Sydney Psychologist and Psychotherapist

Bi-Polar Disorder – Creative Genius?

Clare Mann — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:45:13 +0000

The term bi-polar disorder seems to have entered everyday language. The term is used by many people commenting on someone else’s mercurial and changeable mood patterns and behaviour. This doesn’t mean people who behave in highly changeable ways – exhilarated and intensively creative one minute and depressed and despairing the next, would be labelled with the medical term Bipolar Disorder. Everyday stresses, burnout and overload lead to mood swings which are understandable and changes in one’s lifestyle can make enormously positively improvements.

Bipolar disorder used to be called Manic Depression by the medical profession. Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder characterised by episodes of mania and depression. It is different from mood swings – it makes people close to them bewildered and shocked by such extreme changes that they often feel they don’t understand the person at all. One key factor reported is that when the person is in the Manic Phase, they can demonstrate extreme creative genius or entrepreneurial abilities. This doesn’t mean people with these qualities are bipolar – but it does mean that people who are labelled as bipolar often appear to access creative abilities within themselves when they are in the mania stage. The challenge they face is that they can burn themselves out through this process and the resultant depressive stage can be enormously debilitating.

If you are concerned that you or someone you know might be acting in intensively creative ways where ‘there is no stopping them’ (and you fear for their physical and psychological health), it is wise to seek professional help to ascertain how to deal constructively with this.Similar Posts:

Bipolar Disorder – Creative Genius or Transcending everyday normality?

Toxic Relationships – Doomed or Redeemable?

Clare Mann — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:43:16 +0000

Toxic relationships are those where there is animosity, anger, bitterness and resentments. They occur for many reasons but they are always damaging to the partners involved. These relationships continue for many reasons; the partners are addicted to a yo-yo pattern of bitterness and resentments accompanied by periods of romantic make-ups. Others exist because one or both partners have such low self esteem that they secretly morbidly fear being alone.

Guilt, blame and anger only escalate where problems are not resolved and healthy boundaries and rules re-established. If you recognise your relationship as being toxic, it is wise to find out why you are staying in a relationship that is so negative. Without proper resolution, the partners always go on to become more anxious, resentful and suffer physical as well as psychological ill-health.Similar Posts:

Confidentiality in a Counselling Session

Clare Mann — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:19:50 +0000

Confidentiality in a counselling session is an important requirement for any client coming to see a psychologist or counsellor. Psychologists and counsellors are bound by professional ethics against which the client’s story, their identity and any other information is protected. A client understandably needs to know that their information and disclosures will be confidential, particularly when their secrets, if known outside of their family or close circle, would have a detrimental effect on themselves or others.

There are certain conditions under which confidentiality would be broken. It relates to information about terrorist activity, abuse of minors, criminal activity and planned injury to others. It also relates to injury to the client. If the psychologist believes that their client is, for example, is at serious risk of suicide, they have a duty of care (and I believe ethical requirement as a human being) to provide safety for that client.

A good psychologist will explain all this to you at the first session when you are agreeing the terms under which you will work – if they don’t, do ask, as it is important that you feel assured of the parameters within which the counselling sessions will work for you.Similar Posts:

Ending a Relationship

Clare Mann — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:14:03 +0000

Ending a relationship can be difficult, regardless of whether you are the person negotiating the break or the one who feels abandoned and wishing the relationship would continue. Relationships are bound together by many strands and walking away from a shared journey, particularly if that relationship has been long, involved partners facing difficult challenges or raising children, requires major re-adjustment.

If one partner is leaving for someone else, it can cause enormous strain on the new relationship especially where children from the old union are involved or where the ex-partner finds it very difficult to work through the separation. Often, despite a new relationship, the leaving partner may often experience periods of regret, a desire to run back to the family home or even resent the new partner.

Whatever your situation, acknowledge that you are going through major change, emotions will be complex and it is important to find a way to process this change and not allow the associated anxiety and panic to deteriorate into depression or further ill health.Similar Posts:

Loneliness to empowerment

Clare — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:58:53 +0000

How can you move from loneliness to self empowerment?

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What happens in a counselling session?

Clare Mann — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:47:37 +0000

Anyone considering counselling as a way of working through current difficulties or re-occurrence of patterns that keep them stuck, understandably ask ‘What can I expect in a counselling session?’ Here is an overview of what you broadly can expect:

The context of the session is set i.e. how you can share what brought you to counselling and what outcomes you desire by the end of counselling. In a first session, goals will be set and housekeeping issues regarding regularity of meeting, expected duration, payment methods etc discussed.
Depending on the orientation of the therapist, future sessions will either be run with you sharing your story and the therapist assisting you to understand patterns and your part in their continuance. Most therapists (and some more directly) will offer techniques, strategies and visualisations to create change.
Counselling comprises your story (what we call the content of the issue) and the process (your perception of events, your feelings and the relationship with the therapist). In short, the counselling relationship will be used to help shed light on how you are with yourself, with others and in relation to the world.
In confidence these things can be pointed out and any change you decide upon, considered in terms of its consequences. For example, if you decide that being more assertive might help your relationships, there are consequences – in terms of your feelings and sense of who you are and other people’s reactions.

Counselling sessions are a wonderful opportunity for two people to explore one person’s life – your life – and because the counsellor is not known to you, they can challenge and support you in ways that friends can’t as they have rules and agendas of what they want from you changing. My 20 minute free session on the phone allows you to explore counselling and ask questions before committing to this journey.Similar Posts:

Relationship breaking up?

Clare Mann — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:22:51 +0000

Relationship break ups occur for many reasons but almost invariably occurs when communication has broken down to the point when the parties are unable to convey what they mean and have it understood, and be able to understand or accept their partner’s perspective. Romantic relationships are particularly prone to myths – unquestioned assumptions and expectations of how you want ‘your relationship’ to be. When your partner or your life with them doesn’t turn out how you have expected, it can cause alarm, criticism, blame and disappointment.

Your relationship is unique. You and your partner are unique and your interaction is unique. Applying socially or culturally defined expectations of how your relationship should be, only serves to disappoint the participants. You have to choose what you each want – even if some of those things reflect what we believe other relationships have – much of this is myth and fantasy – the belief in the ‘normal’ relationship. When you only see your partner through those myths, you take the risk of not seeing the person – instead, a projection of your stereotypes of what they should be. The road to recovery or resolution can be to ’see’ the other and yourself with ‘fresh eyes’. i.e. the unique individuals you are.Similar Posts:

Toxic Relationships – How To Recognise Them

Clare Mann — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:28:58 +0000

Relationships that exist within cycle of negativity, blame, criticism and possession of one or both partners become toxic relationships. The negativity grows as one or both partners experience a self-loathing and diminishing self-esteem as they repeatedly try to break the cycle and yet fail. Self-blame results as they become angry with themselves for allowing such treatment and yet being in the relationship is almost like an addiction.

Understanding the unconscious as well as the conscious beliefs and triggers that keep you in such relationships is essential if you are going to break the cycle. It is not sufficient to logically try to sort this out since it is the emotional connections that need to be understood and this is where counselling is invaluable in throwing light on what is really going on.Similar Posts:

Leading a Double Life?

Clare Mann — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:15:08 +0000

Many of my clients tell me that they feel they are ‘leading a double life‘. They go to work everyday and whilst they say they enjoy it, they feel agitated and questioning of how little time they have to reflect on what their life is about or get involved in things they once were passionate about – because their time is literally spent in ’surviving’. Their double life emerges within them in the form of unspoken values, dreams or perspectives, of a life that doesn’t leave them feeling like a robot on a conveyor belt of consumerism and pressures to conform to the demands of modern living. Anxiety arises as they try to reconcile their responsibilities within the implications of them acting on their desires.

However this shows up in their life, the reality is that the person feels split between the demands of societal or family pressures to be a certain way and internal desires to live authentically in accordance with one’s dreams which for whatever reason, can’t be discussed with people in their life. If you find yourself in a situation where you feel you are not living in accordance with what is most important to you, it is essential to address what is happening and the implications of making some changes. To avoid this and not stop living a double life only leads to increased anxiety, destructive behaviour or depression.Similar Posts:

Is medication the answer to Depression?

Clare — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:48:43 +0000

Is medication the answer to alleviating sufferers from the pain of depression?

As a psychologist, people often ask me whether medication should be used solely to treat depression, as a support whilst in therapy or whether it is a ‘band aid’ solution to a longer-term problem? Like any medication, it is aimed at relieving symptoms – there is evidence that it lifts mood and helps chronically depressed individuals make fundamental shifts in everyday functioning, particularly where their depression is so acute that they may not be able to leave the house or even get out of bed.

Psychologists, and clients themselves, also know that it is important to examine the causes of depression – since de-pression is a reaction to life’s events, external circumstances or even self-doubt and inability to live the life one wants. Medicating without assisting an individual in identifying the source of their pain would seem to be irresponsible or even inhumane.

Recent debate in Australia exists between doctors and pharmacists over who should be allowed to own and operate chemists. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has called on the federal government to relax laws so doctors could own pharmacies in, or next to, their general practice. The Pharmacy Guild of Australia says the allowing this would lead to doctors having a conflict of interest. They’d be prescribing drugs and profiting from their sale.

Whatever one’s political beliefs about this, we must not forget the real victims in such a debate. When profit and professional rivalry potentially makes those with power to prescribe anti-depressive medication less objective and impartial in their decisions, then the sufferer of depression stands to lose out. A professional who has to decide between prescribing drugs or referring a person for counseling, would have to be a saint if prescribing counseling alone (if considered optimum) which resulted in them losing income.

So is medication the answer to treating depression? To answer the question, I believe it is important to ensure that a context is created in which the doctor chooses what is best for the patient – not how it impacts on their financial bottom line.Similar Posts: