Depression, Stress and Anxiety Support Services

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At Mindful Relationships, we are interested in the systemic cause and treatment for depression, stress and anxiety. While the diagnosis and treatment of each will vary, our therapeutic work with you will focus on exploring, reflecting and addressing the root and meaning of your depression, stress and/or anxiety. We often use a Depression Checklist to help us know and understand more about how you are feeling:

  • DSM IV - these questions are based on the symptoms used to identify depression

  • SPHERE - your GP may use this to identify, treat and manage common psychological disorders like depression. The scale takes into consideration how you feel and behave what you think and what physical symptoms you may have. Your GP will normally share this checklist with us.

Our work is influenced by a number of theories and techniques including:

  • Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

  • Individual, Couple and Family Therapy

  • Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

  • Rapid Exposure Tapping

Over the last two years we have introduced Rapid Exposure Tapping to help our clients be less reactive and to have a more calm and reflective response to states of low mood and/or high anxiety. We continue to be excited by the success of this technique in addressing depression, stress and anxiety.

The Rapid Exposure Tapping technique is highly effective in treating anxiety as it helps increase awareness of situations and feelings that distress you and can help you understand your response to situations that you often feel you have no control over.  In cases of stress and anxiety our therapists are able to help you identify the origins of the over-reaction that produces positive results. We believe that your distress and reactivity originate from individual situations that have moulded your responses and set your physiology to over-react. These patterns are locked in your sub-conscious mind and at a cellular level. Identifying these situations and connecting with the reasons for this over-reaction leads to a calming of the mechanism of adrenaline production and reduces your vulnerability to the stress reaction. The thought patterns causing stress and anxiety can be moderated to result in less triggering of the stress response ie your 'buttons are not pushed', leading to a calm considered response ie your buttons are 'deactivated'.

However, we also know and accept that there is often a place for medication in treating severe melancholic and psychotic depression. Indeed, without medication, some of our clients would find they could not undertake psychotherapy. Whether or not our clients are on medication, we know that the support of our work has helped them to learn more about themselves, including the patterns of feelings and behaviours and the types of interactions that keep them stuck. We have also helped them to learn long-term problem solving strategies so that they can experience a more meaningful and happy life.

If you would like to move your life in a direction beyond Depression, Stress and Anxiety, please contact us for more information.

The information provided on this site is not intended to replace professional medical advice.

If you need immediate phone support please call Lifeline on 131144 or www.lifeline.org.au