When is it time to consult a Brisbane Clinical Psychologist

When is it the right time to get some help? People in Brisbane, like everyone else, face life challenges. However, there are overbearing situations that moving on almost seems insurmountable.

Help is available when life’s challenges become overwhelming. The challenges could range from broken relationships, death of a loved one, or being overpowered by anxiety.

In Brisbane, a Brisbane clinical psychologist is the right professional help to seek when life’s problems prove too much to bear alone.

In the past, seeking help from a clinical psychologist was kept a secret. Not so today when people consult a clinical psychologist for common reasons, to include:

Phobias

While everyone has a phobia, the most common ones are the fear of spiders and heights. However, some phobias can create serious complications in a person’s lifestyle. For instance, the fear of eating or sitophobia is an unfounded and unusual fear that can seriously compromise an individual’s health.

An experienced clinical psychologist will be able to help you start to overcome the various debilitating fears you have. This professional help starts to make life bearable when the fear of many things or polyphobia can be overcome.

 

Addictions and other unhealthy habits

Drug use, smoking, and drinking are unhealthy habits that are often used as a means to escape from underlying issues. These problems can be helped by an experienced clinical psychologist. Additionally, the psychologist can also help with issues detrimental to your health, to include:

  • Sleeping problems
  • Addictions
  • Managing stress
  • Eating disorders

 

Anxiety and stress

Life’s stressful situations can cause feelings of anxiousness. Situations ranging from relationship issues to job interviews can stress you out. However, while feeling anxious and stressed is fairly common, it becomes a problem when it results in depression, social isolation, and other mental issues.

Finding the root or cause of your problems is the way a clinical psychologist helps to manage anxiety and stress. The psychologist will be able to recommend appropriate ways to overcome stress and anxiety.

 

Loss

The loss of a loved one is an unavoidable part of everyone’s life. Yet, the loss is never easy to deal with. Everyone has a different way of dealing with the loss of a loved one.

Expressing private or public grief is fairly common. However, lingering problems from the loss can cause a slew of problems. Coping with the death of a loved one can be appropriately dealt with help from an experienced clinical psychologist.

 

Depression

The most common signs of depression are the overwhelming feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. People commonly believe that they will be able to overcome depression. Nothing is further from the truth for “snapping out” of depression rarely happens.

One of the common mental health disorders is depression. Depression in people becomes apparent when they find it hard to manage their emotions, lose interest in everything happening around them, or experience extreme fatigue.

Finding the source of the depression is the timely help a clinical psychologist can do. Helping an individual get rid of negative thoughts is often the first step implemented by a clinical psychologist.

One of the helpful professionals to include in your health kit is a clinical psychologist. Getting the most out of your life is the positive benefit provided by a psychologist. Don’t be ashamed to book with a Brisbane clinical psychologist.…

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depressed child

Signs that Your Teen Child is Depressed

In the current age, teenagers tend to face a great deal of pressure because of their school, their friends and their family as well. Due to all these things, teens tend to feel a great amount of pressure in wanting to be included and to be a part of everything around them.

Many a times, parents tend to feel that their teen child is showing them moods or is always having mood swings. But the thing that they need to understand is that it is not always moods that cause your child to behave in a certain way. It is sometimes a tell-tale sign of depression.

Wondering about the signs that your teen child is suffering from depression? Besides consulting with a child psychiatrist adelaide, these tips can help as well.

Always on the phone

This is a normal phenomenon for many teenagers and even adults. But there is a fine line between using your phone for enjoyment and contact and using it to escape. Generally, depressed teens are always looking for a way out from everything and to escape reality. In such a situation, they latch onto anything that takes them away and the easiest thing here is their cell phone.

If you notice that your child is almost always on the phone, then you need to sit them down and talk to them about what is happening especially if they are on their phone if everyone is around too.

Rude and irresponsible behavior

rude child

Depressed teens are known to lash out and involve themselves into activities that can be harmful for them. Take a note of the different activities that your child is involved in. If you feel that there is a sign that your teen is into smoking, drinking or worse, doing drugs then you know something is wrong with them.

Such a behavior is highly risky and can end up becoming dangerous for your child and your whole family as well because it has a huge amount of contingencies attached to it. If you find signs, then you need to take immediate action and stop them as soon as possible. If things are completely out of control, then you need to get them admitted into a rehab center so they get back to normal.

A violent streak

One of the major causes of teen depression is bullying. This often occurs when your child is not confident enough or if they cannot physically defend themselves. After successive periods of getting bullied, teens tend to turn to the other side and become violent.

They will tend to become physically abusive with everyone around them and if there is ever a situation in which they are in trouble, they will resort to using physical retaliation rather than trying to solve it out.

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Anxiety Symptoms and Treatments Explained

There are many stress factors in life that may cause people to experience symptoms of anxiety. At the time that I am writing this article, the economic situation shows an increased level of unemployment, which may produce financial problems and added stress for families. People may get easily frustrated when they have been job searching for a long period of time without many positive results from their consistent efforts. It can be an added burden when an employee loses their benefits along with their job position. They may begin to feel helpless.

In somewhat of an opposite situation, working moms that are really busy can easily become physically and mentally exhausted from trying to juggle their career and family responsibilities. They may also have the added responsibility of caring for their aging parents. It can be a challenge to find enough time to get the proper rest.

You need to realize there are different levels of stress. It is not uncommon for people to feel a little nervous when they are going for a medical appointment, or interviewing for an important job they really want. A traumatic event or major lifestyle changes can cause anxiety. Divorce, death of a loved one, job loss, and health issues are common factors that can make people experience sadness, loneliness, and anxiety.

Symptoms for anxiety may include restlessness, nervousness, irritability, sleep disturbances, and feelings of fear. People with anxiety may also experience dizziness. They may feel like they have shortness of breath or palpitations. Sometimes, the anxiety lessens or goes away when the actual precipitating stress factors improve. For example, someone that is unemployed might feel more calm, relaxed, and reassured after they get a new job and get settled in with the company.

Another example would be the following: if a person is newly diagnosed with a medical condition, such as diabetes, they may get more education from their doctor about how to treat their disease, possibly with diet and properly prescribed medication. Hopefully, this may help to alleviate any unnecessary fears.

Also, if a family has a major relocation to a new city or town, it may take a little time and effort to get adjusted to their new home, neighbors, school, stores and general surroundings.

However, if anxiety remains ongoing and reaches the level where it interferes with a person’s ability to function with their daily responsibilities, it may be considered an anxiety disorder. Unfortunately, people who experience chronic anxiety may have a difficult time performing their work duties or taking care of their routine family responsibilities at home.

The true cause of anxiety is unknown; however, anxiety disorders may be caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. Research has shown that genetics and environmental stress are important factors involved with anxiety. It is essential that a person experiencing anxiety symptoms speak to their physician about obtaining a medical exam to rule out any possible medical cause for their current symptoms. For example, pituitary, adrenal, or thyroid conditions may possibly cause anxiety symptoms.

There is some good news. It may be comforting to know there are treatments to help alleviate or lessen anxiety. Actually, there are easy lifestyle changes that may help anxiety. To read more about anxiety and depression you may wish to visit my Psychology Concepts blog which includes information regarding obsessive compulsive disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, agoraphobia, anxiety and more. It also covers topics such as coping with everyday stress, and provides some ideas about how to get good sleep.

In today’s busy society, people have a habit of taking on too many responsibilities everyday without balancing their day with some relaxing time just for themselves. If you don’t have adequate time to take care of yourself, you might not have enough energy to take care of your family on an everyday basis.

I have seen that when people take care of themselves mentally and physically, they may find they are more productive at their job and with their family responsibilities. It is not unusual for people to put others’ needs before their own and they may use too much of their own energy. They may become more prone to the negative effects of stress.

There are positive steps that you can take to better cope with your daily responsibilities. For example, working moms can ask their spouse and children to help with family chores, if appropriate. It is a great habit to schedule a specific amount of time each day just for yourself to relax.

It may be beneficial to treat yourself to a special times during your week for enjoying your hobbies, such as the following: listening to music, watching movies, shopping, dining out with friends and family, and just allowing for enough time everyday for relaxation. Hobbies can be very therapeutic for people experiencing anxiety. Reading, creative writing, yoga, crafting, and gardening are some more relaxing ideas. A real easy way to make your day a little brighter is to take a walk out in the fresh air and sunshine. My favorite way to decrease stress is to spend a little extra time with our family pets. A favorite dog or cat can provide many positive emotional benefits in our lives. Also, support groups can be helpful during stressful times. Friends and family can prove to be great support systems.

As strange as it may sound, I actually feel less stress after I get myself more organized with everything at my home. I find that the more clutter I have accumulated, the more I have a tendency to feel stressed throughout the day. After I clean the house and successfully complete some organizing projects, I feel that I have more control in my life. Often times, I make daily “To Do” lists and cross things off after I complete them. It makes it easier to see my accomplishments. It is rewarding, and it definitely seems to help with time management and productivity.

Living a healthy lifestyle, in general, may be helpful to prevent or lessen anxiety. I have learned that our bodies actually function better when we maintain somewhat of a daily routine. Sleep provides wonderful repair time for the body, and many times we don’t get enough sleep. It may be beneficial to try to routinely go to bed and wake up around the same time each day. To read more about sleep information, you may wish to visit my Healthy Sleep Information blog. It provides helpful ideas about how to get good sleep. Maintaining a healthy, balanced diet is also important when we are choosing our daily food choices. A nutritious diet includes fruits and vegetables.

Now, there are also some traditional treatments for anxiety which may include the following: psychological counseling, learning relaxation techniques, biofeedback, or prescribed medications. Counselors may help teach cognitive-behavioral therapy to people with anxiety disorders. People who have anxiety symptoms can learn to replace their negative thought pattern with positive thoughts.

Physicians may decide to prescribe anti-anxiety medications or antidepressants for people with anxiety disorders. Often times, people that are depressed may also experience anxiety symptoms. The doctor may develop an individualized outpatient treatment plan, which may include some counseling. For people with severe anxiety, there …

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Criteria That Must Be Present To Make The Diagnosis Of Somatization Disorder

The requirements that mental health specialists must take into account in making the diagnosis of somatization disorder are the following:

  1. Item or and physical traits that make the pain or will grow to essential difficulties in everyday life.
  2. Extreme ideas, beliefs or practices compared to physical signs or blended with care for form, as evidenced by one or more of the following characteristics:
  • Disproportionate and persistent thoughts about the severity of the symptoms themselves.
  • Persistently elevated the degree of anxiety about health or symptoms.
  • Excessive time and energy devoted to these symptoms or concern for health.
  1. Although some somatic symptom may not be continuously present, the symptomatic state is persistent (usually more than six months).

How does somatization disorder develop and what is its course?

In older people, somatic symptoms and concurrent medical conditions are common, so it is crucial to make the diagnosis an approach in criterion B.

Somatization disorder may be underdiagnosed in older adults, either because specific somatic symptoms (e.g., pain, fatigue) are considered part of healthy aging or because concern for the disease is considered "understandable" in the elderly. Older people, who generally have more medical illnesses and need more medication than younger people. Depression is also common in older people who have numerous somatic symptoms.

Somatization disorder in children

In children, the most common symptoms are the recurrent abdominal pain, headache, fatigue, and nausea. It is more frequent than a single sign predominates in children than in adults. Although young children may have somatic complaints, it is rare for them to worry about the "disease" per se before adolescence.

The response of parents to the symptoms is essential, as this can determine the level of distress associated. Parents can be decisive in the interpretation of signs, in the time they miss school and in seeking medical help.

As we have seen, somatization disorder is associated with a significant deterioration in health status and with other diseases such as depression or anxiety. In this sense, seeking psychological help is essential to improve the quality of life of these patients.

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