Understanding Mental Health Conditions

Depression

If you need help with depression, then life can be difficult for you and you can be in a position where you are struggling with everyday life.

Medication can help short term however one to one therapy helps the client identify which issues lead them to depression and equips them with the tools to withdraw from medication totally.

At TLC Partners we have a great deal of experience in working with patients who suffer from depression. We will also liaise if required, with your GP in helping you seek the long term support you need to lead a more fulfilling life.

One of the most important things that we at TLC Partners can provide clients with is coping skills. We are all the experts of our own worlds, however sometimes we need some help with exploring what we need in our lives that is missing, or sometimes what we need to take out to make our lives more enriching.

No matter what the underlying problem is, people usually need help dealing with their problems. In fact, it is often the lack of coping skills that leads to a problem. Therapists help their clients become successful by helping them explore and support them in how to deal with their problems on their own.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a word we use to describe feelings of unease, worry and fear. It incorporates both the emotions and the physical sensations we might experience when we are worried or nervous about something. Although we usually find it unpleasant, anxiety is related to the ‘fight or flight’ response – our normal biological reaction to feeling threatened.
We all know what it’s like to feel anxious from time to time. It’s common to feel tense, nervous and perhaps fearful at the thought of a stressful event or decision you’re facing – especially if it could have a big impact on your life such as deciding to get married or divorced.

In situations like these it’s understandable to have worries about how you will perform, or what the outcome will be. For a short time you might even find it hard to sleep, eat or concentrate. Then usually, after a short while or when the situation has passed, the feelings of worry stop.

What is the 'fight or flight' response?

Like all other animals, human beings have evolved ways to help us protect ourselves from dangerous, life-threatening situations. When you feel under threat your body releases hormones, such as adrenalin and cortisol, which help physically prepare you to either fight the danger or run away from it. These hormones can:

• Make you feel more alert, so you can act faster
• Make your heart beat faster to carry blood quickly to where it’s needed most

Then when you feel the danger has passed, your body releases other hormones to help your muscles relax, which may cause you to shake.

This is commonly called the ‘fight or flight’ response – it’s something that happens automatically in our bodies, and we have no control over it. In modern society we don’t usually face situations where we need to physically fight or flee from danger, but our biological response to feeling threatened is still the same. The cortisol is then left in our body for a longer period of time as we have not fought or fled and this in turn causes long term damage to our bodies.

People often feel when experiencing a panic attack that they are going to stop breathing. Breathing is an autonomic process and we automatically breathe our bodies will not stop doing this when experiencing the fight or flight response.