• 1/4 Year 4 to Year 9 student reports being bullied every week in Australia
• Cyberbullying appears to occurs more often with older students
• Less than on in 10 students reported bullying through technology during a school term 

(Source: Australian Covert Prevalence Bullying Study, May 2009, Edith Cowan University)

Bullying is repeated verbal, physical, social or physiological behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons. It can have long-term effects on those involved. 

Bullying can happen:

• face to face (e.g. Pushing, kicking, tripping, name-calling)
• At a distance (e.g. Spreading roomers, excluding someone)
• Through social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Ask FM, Snap chat, Twitter)

Cyberbullying is a term used to describe bullying that is carried out through social media and technology. Children who are cyberbullied are also likely to be bullied face-to-face. 

Examples of cyberbullying can include:

• repeared hang up calls 
• Sending insulting to threatening text messages
• Publishing someone’s personal or embarrassing information online
• Sending anonymous hate messages on social media

Friendships provide a sense of belonging and are the foundations to forming key relationships in our lives. Being provided with the tools to navigating social situations, or bouncing back when things don’t go as planned, helps build resiliency and creates learning experiences.

Tragic events can overwhelm us. Having an independent person to support you at this difficult time can help you build strength.
Professional counselling can help you come to terms with what has changed in your lives. Grief is not an illness, it is a journey.

Self Esteem is your opinion of yourself. People with low self esteem are unhappy or unsatisfied with themselves most of the time. Self esteem is strongly related to how you view and react to the things that happen in your life. Building confidence in yourself and positive self talk, assertiveness and appreciation of self are but a small group of strategies Psychological Solutions can provide to you.

Although anxiety is considered a normal reaction to stress, over time it can develop into a disorder when it becomes excessive. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders in Australia. Nearly one in 10 people will experience some type of anxiety disorder in any one year – around one in 12 women and one in eight men. Symptoms include:

• Generalised anxiety disorder (general and debilitating worry that’s been present most days over a six-month period)
• Social phobias – fear of social situations
• Specific phobias – for example a fear of open spaces (agoraphobia) or enclosed spaces (claustrophobia)
• Panic disorders – frequent and debilitating panic attacks
• Obsessive compulsive disorder
• Post traumatic stress disorder

Some common forms of anxiety in children are:

• Fears of the dark, dogs, spiders, heights, storms
• Separation anxiety 
• Transitioning to the next school year
• Getting things wrong (Perfectionism)

Anger is a normal, healthy emotion. It is often associated with frustration – things don’t always happen the way we want and people don’t always behave the way we think they should. Anger is usually linked with other negative emotions or is a response to them. You may be feeling hurt, frightened, disappointed, worried, embarrassed or frustrated, but may express these sorts of feelings as anger. Anger can also result from misunderstandings or poor communication between people.
Anger becomes a problem when it creates trouble for you with other people, your work, your health, day-to-day living or the law. Anger is also a problem when other people around you are frightened, hurt or feel they cannot talk to you or disagree with you in case you become angry. Some signs that anger is a problem are outlined here.

Trauma can come in many forms. Whether it be from witnessing or experiencing a life threatening event or from physical, sexual or psychological / emotion abuse.
Psychological Solutions staff are all extensively trained in trauma counselling and are able to help individuals feel empowered and manage the distress that occurs around the trauma.

While we all feel sad, moody or low from time to time, some people experience these feelings intensely, for long periods of time (weeks, months or even years) and sometimes without any apparent reason. Depression is more than just a low mood – it’s a serious illness that has an impact on both physical and mental health.
Signs of depression include:

• not going out anymore
• not getting things done at work/school
• withdrawing from close family and friends
• relying on alcohol and sedatives
• not doing usual enjoyable activities
• unable to concentrate

Depression negatively alters the way we think about ourselves and the world:

• ‘I’m a failure.’
• ‘It’s my fault.’
• ‘Nothing good ever happens to me.’
• ‘I’m worthless.’
• ‘Life’s not worth living.’
• ‘People would be better off without me.’

Children and adolescents may refuse to go to school for many reasons. Some include bullying, learning troubles, friendship problems, worries and fears about their performance and many more. School refusal in a complex condition to treat and the sooner the child can attend therapy the better.

Self-harm is often a response to feelings of extreme psychological distress or emotional pain. It may provide short-term relief from these feelings. It may be an attempt to express or even control them briefly. It does not resolve them, however, and can become a compulsive and dangerous activity. While people who self-harm may not intend to end their lives, the consequences of this risky behaviour can be fatal. A careful assessment can be done by staff at Psychological Solutions and individuals can learn other ways of dealing with intense emotions.

Stress within the workplace is becoming a predominant issue for all working environments.  It can present as a result of many things including: workplace bullying, job dissatisfaction, workplace changes, lack of role clarity and challenging workloads.

Symptoms of workplace stress, can include:

• Change of sleep patterns
• Change of eating patterns
• Physiological feelings of anxiety (racing heartbeat, sweating, dizziness, nausea, shakiness, headaches and body tension, hyperventilating etc)
• Irritability and frustration
• Changes in thought processes, preoccupation with worry
• Difficulty with decision making and problem solving
• Maladaptive coping strategies (i.e. increased alcohol intake, substance abuse)
• Increased susceptibility to illness
• Changes in capacity to fulfil your job role
• Social Skills

Personality Disorders are enduring pattern of perceiving and thinking about the environment and one’s self.  They are exhibited in a wide range of social and personal contexts and are inflexible and maladaptive. Personality disorders tend to appear in late childhood and adolescence, and continue into adulthood.  It is unlikely for a diagnosis of personality disorders prior to the age of 16 or 17 years.

The symptoms of personality disorders are seen most clearly in a person’s behaviours within their relationships; including the way they interact and manage emotional turmoil.  They are enduring through a person’s adult life and become a stable way of thinking and behaving.