E-Therapy Australia

29/12/2024

A brief summary of some grounding techniques which are strategies that can be used to control symptoms associated with flashbacks, anxiety, dissociation, and uncomfortable feelings. When combined with breathing techniques they can be especially powerful. Grounding strategies effectiveness comes from their ability to turn attention away from thoughts, worries, and memories and allow you to focus on the present moment. I have complied a list that outline sensory, body-awareness and cognitive grounding techniques that can be performed discreetly – such as in a social situation or at work. Please bear in mind that these strategies may be a useful aid for functioning – however seeking treatment for underlying causes is definitely worthwhile if you feel your symptoms are significantly interfering with your day to day life or causing significant distress.

https://etherapyaustralia.net/discreet-grounding-techniques

22/12/2024

The Four Horsemen: Focus on Stonewalling

I've written an article focusing on the fourth “Horsemen” of communication – Stonewalling. Stonewalling is one of the four communication styles that the researcher John Gottman found leads to increased rates of separation in married couples. 80% of stonewallers are men and it often is a misguided attempt to self-soothe, however it can have an extremely negative impact on the relationship. To find out more about stonewalling and Gottman’s suggestion solution follow this link:

https://etherapyaustralia.net/the-fourth-horsemen-stonewalling

17/12/2024

The "STOP" skill is drawn from Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) and is a way of managing stress to delay the automated response (often anger) and respond more mindfully and adaptively to the situation. You can read more about DBT and the STOP skill here:

https://etherapyaustralia.net/introduction-to-dbt-the-stop-skill

15/12/2024

Generated by Google AI when entering "e-therapy research"

Research on e-therapy shows that it can be a cost-effective and clinically effective treatment for mental health issues. E-therapy can be provided via video conferencing, email, chat technology, or virtual reality.

Some of the benefits of e-therapy include:

Accessibility
E-therapy can help people in remote or underprivileged areas access mental health care.

Flexibility
E-therapy can offer flexible scheduling and the ability to receive treatment in the privacy of your home.

Cost-effectiveness
E-therapy can be more cost-effective than in-person therapy because there's no need to pay for a physical therapy space.

Effectiveness
E-therapy can be effective in treating mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

14/12/2024

According to Paul Ekman’s model of emotions there are six core emotions : happiness, sadness, disgust, anger, fear and surprise. People from all races, ethnicities, genders and cultural backgrounds all experience these emotions and each of these core emotions has a characteristic facial expression that is common across this diversity.

While psychology can provide tools and strategies for dealing with anxiety and depression and other mental disorders, a large part of developing meaningful change in therapy can come from the raising, expressing, exploring and processing of emotional content relating to both present and past significant events – including traumatic events.

One of the tools I use to do this is the emotion wheel – the one on this post is the one I use in therapy. It has the added emotion “bad” – which is kind of a miscellaneous physical category (e.g. stressed/tired/bored/busy).

The emotion wheel has the core emotions in the centre – which then expand into a secondary circle listing the different types of the core emotion – which then expands into more detailed specific emotional labels.

One way of using this with patients who struggle to express their emotions is to ask them: “What core emotion do you feel?” Once they’ve identified a core emotion (e.g. Fear) I then draw their attention to the secondary layer and say "What type of fear?”. They may respond with “I felt scared”. I would then prompt them with “Did you feel helpless or frightened?” (As these are the two specific emotional labels under the emotion type “scared”).

Learning a larger emotional vocabulary allows for a fuller expression and processing of current and repressed emotional content in therapy – provided of course that the patient feels safe, accepted, not-judged and feels comfortable, safe and trusting towards the therapist.

Sometimes this can take time to develop and personally I feel I have to earn this trust from the client and discuss whether they feel comfortable in the therapeutic relationship before doing any deep emotional based work.

10/12/2024

Art Therapy is a therapy form I most often use with children but can be used with adults as well. It can have a variety of different applications to other theory bases of psychology and I believe that expressing creativity is itself inherently therapeutic. Here are some of the art therapy exercises I have used with clients. If you like the sound of any of them I encourage for you to try them out for yourselves.

Create a past, present and future self-portrait.

Draw yourself as a tree – roots are strength and good qualities and leaves things you’re trying to change.

Create a Coat of Arms (A fun one to do with Kids – can pick animals they like and learn about symbolism).

Safe Space: This works around generating a “safe space” with a soothing, comfortable and completely calming visual and sensory environment in your mind’s eye. This can be developed and explored with the use of art therapy. I have found this strategy particularly useful for patients of schizophrenia but it can be used for treatment of anxiety based disorders also.

Mandala: The image of this post is a Mandala – a form of drawing that the psychologist Carl Jung thought was a very significant symbol of the “Self”. By the self he meant not only our own personal narratives and circumstances but also the condition of humanity in general which expands into a kind of shared unconsciousness at the deepest level. Mandala drawing or colouring in can be great and very soothing.

Self-Compassion Figure: This is drawn from self-compassion therapy developed by Paul Gilbert. It describes a process for developing an imaginative compassionate “figure” based on feelings of warmth, security, non-judgement and strength. This figure can then be explored in art therapy and used in the form of narratives, and can ideally be brought to mind to generate feelings of compassion and kindness towards the self.

Feel free to reach out for more suggestions – remember art therapy has nothing to do with how good an artist you are and can access different regions of the brain and make different associations than talk therapy. It can also involve things other than drawing and painting.

Discover e-Therapy Australia, offering face-to-face and telehealth psychology sessions. Our experienced professionals are dedicated to providing a warm, welcoming environment for your mental health needs. Reach out today to book an appointment and start your journey towards well-being.

09/12/2024

When interacting with children, the discussion and expression of different kinds of emotions the child is experiencing can help them to understand how emotions are linked to thoughts and behaviours. Over time this encourages greater expression of healthy emotions, contributes to better emotional regulation, and allows for deeper expression of vulnerability in interpersonal relationships - which is essential for emotional connection. It also helps to express how we (as adults) feel. I often use the emotion wheel with both children and adult patients (there are different versions) to encourage the identification and processing of emotions in therapy. This can be especially powerful in trauma work. Remember to check in with each other during the Christmas period.

07/12/2024

Communication in Couples: The Criticism/Defensiveness Cycle

Information about communication in relationships - particularly how the criticism and defensiveness cycle can interact with our physiology to form heated arguments in couples, and some steps that can be taken to minimise this cycle.

https://etherapyaustralia.net/criticism-and-defensiveness-cycle

Discover e-Therapy Australia, offering face-to-face and telehealth psychology sessions. Our experienced professionals are dedicated to providing a warm, welcoming environment for your mental health needs. Reach out today to book an appointment and start your journey towards well-being.