Editorial Policy

What Guides the Voice of This Clinic

At the Other Clinic, the written word is not decoration. It is a continuation of our clinical stance.

The content on this site is shaped by a psychoanalytic orientation, informed especially by Lacanian thought, but it is also shaped by clinical work, academic study, care work, and many years of listening to people speak about suffering, desire, symptoms, relationships, loss, repetition and the difficulty of change.

We do not write to offer prescribed advice, quick fixes or predefined solutions. We aim to preserve something of the complexity of psychic life, and to write in a way that opens rather than closes.

This is a clinic that holds to the ethics of desire, not the promise of adaptation to the norm. We are interested in the singularity of each subject, not in norms, averages or simplified categories. Our writing, like our clinical work, tries to reflect that.

 

Who Writes Our Content

Content on this site is written or overseen by Colin McDonnell, Clinic Director of the Other Clinic.

Colin is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist with a Master of Arts in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, a Master of Arts in Addiction Studies, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. He is an accredited member of the Association for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in Ireland, a member of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy, and a graduate member of the Psychological Society of Ireland.

The writing on this site is shaped by Colin’s clinical, academic and care-related experience over more than twenty years. This includes psychoanalytic psychotherapy, addiction studies, psychology, hospice care, psychiatric settings, community services and private clinical practice.

Before working as a psychotherapist, Colin worked for almost ten years as a care assistant in a hospice. That experience continues to inform the clinic’s sensitivity to suffering, dependency, grief, dignity, fear, illness and the question of what it means to live.

Where other clinicians contribute to or review content, their names, qualifications and profiles are included where appropriate.

Clinical Review

Clinical content is reviewed before publication or substantive update. The purpose of review is to ensure that the writing is clinically responsible, accurate, careful in tone, and consistent with the way we work.

For key service pages, we aim to include author and reviewer information, along with a “last reviewed” date, so readers can see who is responsible for the page and what clinical experience sits behind it.

Review does not mean that a page becomes a set of instructions. Therapy cannot be reduced to a formula. A page can be clinically careful while still leaving space for the complexity of each person’s experience.

Our Editorial Standards

There is no marketing team. There is no board. Nothing here is written to meet content quotas, or chase trends. Search visibility matters only insofar as it helps people find a clinic that may be right for them.

We resist clickability in favour of clinical integrity, honesty and producing curiosity.

Our content aims to be:

1) Accessible, without being reductive.

2) Clinically responsible, without becoming cold or procedural.

3) Reflective, without being obscure.

4) Grounded in training, experience and clinical thought.

We do not publish content that promises cures, guarantees outcomes, or presents therapy as a method of normalising the person. We do not offer lists of tips simply because they are searchable. 

 

Sources, Evidence and Clinical Judgement

Some pages refer to clinical research, psychoanalytic writing, professional literature, public health information or other relevant sources. Where we draw on external material, we aim to do so carefully and in context.

Our writing may also include recommended reading where this helps situate a topic more thoughtfully.

Updates and Accuracy

We review important clinical and service pages periodically, especially where information may change or where a page is central to how people find the clinic.

Pages may be updated to reflect changes in services, staff, professional standards, terminology, internal links, clinical emphasis, or the way a topic is best explained.

If you believe a page contains outdated or inaccurate information, please get in touch at [email protected].

What Our Content Is Not

The content on this website is for general information only. It is not a diagnosis, not medical advice, and not a substitute for psychotherapy, psychiatric care or emergency support.

If someone is in immediate danger, at risk of harming themselves or someone else, or in urgent mental health crisis, they should contact emergency services or an appropriate crisis support service.

Why We Publish

We aim to open a space for subjectivity, where each person may begin to follow the thread of their own singularity.

Sometimes that means offering clarity. Sometimes it means resisting the pressure to make explanations too neat.

If something in our writing provokes thought, recognition, irritation or curiosity, we consider that worthwhile.

If you wish to comment on anything written here, you are welcome to contact: [email protected]

ethics policy