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Penrith Psychological Services
Effective therapy for your mental health at Boyce & Dale Clinic
Our Clinical Psychologists are thoroughly trained and experienced in providing evidence-based treatment for a range of concerns. The psychological therapy frameworks they apply have been developed from and supported by a wealth of research, including gold-standard clinical trials.
Your treatment will be tailored to your specific needs, and based on sound scientific principles.
Practice Areas
Information about the range of issues and concerns treated by our Clinical Psychologists.
Click here to read more information about specific disorders.
Anxiety is often a natural, healthy response to potential threats or challenges. It's meant to help keep us safe by keeping us alert, focused, and prepared.
Unfortunately, anxiety can become unhelpful and unhealthy.
Instead of being temporary, it can become prolonged or chronic.
Instead of matching the level of the perceived threat or challenge, it might be disproportionately intense. It may even occur in the absence of any clear threat at all.
Sadness is quite normal, and often quite a healthy response. We generally bounce back well from it, whether it's from loss, disappointment or most other stressors.
However, sometimes sadness becomes deeper and more persistent.
Sometimes it casts too great a shadow over your thoughts, moods, and daily activity.
Depression can be accompanied by poor sleep, changes to appetite, fatigue, poor concentration, and reduced interest in usual activity.
OCD and related disorders (such as Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Trichotillomania and Skin Picking Disorder) are extremely challenging conditions to live with.
OCD is certainly not a quirk, and it’s not about liking things tidy. It’s like having a smartphone app that’s meant to alert you to important tasks or dangers, but malfunctions and instead sends repetitive notifications, usually for no reason and often with disturbing or irrelevant content.
Panic attacks are like having an internal alarm system that's far too sensitive, and often malfunctions.
This alarm doesn't make a noise; instead, it it brings about a rapidly escalating set of physiological symptoms: shortness of breath, racing heart, dizziness, and more.
Panic attacks may occur in response to a known stressor, or simply 'out of the blue'.
The alarm system may then interpret these symptoms (it's own response!) as a threat, further escalating it's response.
We all worry, and it's usually quite healthy or barely a problem. However, being 'a bit of a worrier' can become a problem.
Indeed, you may become 'a lot of a worrier', and your worry may get in the way of healthy functioning.
Your worry may be accompanied by general tension or agitation, by disrupted sleep or appetite. You might be a bit of a reassurance-seeker, or perhaps find that you need to rely upon others to help you make decisions.
These symptoms are some of these often found in people with Generalised Anxiety Disorder.
Everyone will have traumatic experiences throughout their lives. It's part of life, and one most are equipped to deal with, well enough, most of the time.
However, sometimes following a traumatic event, your threat radar might become hypersensitive, especially to things that remind you of your trauma, even if the thing itself isn’t immediately dangerous.
PTSD occurs when anxiety symptoms and memories don’t go away or reduce as would usually be expected after a traumatic event, such as an accident, injury, assault, natural disaster or combat exposure.
ANGER & EMOTIONAL REGULATION
Just like anxiety, anger is a normal, healthy emotion. They are both part of your innate 'fight or flight' response, and both help to keep you safe.
However, you may find these emotions come too frequently, too intensely, and last too long. Worse, they may also come when they're really not necessary at all.
You may find these emotions difficult to control, and that they control your behaviour.
Dysregulated emotions can have a significant impact on relationships, career, and general well-being.
Sleep is not just a rest. It's a crucial component of your mental and physical well-being.
When the quality or quantity of your sleep is compromised, the impact of your life can be significant.
Poor sleep can impact emotional regulation, cognitive functions, physical health, and engagement in usual behaviour.
Fortunately, it's a behaviour you can work on and improve.
Good sleep hygiene practices and psychological therapy can be immensely beneficial in improving the quality and quantity of your sleep.
Health Anxiety is like having an overly sensitive smoke detector in your body, where even the smallest hint of a physical change sets off an alarm, suggesting a major health crisis. This isn't just being attentive to your health; it's a constant state of false alarm that can overshadow everyday life.
Health anxiety is often accompanied by repeated visits to your doctor (or any doctor!), and far too much on-line research. The problem is, you may not be satisfied with what you learn, or you may not be satisfied for very long.
You may find yourself thoroughly preoccupied, and as a consequence your quality-of-life diminishes.