athlete to benefit. As I highlight in my first blog post when I’m running and I start to feel the pressure I hear The Chimp.

My Chimp is pessimistic, negative, lazy, critical and he’ll do and say whatever he can to make me rest and just give up. Like all Chimps he’s incredibly powerful and can be extremely aggressive. He can make loads of noise and bluster and it can be really unsettling. I have to work really hard to catch him before he sabotages my plans and then I have to find a way to soothe him so he settles down.

I hope by writing this blog that I can share some of my experiences of my development as a runner; the techniques I use to manage my thought process as I’m running and to gain feedback and comments from the wide and supportive running community.