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Most people are likely to experience a potentially traumatic event in their lifetime, and most individuals recover well, given time and adequate social support.For some individuals however, the experience of a traumatic event or chronic exposure to trauma can trigger symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.

 A sense of reliving the traumatic event

• experiencing unwanted and distressing thoughts or images, flashbacks, nightmares, or feeling as though the event is recurring.

Avoidance and numbing

• avoidance of people, places, thoughts and activities associated with the traumatic event
• feeling emotionally flat, losing interest in enjoyable activities, or feeling disconnected from friends and family.

Negative thoughts and mood

• persistent negative thoughts about self, others, and the world
• distorted views about the causes and consequences of the event.

Feeling wound-up

• feeling irritable, angry, over-alert, or edgy
• experiencing difficulties concentrating
• experiencing difficulties getting to sleep or staying asleep.

There are a range of psychological treatments for PTSD. The two types of treatment that are most effective are called trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy (TF-CBT) and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR).

For more information or to make an appointment please contact Yvette Rae on 0407 962 758.

Everyone occasionally experiences some anxiety. It is a normal response to a stressful event or perceived threat. Anxiety can range from feeling uneasy and worried to severe panic.

Although some anxiety is a normal response to a stressful situation, when the anxiety level is too high a person may not come up with an effective way of managing the stressful or threatening situation. They might “freeze”, avoid the situation, or even fear they may do something that is out of character.

The experience of anxiety will vary from person to person. Central features of anxiety include ongoing worry or thoughts that are distressing and that interfere with daily living. In addition to worry or negative thinking, symptoms of anxiety may include:

• Confusion
• Trembling
• Sweating
• Faintness/dizziness
• Rapid heartbeat
• Difficulty breathing
• Upset stomach or nausea
• Restlessness
• Avoidance behaviour
• Irritability

Psychological treatment, particularly cognitive-behaviour therapy, has been found to be very effective in the treatment of anxiety.

The aim of cognitive therapy is to help you identify unhelpful beliefs and thought patterns, which are often automatic, negative and irrational, and replace them with more positive and helpful ways of thinking. It also assists you with changing behaviours that are associated with anxiety, such as avoidance or restlessness. These may be dealt with through learning relaxation techniques and through changes in the way that certain situations are handled.

The word depression is commonly used to describe many feelings, such as being sad, ‘blue’, miserable or upset. However, a person can feel all these emotions without suffering from clinical depression. The difference lies in the length and severity of the feelings. Clinical depression is a mental, emotional and physical state that is intense, long-lasting and seriously affects daily life. It is a pervasive despair, not just a mood that someone can snap out of readily.

Depression is not something to be ashamed of or guilty about, nor is it a character flaw or a sign of weakness. Most importantly, depression is not permanent. The chances for complete recovery are excellent. A number of psychological and drug treatments are effective, affordable and readily available.

Depressed people can experience a couple or many of the following symptoms:

• Feeling sad or empty
• Sleeping problems
• Worrying and negative thinking
• Feeling helpless and hopeless
• Irritability and agitation
• Loss of interest and energy
• Poor concentration
• Change in appetite
• Loss of confidence
• Feeling guilty and worthless
• Suicidal thoughts

For some types of depression, particularly severe cases, a combination of medication and psychological treatment may be helpful in the initial stages of treatment. In the long term, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is found to be as effective as anti-depression medication. If you think you are suffering from depression, it is important to get treatment as soon as possible.

Whilst sexual and physical abuse have had increasing publicity, many victims, particularly those who have suffered abuse at a young age, keep it to themselves and live with the memories, guilt and shame for most of their adult lives.This often leads to other problems, such as anxiety, depression, trust issues and relationship problems. Most victims do not want and are uncomfortable about spending months talking and reliving their trauma.

My approach is pragmatic using therapies such EMDR Therapy and Clinical Hypnosis which helps the client process their issues and move forward with their lives in as little as 5-6 sessions.

If you have suffered sexual or physical abuse and would like to have an obligation free chat to assess if this approach would help you, please feel free to call Yvette on 0407 932 758.

One of the few constants in the world is our basic human-need for a relationship based on trust, love, intimacy, loyalty, fidelity, commitment, meaning and purpose.

Surprisingly, few people know how to achieve this and all too frequently allow problems within the relationship to continue unresolved leading to relationship breakdown.

Even though relationships are important many people forget to put time and effort into nurturing them. Life becomes busy, there are the pressures of work, finances are often a worry or perhaps you have children taking up a lot of your time and energy.

Relationship counseling helps couples resolve areas of difficulty, like conflict and communication or where there is a feeling of being stuck.

It also helps work out where the real problems are and creates clarity and understanding. New relationship skills are learned along the way. Counseling will get your relationship back to feeling good again.

Self-esteem is your opinion of yourself. Everyone lacks confidence sometimes but people with low self-esteem are unhappy or unsatisfied with themselves most of the time. Low self-esteem can cause problems including depression and anxiety.

Typically, a person with low self-esteem:

• Is extremely critical of themselves
• Downplays or ignores their positive qualities
• Judges themselves to be inferior to their peers
• Uses negative words to describe themselves such as stupid, fat, ugly or unlovable
• Has discussions with themselves (this is called ‘self talk’) that are always negative, critical and self blaming
• Assumes that luck plays a large role in all their achievements and doesn’t take the credit for them
• Blames themselves when things go wrong instead of taking into account other things over which they have no control such as the actions of other people or economic forces
• Doesn’t believe a person who compliments them

If you suffer from low self esteem, a combination of counseling and clinical hypnosis could assist you in understanding the underlying issues that hold you back and help you regain your confidence so that you may better achieve your potential.

The “Your Perfect Weight” program helps you take control of your body and managing your weight for the rest of your life using scientifically proven methods.

“Your Perfect Weight” is a six-week program that teaches you a different psychological skill every day to help you achieve you ideal weight goals. These skills are based on the principles of Cognitive Therapy (also known as Cognitive behaviour therapy or CBT) developed by Dr. Aaron T. Beck. It is one of the most common and powerful psychotherapies practiced worldwide today. Using CBT for weight management was pioneered by Dr. Judith Beck (the daughter of Dr. Aaron Beck).

If you’ve had difficulty losing weight or have lost weight in the past only to put it back on, did you blame yourself (I’m too weak, I’m not motivated enough), or your body (there’s something wrong with me, I just can’t lose weight), or your diet (This just didn’t work for me)?

Most people do not realise that there is a completely different reason that you have not been successful. You just did not know how to diet. The Your Perfect Weight program teaches you all of the skills you need to be able to stick to any nutritious diet of your choice, to lose excess weight, and to keep it off for your lifetime.

The Virtual Gastric Band is a non-surgical technique which uses the power of hypnosis to retrain you to be satisfied with smaller amounts of food. It changes how you think about food and gives very safe, very predictable results. The clinical hypnotherapy convinces the brain that the stomach is full after a certain level of intake, and that there is no need for more food.

Please refer to the Gastric Band Hypnosis tab for more information

Clinical Hypnosis is a deep form of physical relaxation, but where the mind remains clear and focused. It’s a lot like daydreaming–we enter this state of mind multiple times throughout the day without even realising it.

In this relaxed state, the subconscious mind is receptive to therapy (positive suggestions) and there is a heightened concentration for changing limiting beliefs and behaviours and maximizing the potential of successfully achieving lasting change.

Clinical hypnosis has been proven to help achieve long lasting change in thought and behaviour. it is also very effective in treating issues such as:

• Relaxation
• Stress & anxiety
• Pain management
• Self-confidence/self esteem
• Sleep problems
• Phobias
• Weight management