Question 1

Anxiety

Accepted Answer

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem, affecting around one in four people in their lifetime. Anxiety can present in many ways, from panic attacks, social anxiety, frequent worry, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias, and more. But, they all share a common factor of a sympathetic nervous system activation that leads to fear of and avoidance of something: thoughts, physical sensations, activities, objects, or people. Luckily, due to their ubiquity, plenty of research has produced some excellent evidence-based therapies that can work as well as, better than, and in tandem with, anxiety medications, depending on the disorder.

Question 2

Depression

Accepted Answer

Depression is a mood disorder and is the second most common mental disorder experienced by around one in five people in their lifetime. It often co-exists with an anxiety problem. Decades of research have provided some excellent evidence-based therapies for depression that work well independently or in tandem with antidepressant medications. Therapy for depression involves understanding the negative depressive spiral and how to start reversing it through your actions, your ways of engaging with your thoughts, the world, and others. Most people can make a good recovery from depression, and therapy can help speed this up and equip you with skills to manage stressful events in the future to reduce the chance of a relapse.

Question 3

Grief and bereavement

Accepted Answer

The universal experience of grief can be a real challenge to a person's sense of self and can lead to bleak predictions of what life will be like in the future. Some people become stuck with grief, staying raw and disruptive for months, stretching into years. It can look like depression and can affect our lives to the same extent. Grief cannot be erased or magicked away, but the goal is that a person can live their life around the grief. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based therapy suited for understanding and weathering the emotions and behaviours associated with grief while reconnecting with life.

Question 4

Adjustment to chronic illness, loss of mobility, or increased care needs

Accepted Answer

Chronic illness and disability can take hold at any time of life and is increasingly common as people age. Rates of depression and anxiety are significantly elevated following a heart attack and stroke, and recovery from surgery can be complicated with infection and ongoing mobility and pain issues. This can drastically change a person's activities, and some people may be facing increased care needs at home or a move to a retirement village or rest home. Some people may need to stop driving for medical reasons. These adjustments can be complex and may come on top of recent losses such as bereavement. A person may need help evaluating their options and finding new ways of meeting their values and goals. Expectations may need to change, and self-compassion may be required. These things may be usefully worked on as part of a therapy relationship.

Question 5

Dissatisfaction and disconnection

Accepted Answer

Perhaps you have difficulty accessing life goals, or you have attained the things you thought you should, but you feel disconnected, unfulfilled, and wonder what the point is. It could help to discuss your life circumstances, expectations, and relationships and identify your values to determine what might help you move closer to what you want in life.

Question 6

Making a decision / solving a problem

Accepted Answer

Some life decisions are difficult and don't have an easy answer. These decisions could be around relationships, work and career, work/life balance issues, or health and wellbeing goals. Discussing these with a therapist can help to define the problem, generate and evaluate solutions, and make a plan for a preferred course of action. Having some external motivation provided by an encouraging therapist may also assist in moving through the problem-solving process to get to your goal.

Question 7

Managing life transitions

Accepted Answer

As we move through life, we are confronted with several choice points that can lead our lives in vastly different directions. There is often no easy answer, and it can be a time of worry. Some of the more common transitions are starting or stopping study, moving out of the family home, starting or ending relationships, job or career decisions, issues regarding sexuality or gender identity, becoming a parent, caregiving for family members, moving to an assisted living facility, losing a partner or spouse, or retirement.   Life transitions often require reconfiguring our lives. This can be painful and accompanied by feelings of loss, instability, and anxiety. These emotions can make it hard to see the opportunities and positive aspects of change. Talking with a therapist about these changes can help in processing emotions and identifying and trying new coping strategies to assist in managing the life transition.

Question 8

Disordered eating and body image

Accepted Answer

It's impossible to avoid cultural and gendered expectations about body shape and size. Desires to fit a certain body standard can lead to bad relationships with food and exercise. Negative thoughts about appearance and body size can be frequent and vicious. They can lead to unhelpful and potentially dangerous behaviours such as food restriction, binge eating, excessive exercise, vomiting or excessive laxative use. The more we think about something, the more we think about it, and thoughts can become obsessive and intensely distressing.     There are effective treatments for eating disorders, particularly bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. Medical and/or nutritional oversight may be required to manage an eating disorder. Psychotherapy can help understand the influences on expectations of shape and weight, seek to unearth and challenge unhelpful thinking, and make fundamental changes to unhelpful behaviour. Disordered eating is often shrouded in emotions of shame, guilt, disgust, and embarrassment. These emotions and fear of judgement can prevent people from seeking help and allows the condition to continue for longer than it needs to. Once you've committed to change, unhelpful eating behaviours can start to change in weeks. Please note that I do not treat anorexia nervosa.

Below are some examples of problems that people may seek therapy for.