Therapy


Individual therapy provides you with a safe, non-judgmental space to talk about your experiences, explore your feelings and develop the skills to handle the challenges life throws at us.
If you’re looking to work on your mental health, you’ve come to the right place because at NAFS we are specialists in finding you the right help. Through therapy you can gain insight into your struggles, negative thought patterns and behaviours, and learn strategies to cope better.

What can therapy help with?


Stress & Anxiety
  • Social anxiety
  • Panic attacks
  • Relationship difficulties
  • Work stress
  • Bereavement
  • PTSD
Mood Disorders
  • Depression, loneliness
  • Seasonal affective disorder
  • Bipolar
  • Persistent depressive disorder
  • Anger, domestic violence
Specialist Services
  • Addiction
  • Adult ADHD
  • Autistic spectrum disorders

What are Anxiety Disorders?

Anxiety disorders are a common form of mental illness. Some include Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Phobias, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Millions of people live with anxiety disorders and receive treatment for them in therapy. Sometimes people with anxiety disorders can benefit from psychiatric medication. In therapy you can learn to understand why you’re in a state of fight or flight and find ways to deal with being overwhelmed. Learn about your anxiety pattern and how to calm your body down.

Panic Attacks
Panic attacks are severe episodes that seem to come out of nowhere. During a panic attack, the individual experiences a feeling of dread where they are afraid that something terrible is going to happen.

PTSD
PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a condition where an individual has experienced one or more traumatic episodes. They have flashbacks to their trauma and may suffer from anxiety, panic attacks, and depression.

 

What are Mood Disorders?

Depression
Clinical depression is a mental illness that is severe and must be taken seriously as it can lead to self-harm and in extreme cases suicide if left untreated. It’s essential to understand that people with depression aren’t lazy or dysfunctional. They have a real illness that needs treatment. If you’re struggling with depression please get in touch with us.

Bipolar Disorder
People who live with Bipolar Disorder experience extreme mood swings, from manic or hypomanic episodes to deeply depressive phases. They could experience some psychotic symptoms during manic or depressed episodes.

Persistent Depressive Disorder
Persistent Depressive Disorder is also known as dysthymia. It’s mild but chronic depression. Some people refer to it as “high functioning depression.” Someone with dysthymia has similar symptoms to an individual with depression, but it’s a less severe case.

SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)
SAD is a type of major depression. A person with SAD gets depressed during the late Autumn, Winter and into the early Spring months. Someone with SAD is triggered when they don’t have a lot of daylight in their environment.

 

What Can Influence Your Mental Health?

When you’re working on your mental health, it’s important to consider what influences it from the outside and the inside. There are outside influences, such as your environment, and there are inside influences such as your genetics and your temperament. Here are some factors that contribute to mental health.

Behaviour

Behaviour is an indicator of our mental health. In therapy you’ll learn about behaviours that are productive and ones that are dysfunctional. You can learn how to change your behaviours so that you can get what you want out of life. You’ll learn about mental illnesses that include problematic behaviours as a symptom and how to change.

Anger

Anger can be a symptom of mental illness. If you’re struggling with anger problems that are affecting your relationships, through therapy you can learn strategies that will help you manage your anger. You can also consider the warning signs that you may have a severe anger issue and how to change that.

Abuse

When a person is a survivor of abuse, it can severely impact their mental health. Abuse is a widespread issue that many different people experience, and there isn’t just one type. Different kinds of abuse include emotional, sexual, medical, neglect, child abuse, and more.

Attachment

Attachment starts at a young age and we learn to form bonds with other human beings as babies, a skill that continues to develop over our lives. Healthy attachments can positively impact a person’s mental health. However, when we don’t form healthy attachments at a young age, it can contribute to mental health issues or mental illness.

Love and Relationships

Part of maintaining excellent mental health is feeling loved. If you are experiencing problems in your family and/or personal relationships then therapy can help you resolve these problems and move forward.

If you prefer to explore your issues with your partner then Couples Therapy, also called relationship counselling, can help when a relationship is in crisis or stuck in a rut. Both partners talk together in confidence to a therapist to explore what has gone wrong in the relationship and how to change things for the better.

 

Specialist services

In addition to providing therapy, NAFS offers a Medico legal report writing service. Please ask us for more information on this.