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Therapy aims to help individuals understand, and explore their world better as well as deal with mental and emotional disorders through facilitating growth, healing, adjustment and ensuring psychological well-being.

Common reasons why people consult psychologists:

Loss: Death is often unavoidable, but the process of grief is often difficult and complicated at times. Therapy often helps in giving support through this time.

Stress: Many people often experience stressors in various facets of life that at times may be extremely overwhelming and impact their ability to function effectively. Stressful situations can vary from dealing with work stress to relational difficulties.

Anxious or intrusive thoughts: It is normal to worry about things from time to time, but when worry takes up a significant part of your day or causes physical symptoms, it can have a negative impact on your well-being.

Depression: Overwhelming feelings of helplessness or hopelessness are common signs of depression. Losing hope or motivation, or feeling as if you have no future, can indicate depression or another mental health condition. Feeling hopeless from time to time, especially after a period of difficulty, isn’t uncommon. When it persists, it may lead to thoughts of suicide.

Phobias: Most people have a particular fear/s or experience fear in certain situations that are generally considered to be dangerous. A phobia, however, goes beyond ordinary fear and may often feature an object or situation that is not typically threatening and can create substantial problems in your life. 

Relational difficulties: Family, personal or work-related relationships all have their ups and downs. Unhealthy relationships and difficult interactions can often have a significant impact on one’s mental health. Therapy can aid in facilitating healthier boundaries and effective communication.

Unhealthy habits and addictions: Unhealthy habits such as self-medicating, smoking, drinking and drug use are often used to escape larger underlying problems. Addiction can be described as not having any control over these habits/behaviours and can often negatively impact other areas of functioning such as work performance and family relationships.

Mental clarity: Your perceptions of the world and the manner in which we make decisions can often be influenced through biases from past experiences. A therapeutic space may provide an opportunity to make sense of things and improve mental clarity.

Mental disorders: Refers to a wide range of mental health conditions that affect your mood, thinking and behaviour. Examples of mental illnesses includes depression, bipolar, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and eating disorders to name a few.

Mental illness is when an individual experiences ongoing signs and symptoms that cause distress and impact the ability to function in everyday aspects of life. In most cases, symptoms can be managed with a combination of medications and therapy.

Signs and symptoms of mental illness can vary, depending on the disorder, circumstances and other factors. 

Examples of signs and symptoms include:

• Feeling sad or down
• Confused thinking or reduced ability to concentrate
• Excessive fears or worries, or extreme feelings of guilt
• Extreme mood changes of highs and lows
• Withdrawal from friends and activities
• Significant tiredness, low energy or problems sleeping
• Detachment from reality (delusions), paranoia or hallucinations
• Inability to cope with daily problems or stress
• Trouble understanding and relating to situations and to people
• Problems with alcohol or drug use
• Major changes in eating habits
• Changes in sex drive 
• Excessive anger, hostility or violence
• Suicidal thinking