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Clinical Mental Health

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessive compulsive disorder is a type of anxiety disorder primarily characterised by obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are distressing, repetitive, intrusive thoughts or images that the person realises are irrational. Compulsions are repetitive behaviours that the person feels forced or compelled into doing in order to relieve the anxiety brought about by obsessions. In other words, […]

Preventing Depression

Prevention is defined as “interventions that occur before the initial onset of a disorder to prevent the development of disorder” (Mrazek & Haggerty, 1994, p. 23). The prevention of depression relies on reducing the risk factors for mental disorder, as well as enhancing the protective factors that promote mental health. The level of risk of […]

Children and Learning Disorders

There are many forms of disabilities that can affect the child’s normal developmental process. Some disabilities can be more severe than others. A common type of disability hindering a child’s development is a learning disorder. Having such a disorder can be painful for children as they have to deal the disconnections they may be experiencing […]

Loneliness, Depression and Negative Thinking Patterns

In the previous post we explored some aspects of both loneliness and depression. The causes of each often have their basic roots in the way that modern life has progressed, particularly where ways of protecting oneself against being alone, feeling down and worthless and so on have been eroded. Isolation from others (geographic, social, emotional), […]

Motivational Enhancement with Eating Disorders

In this post, we look at how Motivational Enhancement Therapy can be applied to a practical situation. More specifically, we’ll discuss how counsellors can utilise this model to assist clients suffering from eating disorders. To start, consider the Four Fundamental Principles (Lacey & Lister, unpublished) outlined below: The client’s drive towards thinness is ego-syntonic – […]

Parenting a Problem Adolescent: Eating Disorders

Now that we’ve covered suicide prevention, there are other problems often associated with youth that are a bit more intractable. Eating disorders tend to fall into this category especially amongst adolescent girls. According to Gillis (2000, cited in McMurray, 2003, 147): ‘Adolescents’ images of themselves are embedded in the way they see their own bodies, […]

Bulimia Nervosa

The essential features of Bulimia Nervosa are binge eating and inappropriate compensatory methods to prevent weight gain at least twice a week for at least three months. The self-evaluation of people with Bulimia Nervosa is excessively influenced by body shape and weight. A binge is defined as eating in a discrete period of time (usually […]

Anorexia Nervosa

MacLeod (1981) states people with anorexia are notoriously difficult persons who are determined to hang on to their symptoms at all costs. This is a common view throughout the medical profession and related fields, possibly due to the ego-syntonic nature of eating disorders – the person is comfortable with the disorder and views it as […]

The Starvation Syndrome

One of the most important advancements in the understanding of eating disorders is the recognition that many of the symptoms once thought to be primary features of anorexia nervosa are actually symptoms of starvation. An experimental study, conducted and published 50 years ago by Ancel Keys and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota (Keys, […]