Anxiety: Some anxiety is a normal part of life. However, anxiety becomes problematic when it begins to interfere with daily living. Anxiety disorders are characterised by persistent and excessive worrying and fear. It encompasses a range of conditions including Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Phobia, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Specific Phobias, and Post-traumatic Stress disorder (see below).

Childhood Anxiety: In addition to treating adlults, some of our clinical psychologists are trained in delivering psychological treatment to address a variety of childhood anxiety problems including fears and phobias. They use Cognitive Behavioural Techniques (CBT), which have been shown to be very effective in alleviating such problems. CBT involves a variety of strategies depending on the nature of the anxiety, however the most common include training in relaxation techniques, desensitization to help the child confront and overcome their fears, cognitive techniques to help the child identify, challenge and replace their negative and anxiety provoking thoughts, as well as reinforcement strategies to help them overcome avoidance. Importantly, we also work with the parent by providing them with information and strategies to use at home to encourage their child to implement the skills learnt in therapy.

Generalised Anxiety Disorder: Individuals worry excessively and persistently about a number of areas of their lives including their families, health, job, or finances.

Panic Disorder: Individuals experience recurrent and unexpected panic attacks which are followed by persistent concern about having another panic attack or concern about the implications of the panic attacks (e.g. that they are going to die or go mad).

Social Phobia: Individuals are anxious about being scrutinised or evaluated by others in case they do something humiliating or show obvious symptoms of anxiety. The anxiety usually leads to avoidance of certain situations (e.g. eating, speaking, or writing in front of others, social gatherings).

Specific Phobias: Individuals have a persistent & irrational fear of a particular object or situation (e.g. fear of enclosed spaces, fear of heights, storms, animals, insects). The fear usually leads to avoidance of those objects or situations.

Depression: is a mood state that is characterised by significantly low mood, loss of interest in pleasure/activities that are normally enjoyable, low energy, problems with memory & concentration, reduced self-confidence/self-esteem, pessimism regarding the future, thoughts or acts of self-harm or suicide, disturbed sleep & appetite, decreased libido and feelings of guilt & worthlessness. When this mood is present most of the time for at least two consecutive weeks it is usually described as a 'major depressive episode'. A major depressive episode may range in its severity (e.g. mild, moderate, severe).

Anger: People with problems controlling their anger have difficulty coping with external pressures and the way these external stressors impact upon them. Day to day problems, negative thoughts and beliefs, and relationship problems are interrelated because an increase in stress-related tension also increases the likelihood of anger and aggression.

Anger occurs on a continuum from irritability and anger caused by the belief that life is unfair, and that someone has violated our strong internal standards of behaviour at one end , and hostility and uncontrollable rage at the other. Rage is caused by childhood situations where a person has been repeatedly criticised and humiliated and made to feel that they are neither worthy nor lovable. These wounds to the self over a long period of time become the trigger where people defend themselves against these negative feelings by using extreme aggression to protect their repeated feelings of low self-worth. The Cognitive Behavioural Treatment (CBT) of anger involves first understanding the specific areas that trigger your anger responses, and then challenging negative thoughts and beliefs about the yourself, other people, and your future. Another important aspect of CBT looks at the deeper core beliefs and schemas which developed in early life. Helping you to gain an understanding of these and then changing them is an important aspect of treatment. For example looking at beliefs of:

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: When people experience trauma such as abuse, assault, injury, accidents, natural disaster or war, they are often overwhelmed and often having difficulty dealing with them. It is normal to experience a wide range of reactions to trauma including numbness, shock, denial, fear, anger, and guilt. It is also normal to experience feelings of depression such as reduced motivation and interest in activities once enjoyed, as well as poor concentration and memory. For many people with time and support these emotional reactions can settle but for others professional help is required. If strong trauma symptoms persist for more than three months and interfere with a person’s life, the person is said to have Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Symptoms of PTSD include i) re-experiencing, which includes unwanted intrusive thoughts and memories of the trauma, flashbacks, etc ii) arousal which includes being easily startled, difficulty sleeping, poor concentration, anger and iii) avoidance such as trying to avoid thoughts, people and places which remind you of the trauma, difficulty recalling important aspects of the trauma, feeling detached from others, or finding it difficult to foresee a normal future.

Sometimes these trauma symptoms surface shortly after the trauma, but at other times they appear up to months or years later.

Relationships: Relationships are central to our psychological health. Healthy and supportive relationships with friends, family, or partners are associated with increases psychological well being, and reduced levels of depression and stress. However relationships can be complicated, and building and maintaining healthy relationships can be difficult. People seek counselling for couple conflict, relationship breakdown, poor communication, marriage counselling, infidelity, difficulties in relationships with colleagues, friends, and family members.

Self Esteem: Counselling is available to help you build your confidence, including issues of self-worth, achievement, and belonging.

Workplace Stress: We help individuals to manage their anxiety and stress at work which may be caused by interpersonal conflict, work pressures and demands or lack of assertiveness. We also see individuals who have worker’s compensation claims to help them address their anxiety, depression, stress or trauma related workplace issues.

Chronic Pain: Although pain is physical in origin, pain which persists for more than three months is known as chronic pain and has a significant psychological element. Research has demonstrated that physical pain is exacerbated by the emotional distress an individual often experiences as a result of pain. Emotional distress can occur following loss of physical functioning, forced career changes, reliance on medication, as well as a loss of confidence, changes in role in the home etc. Addressing these psychological issues can increase an individual’s coping resources to deal with pain, and as a result sometimes reduce the amount of pain experienced.

Parenting: Parenting can be a difficult job, and unfortunately we receive little or no formal training for it. We either do what our parents did, or we do the exact opposite, depending on our opinion of the parenting we received. Psychologists have researched and studied what works, what is effective and what is not, and seeing a psychologist can help you learn parenting skills to make the job a little easier. Often, the psychologist aims to help parents avoid ineffective parenting responses by learning effective ways of managing their children's behaviour. 

Group Therapy: The benefits of group therapy include that you learn that you are not alone in experiencing psychological problems. Group therapy also allows you to learn from the experiences of others with similar problems, and enables you to better understand how different people view their problem, their world and other people. Many people are anxious about participating in group therapy, because they don't want others to know about their problems. As part of group therapy, all group members are told not to discuss information shared in the group with others outside the group. The Centre for Psychological Services runs groups in a variety of areas including depression, anxiety, social phobia, and pain management.                 

                                                                                           GROUP PROGRAMS

  ______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Five Group Programs for Adolescents offered at the

Centre for Psychological Services

 

The Resourceful Adolescent Program (RAP)

Helps build young people’s resilience against depression and increase their self-esteem

 

The Peer Interpersonal-Relatedness (PIR) Program Teaches young people how to develop and maintain supportive peer friendships

 

The Coping With Stress (CWS) Program

Helps adolescents to cope with daily life stress

 

The Confident Kids Program

Focuses on helping youths to deal with bullying and the accompanying anger and anxiety that victims may experience

 

The Friends for Life Program

Targets youth anxiety and depression

 

Please call 9588 7606 for more details

 

All groups are bulk billed

 

Groups can be run at the school or at our Centre

  _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

                                                                  NEW GROUP FOR ADULTS STARTING 6 October 2010!!

                                                                                    Acceptance and Committment Therapy (ACT) for ANXIETY

 “Accept with serenity what you cannot change, have the courage to change what you can, and develop the wisdom to know the difference”.

ACT is a unique behaviour therapy approach that aims to address human concerns, such as anxiety and worry, in a compassionate way while encouraging people to pursue things that are important to them.

ACT has two major goals:

1. Foster acceptance of unwanted anxious thoughts and feelings that are experienced and whose occurrence or disappearance cannot always be controlled.

2. Commitment and action toward a valued life

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is based upon six core principles that work together to help you develop a life-changing mind-set known as “psychological flexibility”. The greater your psychological flexibility, the better you can handle painful thoughts and feelings and the more effectively you can take action to make your life rich and meaningful.

                                                                                                               PROGRAM DETAILS

WHAT: We offer a six session skills based program for adults who wish to learn new skills to manage their anxiety, and who wish to develop the capacity to respond to life using mindful choices versus habitual or reactive patterns. This includes cultivating the ability to endure unpleasant or difficult experiences, thereby increasing resiliency. The group is being run by Clinical Psychologists Emma Webster and Anne Antonios.

WHO: The program has been developed for adults suffering with anxiety and who are willing to commit regularly to our program, practicing the skills over the course of the program and beyond. This includes people experiencing anxiety, stress, concentration difficulties, impulsive or reactive behavioural patterns, or those who wish to prevent depression relapse.

WHERE: Centre for Psychological Services - Suite 1, Ground Level, 18 Montgomery Street, Kogarah.

WHEN: Sessions are 1.5 hours in duration and will be held on Wednesday evenings from 6.30pm to 8.00pm. The group will run weekly and begins on 6 October 2010.

                                                                             Please call us to register your interest!!!

COST: $60.00 per 80 minute session. A non-refundable payment for the first 3 sessions is due prior to the first session, a total of $180.00. A second non-refundable payment of $180.00 for the second 3 sessions is due prior to the 4th session. Payment may be made by cash, cheque or Eftpos.

MEDICARE REBATE: For those referred to the group program under Medicare by their GP, a rebate of $29.90 is available for each attended session, resulting in an out of pocket expense of $30.10 per session. Medicare do not rebate sessions that are not attended. Your GP will need to supply a brief letter of referral to the group program. If you already have a referral for individual sessions under Medicare, you are also eligible for up to 12 group therapy sessions at the same time.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR THE MEDICARE REBATE? People with a formal diagnosis made by their GP. For example, anxiety, depression.

PRIVATE HEALTH REBATES: For those not referred under Medicare, a refund may be possible through your private health insurer, depending on your cover. Please contact your insurer for further details.

REGISTRATION: Due to room size, places are limited and therefore secured once payment has been received. If you would like to register for the group, please Phone 9588 7606.  If you have a Medicare referral, please supply the GP referral letter prior to coming for the first session.

For other current groups and to register your interest please contact us on (02) 9588 7606 or email us at enquiries@centrepsych.com.au

Psychometric Assessment for children, adolescents and adults: Our practice provides psychological assessment of children, adolescents and adults. Assessments are conducted by Masters Degree trained Clinical Psychologists, and a report and feedback session are provided as part of the service.

The following services are available for children and adolescents aged between 6 and 16 years of age:

Medicare rebates may apply for initial assessments of some childhood conditions. Further information can be provided at the time of enquiry. Private health fund rebates often apply to most assessments. However, please contact your health fund for details.