Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
Get positive Mental Health and Live Life To The Max!
Psychologist based in Lutwyche, 4030
My background and experience comes from a variety of areas, prior to working as a Psychologist. I have an enormous interest in and respect for complementary health and healing modalities and see a place for conventional medicine, complementary health and psychological / mental therapies.
My focus mirrors my Mission Statement because the focus is always on you and getting the results you want.
I am highly experienced in working with clients with severe mental health problems, particularly those that have stemmed from abuse and trauma.
NLP, Timeline and Hypnosis
As well, because of my NLP, Timeline and Hypnosis training, there are many areas which may respond to these therapies. Here are some problem areas that I work in:
- Health and Healing of illness
- Mood Disorders – Anger, Depression, Anxiety
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by accidents, sexual abuse, abusive relationships
- Adjustment to Injury / Accidents : Alleviation of Pain (including Migraine and injury)
- Weight Management and Eating Disorders
- Giving up Smoking
- Relationship Counselling
- Relationship Breakdown
- Personality Disorders
- Performance Enhancement
- Sports performance
As a client, you’ll receive support notes on: the psychological techniques, Stress management tools, Meditation techniques and healthy living suggestions, to help you remember your sessions and continue your good work at home.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
The techniques that are used, come from Cognitive Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Neuro Linguistic Programming, Hypnosis and Timeline.
What do these fancy words really mean? It means that you will be using your mind, that’s the thinking part also known as cognition) as guided by your psychologist, to make changes in your attitudes, beliefs and behaviours.
You’ll also learn a variety of practical tools that are also CBT or NLP based, which may include:
- Mindfulness Meditation
- The Stop Technique to interrupt those thoughts on the rat wheel
- Emotional Observation to let go of emotions
- The Rubber Band Technique
- Mood and Re-structuring of Mood via a diary
There are often lots of laughs, practice of psychological techniques, and a feeling of being fully supported.
My clients have told me that they initially thought what good will this do, and that as they began to improve, they couldn’t believe the difference they experienced in themselves. It was as though all the old ‘stuff’ was like a long ago bad dream.
Please be advised that the cases outlined on these and other pages on this website are only an indication of the results that may be obtained, and that every person’s situation is different, and that every person’s response to therapy and length of time in therapy, may also differ according to the severity of symptoms, the duration of symptoms, and the innate beliefs of each individual regarding their ability to respond to treatment or different therapies.
Some Psychology Case Notes
(Without names or identifiers of course, to preserve confidentiality.)
Anger
A young man came to see me with anger problems and suspected epilepsy. During the course of the work which focussed on clearing emotions and healing processes to assist with the suspected epilepsy, he described to me that he had had a complete change within himself. This was wonderful for both him and me, to help him to learn how to relax and take care of himself.
His anger, which had previously been quite fiery and aggressive, was now under control and if he was angry, his anger lasted all of 30 seconds! What a change!
Anxiety
Cognitive-behavioural theory tells us that anxiety can occur when one perceives a threat or possible danger to oneself and/or others.
Mrs X came to see me because she had suddenly become very anxious following a siege that occurred in her city. Although Mrs X was not involved in the siege and lived quite a distance from where the siege occurred, Mrs X had become very frightened for the safety of her children and herself. There were also some relationship issues due to her husband’s drinking.
Mrs X completed 8 sessions with me, during which time we completed specific trauma/phobia techniques designed to resolve and let go of trauma, stress management training with relaxation and visualisation exercises, plus mindfulness meditation processes.
Mrs X recovered extremely well and was able to live her life without fear or medication. When I last saw her, she was enjoying dance classes with her daughter!
Depression
Most people don’t realise that depression is made up of many attributes and that these must be considered as a package of symptoms, in combination with how long you have had the symptoms, the severity of the symptoms, and other factors. Accurate diagnosis is essential and should only be carried out by a qualified professional.
- Memory problems, especially for short term memory
- Sleep irregularity – can be oversleeping, under sleeping or broken sleep
- Inability to see a future for yourself
- Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness
- Irritability and/or anger
- Low or non-existent sex drive
- Eating irregularity – overeating, under eating
- Withdrawal and even isolation from normal and social activities
- Difficulty making decisions
If you’re experiencing the above symptoms of depression, do seek help quickly. You can be treated in conjunction with natural therapies and/or medication.
Giving Up Smoking
I recommend that you have 4 regular sessions of hypnosis to give up smoking and get lasting results. Smoking is a regular habit so regular sessions do get great results.
When you give up smoking with hypnosis, there is no craving, and no desire to smoke. One of my clients told me “I had a fight with my partner and huffed out of the house (running on automatic thinking) to go and buy cigarettes, until I got a block away and remembered I don’t smoke anymore.” She sheepishly returned home!
Migraine
Recently, a man who had been suffering from migraines for close to 2 years, came to see me. The migraines had come on during an especially stressful time when he was involved in starting a new business.
Finances had subsequently become very strained and his living situation changed drastically. In a 1 hour session, we were able to remove the limiting decision (albeit unconscious) to have migraines, and he let go of the pain. Two days later the pain had still not returned and Mr X was very happy and looked 10 years younger.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Some people may misinterpret intrusive thoughts (thoughts that keep popping in, particularly with a negative slant), as a sign that harm might occur, and they could be responsible unless they take preventative action.
Therefore, normal thoughts such as, “better wash my hands, I patted the dog, and I’m about to eat” can become obsessional, and can generalise or spread to many other situations where danger may occur due to lack of hygienic habits.
In order to prevent the thoughts, the person takes preventative action, in the example above – hand washing, and this behaviour may become compulsive, needing to be repeated over and over again so that harm does not occur.
Unfortunately, the behaviour serves to reinforce the thoughts, and may actually increase the person’s beliefs about the threat of harm. So, all thoughts and behaviours increase so as not to be harmed, or harm others.
The Future Success technique assists you to learn to create positive scenarios, that feel good. Many people with an anxiety disorder and/or OCD, mentally fast forward to negative outcomes of future events that are filled with negatively impacting emotions.
Your subconscious or inner child cannot tell the difference between what is real or imaginary, so it treats whatever you imagine as being real… (whether there is a positive or a negative effect…)
Additionally, at some time in your life a limiting decision may have been subconsciously/unconsciously made to respond with anxiety, panic or ritualistic (OCD) thoughts and behaviours, in order to try and control the outcome, or be safe.
Timeline processes are able to be used to remove the limiting decision that was made, when it first occurred, allowing you to finally feel that you are in control and safe from harm.
Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Mr X had witnessed the murder/suicide of two of his best friends and was experiencing flashbacks, nightmares, recurrent taste of blood in his mouth, hyper-vigilance and some anxiety.
Over a course of 4 sessions, Mr X completely resolved all of these symptoms and was extremely grateful.
Weight Loss
Mrs X came to see me because she had increased weight gain, due to a thyroid condition which had been diagnosed approximately 2 years before.
The treatment approach involved working with her Timeline of memories, via her sub-conscious mind to get her subconscious mind to realise that this was a very limiting decision that had been made, to have this illness.
It may sound strange, but our subconscious mind is capable of following instructions that we give ourself, when we are under stress. For example, we might say, “I am so dumb, I’ll never learn anything.” Your subconscious mind hears that, takes it on board, and learning becomes a lifelong struggle for you.
For this lady, even after one session, she lost the pain she had been experiencing in her wrists, and by about the third session, had begun losing weight at a steady .2 to .3 kg daily.
We also completed a deep hypnosis session to help with the weight loss.
