We can help you overcome

The symptoms of anxiety can be debilitating (who wants to have their heart racing, difficulty breathing and an overwhelming sense of dread when they’re doing the shopping or answering the phone?). They can lead us to begin to avoid situations that might trigger us and to restrict our lives more and more. We can then start to miss out on the things that gave us joy, or the chance to connect and have meaningful relationships with others. This can, in turn, lead to the additional issue of depression.

The symptoms of depression include loss of interest in the things you previously enjoyed, loss of motivation, poor self-esteem or loss of hope for the future. They can make every area of life feel like a struggle.

Often, people experience a mixture of symptoms of both anxiety and depression.

Therapy can help you to learn new ways of managing these symptoms, to understand why you are experiencing them and to make the changes required so that you can live a fulfilling life.

Adverse experiences in childhood or adulthood can have an impact on every part of our lives. We might find it hard to trust others, or expect to be hurt again, we might tend to blame ourselves and feel a great deal of shame, and our bodies can react with anxiety, even though we know we’re safe now. We might experience nightmares or intrusive thoughts that keep us feeling ‘on red alert’.

It can feel as if we are ‘stuck’ in the trauma, even when our lives have moved on (and this is actually true, in the sense that trauma hard-wires particular patterns of brain function, and remains trapped in patterns of movement in our bodies – so its not ‘just in our heads’!).

Therapy can help you to start to feel safe in your body, to regulate your emotions and to unhook yourself from history so that you can truly start to live again.

Excessive use of drugs or alcohol are usually an attempt to manage our emotions, or to feel a sense of connection that we might otherwise be missing. This behaviour can be seen as a coping mechanism, but one which comes with its own set of problems, so that eventually, as with many of our ways of coping, they produce more problems than they solve. Through this lens, this behaviour is something to understand and have compassion for, rather than to approach with judgment or criticism (often we’ve had enough of that in our lives!).

Therapy can help address this way of coping, support you in finding other ways of managing your emotions and difficulties, and address the issues that led you to need this way of coping in the first place.

The perinatal period is a time of huge change. Fertility issues can cause a great deal of stress, unplanned pregnancies can throw our world up in the air, while even planned pregnancies can challenge us in every area of life. Before and after the birth of a child, it’s normal to feel fear, grief for our previous lives, joy, boredom, gratitude, resentment, love, anger, guilt – you name it, we can feel it!

Often having a child can bring up unresolved emotions from our own childhood, or a fear of repeating patterns from our own parenting. We don’t necessarily anticipate these challenging feelings, when we may have been expecting only to feel love and joy! In our modern world, we are often isolated in our homes, dealing with these feelings, and when we look around, other people always seem to have it together (no one sees behind closed doors!). This can all contribute to Post Natal Depression. 

But you are not alone!

Therapy in which you will feel ‘allowed’ to feel and talk about this without judgement, can help us to shrug off the guilt and anxiety, find ways of managing our emotions with compassion and tune into our own inner wisdom.

Do you ever feel that you are stuck, unable to reach your full potential? You might find yourself in repeating patterns in relationships, or in work situations or being held back by limiting beliefs about yourself that you can’t shake. Therapy can help you to address the barriers that stand in your way so that you can achieve your goals.

We all want the best for our children, and it can be incredibly stressful when they are suffering emotionally or struggling with peer relationships, divorce, trauma, school or behavioural issues. Therapy can address these issues before life-long patterns develop. This can involve working with you as a parent to develop strategies and support you in supporting your child, and/or through work with the child directly, for instance through Play Therapy. We also run groups to support parenting (see ‘Circle of Security’) and for children with anxiety issues (see ‘Peaceful Kids’).

Neurofeedback is available at South Sydney PTS, an approach that works directly on the brain (though is not invasive!), to train the brain to improve functioning. This can be extremely effective with ADD, ADHD, and issues associated with Asperger’s and Autism as well as with anxiety, depression and the impacts of trauma. See Trix for further information about Neurofeedback.

The teenage years are a time of huge change in every area of life (brain and biology, relationships, education, sexuality), and can come with a great deal of pressure and challenge. Young people often have self-esteem issues and struggle with intense states of mind, which can show up as body image issues, eating disorders, drugs or alcohol misuse, self-harm and even suicidality. Often young people avoid talking their problems through, expecting judgment or criticism from peers and adults. Our therapists who have a special interest in working with young people, can become a safe, supportive space where a young person can learn how to regulate their emotions, recognise unhelpful patterns and feel empowered to make changes and grow.