Health & care

 Anxiety is fear caused by a sense of doubt and vulnerability about future events.  The focus of anxious people tends to be always on what's lies ahead and the prospect that it could be bad.  The phrase “what if” is a common phrase triggered by anxiety.  What if I fail my exams, what if I don't get the interview, what if I can't become pregnant, what if I can't pay my mortgage,  what if I never meet anyone?  We can torture ourselves with what ifs and often we get into a pattern of thinking that spirals us into negative thoughts and anxiety.  There are times however when the what ifs are necessary in order to prepare and plan.  The leaving cert students who collected their results this week would have had to ask themselves what if I don't get enough points for the course I want.  Often it is important to ask the what ifs in order to have a strategy or plan B in place.  But most of the time the what ifs won't require a plan B until they ac...

In a general sense, eating disorders are experienced as disturbances in eating habits and are accompanied by physical and emotional distress. They lead to a deterioration of physical and psychological well-being, and ultimately can cause death. To understand what an eating disorder means for the person experiencing these difficulties, it is more helpful to think of the eating disorder as something that a person has developed in order to feel that they can cope with their lives. However, the more the person relies on the eating disorder to cope, the more they need the eating disorder to cope. Very quickly, they spiral into a situation where they feel they will only be able to cope and live if they hold onto the eating disorder. The person’s sense of who they are comes to depend on them holding onto the eating disorder, and this is why it is so complex and terrifying for a person to think about letting go of the eating disorder. Therefore, while it is clear to everyone else that the pers...

CBT is effective for a wide range of emotional problems from relationship problems, substance abuse, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social phobia, anxiety, depression, compulsive gambling and eating disorders. Its efficacy has been proven through major research studies. In CBT, the client and cbt psychologis t work together toward understanding difficulties in terms of the relationship between thoughts, feelings, body responses and behaviour.  CBT helps clients break the vicious circle of altered and unhelpful thinking and behaviour. The therapy focus on the thoughts, images, beliefs and attitudes that we hold, the personal meaning we associate with these and how this relates to our behaviour. We work to help clients learn more useful ways of thinking and coping. The CBT process is usually of 6-8 week duration. The client works with the  psychologist cognitive behavioral therapy consultant to understand each problem and break it down into its component parts. This helps ident...

Is OCD affecting your life? Talk therapy and medical support can help you learn how to mange OCD. Here’s what you need to know! OCD is a common mental health disorder where a person has obsessive thoughts AND compulsive behaviours. OCD can be very distressing and cause significant impairment to daily life. An obsession is an unwanted and unpleasant thought, urge, or image that repeatedly enters your mind causing significant emotional distress, often resulting in feelings of anxiety, guilt, shame or disgust. A compulsion is a repetitive behaviour or mental act that is a response to obsessive thoughts, with the idea that engaging in the compulsion will ease the distress caused by the obsession. For example, someone with an irrational fear of contamination (obsession) may engage in excessive handwashing (compulsion). What causes OCD? There are no known causes of OCD, but there are several factors associated with its development. You are more likely to develop OCD, if there is a history of...