Some of the more common issues I treat
Stress and Anxiety
Depression
Depression is a real illness and carries with it a high cost in terms of relationship problems, family suffering and lost work productivity. Yet, depression is a highly treatable illness.
Everyone feels sad or "blue" on occasion. It is also perfectly normal to grieve over upsetting life experiences, such as a major illness, a death in the family, a loss of a job or a divorce.
But depressed people tend to feel helpless and hopeless and to blame themselves for having these feelings. People who are depressed may become overwhelmed and exhausted and may stop participating in their routine activities. They may withdraw from family and friends. Some may even have thoughts of death or suicide. Some depression is caused by changes in the body's chemistry that influence mood and thought processes. Biological factors can also cause depression. In other cases, depression is a sign that certain mental and emotional aspects of a person's life are out of balance. Several approaches to psychotherapy, including cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and psychodynamic, help depressed
people recover. It can help to pinpoint the life problems that contribute to their depression and help them understand which aspects of those problems they may be able to solve or improve.
Identify negative or distorted thinking patterns that contribute to feelings of hopelessness and helplessness that accompany depression
Explore other learned thoughts and behaviors that create problems and contribute to depression
Help people regain a sense of control and pleasure in life
Cognitive-behavioural therapies, which help you substitute desirable responses and behaviour patterns for undesirable ones, are the most effective ways to reduce stress.
Identifying sources of stress. You may want to keep a stress diary in which you record the occasions that were stressful to you, triggered anger or anxiety or caused a physical response. Jot down the time of day and the circumstances that led to it, then try to identify the types of events or activities that cause stress.
Restructuring priorities. Examining your priorities and goals to determine which stressful activities or situations can be eliminated. Learn to replace time-consuming chores that aren't really necessary with activities that are pleasurable or interesting, for example. Find ways to balance the stress inducers you can't eliminate - like unpleasant working conditions, an unhappy family situation or a significant loss - by including stress-reducing activities in your day.
Adjusting your responses to stress. You can change the ways you respond to stress. Some ways of adjusting your responses to stress include:Discussing your feelings. Feelings of anger or frustration that are not expressed in an acceptable way may lead you to feel hopeless and depressed. The suggestion of letting your feelings out is good advice. The goal is to assert yourself and your needs in a positive way; doing so in a negative way (yelling and behaving aggressively, for example) can be counterproductive. Also important is learning to listen, empathise and respond to others with understanding. If you can't talk to a trusted friend, try writing in a journal or composing a letter.
Keeping your perspective and looking for the positive. Focus on positive outcomes in stressful situations. It helps by thinking of the worst possible outcomes and assessing the likelihood of those happening. Then, envision a positive outcome and develop a plan to achieve that outcome. Also helpful: remembering past situations that initially seemed negative but ended well.
Using humour. Laughing releases the tension of pent-up feelings and helps keep perspective.
We live in a society which over-emphasises slimness as the way to success, love and personal happiness, even in childhood, the relationship between self worth and a positive self image are strongly correlated with body image, and problems begin with the internalisation of these values with their relationship and meaning of food in itself.
CBT is more effective than diet and exercise regimes on their own because it works at the underlying core issues which perpetuate these gain loss cycles.
1) Self Esteem issues
problems of self worth, self esteem.
2) Body dismorphism
a self image which has a distorted picture of how one physically appears to others.
3) Stress related problems
difficulty in providing alternative strategies coping in anxiety and depression.
4) Social anxiety
Specific problems socially related to self-consciousness in social situations.
5) Feminist issues
Relationship issues with men/women in the physical/sexual presentation of the self.
6)Identity confusion - Childhood problems which have been unresolved and make maturation into adulthood more difficult.
Self–esteem is how you think and feel about yourself; this may be positive, negative or move between the two points. This usually dictates how you live your life and the decisions you make – and how you view others too.
The more positive feelings you have about yourself, the higher your self-esteem is; the more negative feelings you have the lower your self-esteem is. Our materialist world, where people continually compare themselves with those around them, highlights our insecurities and often leads us to feel negative about ourselves and the way we live. We lose sight of the value of our own individuality and then feel inadequate and unsatisfied. It can become an enduring personality trait.
Working to improve your self-esteem takes time and effort. It requires courage and honesty to confront the things in yourself you don’t like but long-term it is a worthwhile task which should help you to feel better about yourself and your life.
Weight loss and eating disorders
Self esteem and confidence