Mental Health Problems

I have experience working with the following mental health problems. I believe not all negative mental health experiences need to be pathologised and/or given a label, as this can often narrow the direction of therapy and can lead to feelings of stigmatisation etc.. Conversely, I also understand the value diagnosis can have for some clients and how it supports treatment approach. My approach is to work collaboratively with clients about the definitions used during their therapy and believe it is important to reflect upon the meaning of labels.

Click on a box for more information

Depression & Low Mood

Depression negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. It can cause feelings of sadness, loss of interest in activities once enjoyed, leads to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home.

Suicidal Thoughts/Self Harm

Suicidal thoughts and behaviours are both associated with high levels of distress, both for the people engaging in them and those around them. Everyone's experience of suicidal feelings is unique to them. You may feel unable to cope with the seemingly endless difficult feelings you are experiencing. You may feel less like you want to die and more like you cannot go on living the life you have. These feelings may build over time or might fluctuate from moment to moment. And it's common to not understand why you feel this way.

If you are feeling suicidal please do get in contact as soon as possible or with organisations such as Maytree or The Samaritans.

Existential Issues & Meaning

When a long-term belief you were settled upon appears to be at odds with more recent perceptions of reality. The actions and thoughts you had previously aligned to the old system of belief are rendered pointless or obsolete. It becomes so much of an issue it becomes impossible to conceive of way you can continue. The meaning of your existence past, present and future starts to have an enormous amount of doubt attached to it and it feels like you living in a dream, but in waking life.

Complex Trauma & Abuse

Complex trauma is often caused by childhood abuse, in all its different forms, as well as neglect and growing up with family violence or dysfunction. The traumatic stressors are usually interpersonal, the trauma is premeditated, planned, and often repeated/prolonged and the impacts are cumulative.

Grief & Bereavement

The passing of loved ones is an inevitable part of life, and grief is a natural part of the healing process. The reasons for grief are many, such as the loss of a loved one, the loss of health, or the letting go of a long-held dream. Dealing with a significant loss can be one of the most difficult times in a person's life.

Mid-life Conflicts

When our acquired sense of self, with all its perceptions and complexes, begins to grate and grind against a greater sense of self which seeks its own realization. The coping mechanisms developed to protect ourselves from feeling inadequate and getting hurt begin to feel heavy and our armour prevents us from growth.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe. Everyone has feelings of anxiety at some point in their life and during times like these, feeling anxious can be perfectly normal. However, some people find it hard to control their worries. Their feelings of anxiety are more constant and can often affect their daily lives.

Personality Structures

Everyone has different ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. It is these thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that make up our ‘personality’. They shape how we view the world and the way we relate to others. Personality traits sit along a scale and everyone gets emotional, or jealous, or just wants to be liked at times. It is when these traits start to cause problems that you may have a personality disorder. A personality disorder can affect how you cope with life, manage relationships, how you behave, and how you feel. There is no single cause of personality disorder and it is likely to be a combination of reasons, including relational and environmental causes.

Attachment & Relationship Issues

Unresolved childhood attachment issues can leave someone more vulnerable to problems in forming secure adult relationships. Patterns of attachment continue through-out the life cycle and across generations. There is a strong correlation between insecure adult attachment and marital dissatisfaction and negative marital interactions. If an adult does not feel safe with others, he/she will tend to be either rejecting of their partner or overly clingy.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress generally occurs after a significant incident which is deemed out of the ordinary, such as witnessing an injury or death or being in danger yourself. It could have been a large scale disaster, or a small significant incident. Initial reactions to the event might include shock and disbelief. Over time these can fade but more troubling thoughts and feelings can emerge, which might include anger, helplessness or fear. Often it can be difficult to process your memories of the event, or understand what happened and why. You might re-experience the incident through intrusive flashbacks or nightmares

Insomnia & Sleeping Disorders

Insomnia has been found to be caused by mental health conditions, unhealthy sleep habits, specific substances, and/or certain biological factors. Recently, researchers have begun to think about insomnia as a problem of your brain being unable to stop being awake. It's important to understand what could be causing your sleep difficulties as sleep deprivation is extremely difficult to

Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders

Substance-related issues are problems involved with intoxication, dependence, abuse, and substance withdrawal caused by various substances. These substances can include alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and prescription medications etc. When you have both a substance abuse problem it is occasionally linked to other mental health issues such as depression, bipolar disorder, or anxiety etc..

Phobias

A phobia is an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal. Phobias are more pronounced than fears. They develop when a person has an exaggerated or unrealistic sense of danger about a situation or object. If a phobia becomes very severe, a person may organise their life around avoiding the thing that's causing them anxiety. As well as restricting their day-to-day life, it can also cause a lot of distress.