Counselling Helped Me to Chase Away Hopelessness

After starting my fourth year in high school, I often use to have a feeling of something being amiss. But it was not until several weeks that I became quite cognizant of what was actually going on. I started becoming extremely fatigued during the day, and shunned away from society as often as possible. It was so hard to control the expression that my lachrymose face revealed in front of people.

Although I really missed my amazing friends and the school during vacations, I could not fathom the reason why all of this faded away when I went back. I told my parents about the unusual mental problems I had been experiencing and they tried desperately to help. But all their efforts were simply in vain. Even my friends were perplexed and saddened by the strange behaviour I was exhibiting.

It was not that I disliked my studies or hated my students or teachers. Neither could I comprehend nor explain to others what the actual problem was. I was lost and desperately trying to get rid of the feeling of hopelessness gripping onto me day by day. When the first term began to slip away from my hand and my teachers called in my parents to report about my poor performance in the class tests, I decided to help myself by seeking the help of a counsellor.

One of my aunts told me about Jade Couquax, a French psychologist in Bondi who was renowned for her exceptional counselling skills. I wasted no time and immediately booked an appointment with her. During my first visit, she contracted me for 5 sessions. But soon after we started to discuss about my persistent psychological problems, she realised that my treatment would require more follow-ups. There was something very relaxing in the way she interrogated me, and I did not feel any kind of intimidation while confronting and answering her questions.

As time passed by, I started feeling more and more confident about myself. The conversations I had with Jade helped me to relax and have better thoughts. My condition kept improving significantly and I was able to concentrate on my studies better. I no longer felt the need to run away from people and my parents and friends were more than happy with my positive change. I still remember my last session with Jade, how she made me feel like she would always be there to help me. She said her doors would remain open for me, if my demons tried to come back ever again.

Guest Author: I, Katherine Saavedra, 18, am presently studying in the fifth year of high school. I love reading books, listening to music, playing guitar and watching movies.

Facts About Depression In Women

The rate of depression in women is more than men. When women feel depressed they generally use friends, food and love to self-medicate. To know more about depression in women, have a look at this slideshare. 

Psychologist - counselling in bondi from Counselling Bondi

Low Self-Esteem and Counselling

Self-esteem may be defined as the way a person feels and thinks about himself or herself, which can be positive or negative, or even a combination of both. It plays an important role in deciding the way one lives their life, the choices they make and the perspective with which they view others. In today’s world, people have become used to comparing themselves with others. This gives rise to insecurities, feelings of negativity about oneself, dissatisfaction and depression.

There are a number of symptoms which can indicate low self-esteem in an individual. Some of the most common ones are as follows:

• feeling unworthy
• not being able to recognise one’s own abilities and competency
• feeling deprived of love
• contemplating over negative thoughts and fear
• feeling impractical about goals
• getting pulled into devastating relations
• fearing change
• holding distorted views about oneself as well as others

The esteem in every individual initiates right from birth and develops slowly over time. Strong bonds and positive experiences nourish it, whereas troubled relations and bad experiences obstruct its development. When children feel that they are understood and valued and their worries can be chased away, they start to realise their own value and regard the world as a safe place. In time, they become capable enough to recognise stressful situations and negative relations and use their instincts for protecting themselves. They learn to handle tough times without getting damaged and be careful so as to avoid encountering too many problems in life. Negative experiences, on the other hand, can significantly decrease self-esteem in those people who are not strong enough to hold themselves up against difficulties. They may even become fearful or unrealistic about risks and goals, which may further hamper their self-image. However, providing them with some external source of strength such as counselling can help them greatly to change for the better.

Consulting a counsellor who is supportive can help a person with low self-esteem to take a tough look at himself or herself, and feel strong enough to alter things that give rise to negative thoughts and feelings. There are several ways by which counselling can improve low self-esteem. Transactional analysis and cognitive behavioural therapy can help to check negative self-beliefs, pessimistic assumptions and faulty thoughts, especially those things that can make the patient feel trapped all the time.

Jade Couquaux is a renowned French psychologist practising in Bondi. Book an appointment with her today to get rid of problems associated with low self-esteem.

Counseling What is it and What are its Various Therapy Formats

Counseling What is it and What are its Various Therapy Formats from counsellingbondi

Counselling Bondi offers women & couple counseling in Bondi. Here the psychologist in Bondi does relationship counseling, counselling for depressed women & more.

Body Image Issues in Women

Body image may be defined as the way how a person actually feels about his or her body. Due to increased focus on looks in our society, body image issues are becoming very common particularly in women. In Australia, dissatisfaction with body has grown considerably during the last few decades and is currently considered as a major concern among teenage girls and women alike. The way a woman feels about the shape of her figure can be influenced by that which they hear and see in media and also how their family, friends and acquaintances treat them.

Feelings of discomfort with one’s shape of figure can also lead to eating disorders and severely affect self-esteem as well as relationships, self-medication, unhealthy patterns of exercise and self-harm. According to extensive research, almost half of the women among Kiwis are under the impression that they are overweight. Most of them obsess themselves over perceived imperfections, desperate ways of losing weight, spending hours grooming themselves and hating almost every part of their own frame. The discomforts can even cause a certain mental sickness known as body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), which may cause a woman to believe objectively false things about her body.

People who do not suffer from such issues often tend to dismiss the victims. Body image is not a superficial problem. Issues with self-confidence can cause a myriad of other medical conditions, commonly eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. Unfortunately, almost 10 per cent of the people struggling with such afflictions ultimately die. Depression is another associated problem.

There are several factors which can collectively cause one to develop negative feeling about one’s own shape of figure.

• Excessive exposure to media such as fashion mags, commercials, billboards, etc.
• Health problems
• History of trauma, abuse or eating disorder
• Sudden alterations in appearance, such as women gaining weight right after pregnancy
• Domestic violence
• Past mental illness
• Addiction

Counselling and therapy can significantly help in uncovering the primary causes of body image problems. In most scenarios, multiple factors can combine for destroying a woman’s self-esteem. Pessimistic thoughts about one’s figure can have disastrously unhealthy influences, but proper counselling can successfully determine those thoughts and replace them with strategies for alleviating the issues. Breaking away from the negative behaviours and thoughts is one of the main factors to achieve a healthy image. No matter what, it is essential to consult a reputed psychologist in Bondi immediately if one is experiencing such issues.

Causes of Anxiety in Women and How to Alleviate Them?

In the modern times, anxiety has become more common among women than men in Bondi Junction, NSW. While some anxiety issues rise from societal and cultural expectations, others may also be triggered by hormonal imbalances occurring in the body, the former being the primary cause.

Stress At Workplace :

While this can be the cause of stress for most people, the workplace of a woman is more likely of including discrimination and harassment, as well as work pressure. All of these can be quite difficult to combat with, because it is often subtle and easy for miscreants to deny or disguise their wrongful deeds. Besides that, work pressure can also take tolls on a woman trying to maintain balance between office and home.

Overload of Domestic Responsibility :

Women are usually expected to perform the duties of two or more members within a household. Most men are culturally brought up or trained to regard that women bear the primary responsibility of conducting domestic tasks like cleaning, cooking, and attending children. Such a situation can be extremely stressful for a woman who also has to work outside home.

Sexist Demeanors from Family :

Besides being assigned with additional domestic responsibilities, women are often pressured by their family members to pursue specific goals like getting married, bearing children, or doing jobs with low pay so that it does not overawe a spouse. Such pressure can be very stressful for a woman because it becomes very difficult to maintain a positive connection with those family members.

Hormonal Changes :

During the course of her life, a woman will often find her hormones thrown off from balance quite often. Most of the times, it can adversely affect her physically as well as emotionally. Hormonal imbalances can have many symptoms that trigger anxiety, like cramps, irregular growth of hair, hot flashes and sleep disorders. Some of the common natural causes for hormonal imbalances include -

• Menstrual cycle
• Pregnancy
• Lactation
• Menopause
• Thyroid dysfunction

Besides these natural factors, hormonal imbalances may also be caused by some unnatural causes, such as -

• Obesity
• Contraceptive pills
• Consumption of animal products that are non-organic
• Overuse of cosmetics

Ways to Alleviate Anxiety :

No matter what the cause maybe, anxiety can be successfully coped up with and also alleviated by following certain measures. Domestic responsibilities can be shared equally with other members in the family. If one or more family members are pressurising to do something, a respectful explanation should be provided about the resulting discomfort. To maintain an equilibrium between home and work, your daily tasks and responsibilities should be analysed or help from a reputed counsellor in Bondi Junction must be taken. Adequate amount of sleep and a properly balanced diet are necessary as well. Oriental and holistic treatments or therapies can also help to combat stress. 

Why and When Should You Seek Couple Counselling?

While most statistical records show that around 50 per cent of first wedlocks in Bondi end in separation, the matter of major concern is that this figure has been constant for the last three decades. All these prove that the rates of marriage are supposedly on the slump. 

Divorce rates vary with couples’ level of education and several other influencing factors. But the consequences of divorce are harsh on couples and their children. Children involved in the divorce may also experience adverse effects like denial, aggression, guilt, blame, and feelings of abdication. 

Divorce is not always the best solution and can turn things upside down for many people. A couple encountering marriage problems should thus seek always counselling for many reasons before taking the decision of divorce. 

Negative Communication :

If communication between couples starts deteriorating, it can often be very difficult to put things back in order. Negative communication may make partners feel depressed, disregarded and insecure, and keep them from having amiable conversations with their spouse. Sometimes, it may even lead to physical and mental abuse.

Extra-marital Affairs :

If one of the partners has had an extra-marital affair, it can be very difficult for the other one to recover from the shock. It takes a great deal of will power to forgive as well as move forward. Couple counselling can help a lot in salvaging such marriages and determining ways for both partners to take things in the right direction.

Inability to Resolve Differences :

Sometimes couples who are experiencing problems in their married life might be trying to sort out the differences, but are just not being able to find the right ways to do it. They are aware of the discord, and struggling to put an end to it. In such cases, involving a third party can be a wise decision. A skilled counsellor may be able to help them resolve their differences.

When Children are The Only Reason for a Couple To Stay Together :

It may so happen that couples emotionally distant from each other are staying together only for the sake of their children. But sometimes this can have a negative impact on the kids. Usually they can detect the fake happiness exhibited by their parents. Seeking couple counselling in Bondi can help to find ways for bridging the emotional gap between such partners, which in turn is definitely beneficial for the children involved as well.