Senior psychological consultancy for complex people and high-pressure organisations.
Specialist Psychological Formulation
When the picture is more complex than the presenting symptom
Sometimes the difficulty is not one thing.
Sleep may have changed. Work may be costing more. Your body may feel less predictable. Health, pain, menopause, neurodivergence, grief, relationships or sustained responsibility may all be interacting.
You may still be functioning outwardly while privately feeling less able to manage what once felt possible.
A specialist psychological formulation provides a structured, confidential space to understand the wider pattern before deciding what may help.
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Understand the Pattern Before Deciding What Comes Next. Sometimes the most useful first step is not another intervention.
It is a clearer understanding of what has changed, what you are carrying and where meaningful change may be possible.
The Mycore Formulation Approach
NSCTA™ — Neuro-Somatic Capacity–Threat–Agency
Mycore's formulation work is increasingly informed by NSCTA™, an evolving psychological formulation framework developed by Rebecca Downes.
NSCTA considers how multiple influences may interact with three organising dimensions:
Capacity · Threat · Agency
Capacity
What resources are currently available to meet demand?
Threat
What is the system having to manage, anticipate or protect against?
Agency
Where is there choice, influence or room to respond?
A central proposition within the developing framework is:
When load exceeds available capacity, flexibility can narrow, protection can activate and agency can reduce.
The purpose is not to label the person or find one cause.
It is to understand what the system is carrying and what may need attention first.
Body Mind Interface
NSCTA sits within a broader biopsychosocial understanding: physical, psychological and contextual influences continually affect one another.
In formulation, this means considering information arising from:
the body — including sleep, pain, hormones, illness and fatigue;
the mind — including thought, memory, emotion, meaning and expectation;
and the world around us — including work, relationships, culture, environment and practical demands.
Rather than choosing between body, mind or environment, formulation considers how they may be interacting.
Conceptual attribution
The organisation of these influences is informed in part by neuroscientist Dr Sarah McKay's Bottom-Up, Outside-In, Top-Down model, itself described by McKay as being loosely inspired by the biopsychosocial model.
NSCTA™ is an evolving formulation framework. It is not a medical diagnostic system or an independently validated clinical treatment.
Understanding How Body-Mind and Life Context are Interacting
Is Psychological Formulation Right for Me?
Particularly useful when several things seem to be interacting
Formulation may be helpful when:
- the picture feels more complex than standard advice addresses
- health and psychological wellbeing appear to be affecting one another
- you remain outwardly functional but are struggling privately
- previous therapy has helped only partly
- your capacity seems to have changed
- menopause, neurodivergence, pain, fatigue or health change is part of the picture
- work or caregiving demands are difficult to separate from how you feel
- you want greater clarity before committing to therapy.
You do not need to know beforehand what is causing the difficulty.
Working that out is part of the formulation.