Stress – Psychology on Parade

June 12, 2015

Stress, Trauma and Burnout

Stress is not always negative. Stressful events can include giving birth to a baby, performing a juggling act successfully in front of an audience, or preparing for a long awaited event like a wedding. The most extreme form of negative stress is traumatic stress which refers to a psychobiological reaction to a traumatic event such as a disaster car accident, assault, and surgery etc where there is a threat of loss of life. The fight […]

June 12, 2015

What is the difference between Depression, Stress and Anxiety?

In day-to-day talking with our friends or family, we tend to speak of depression, stress and anxiety as if they are interchangeable or describing the same thing. This is not the case. Part of the reason for coming to see a psychologist, is to sort out whether any of these descriptions fit your experience. It is also important to remember that many people have elements of depression and anxiety and may not have “clinical diagnosis” […]

June 12, 2015

Driving anxiety or driving phobia

Following a motor vehicle accident, many people experience anxiety whilst driving. The anxiety can take the form of avoidance of driving due to various fears and a sense of feeling threatened whilst driving or being driven. Sometimes post-accident people can develop fears of certain types of roads (e.g. the Westgate Bridge or the Tunnel) or certain types of vehicles nearby e.g. trucks even though these were not features of the original accident. Feeling hypervigilant, negative […]

November 19, 2015

Managing Exam Stress

For most students the exam period is among you and it’s likely that you’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Over a short period of time stress can aid attention and concentration hence why we think feeling stressed helps get work done. In the long-term however the effect is not so positive and actually counterproductive. In fact as stress accumulates, which is likely to be the case over the exam period, your attention and concentration ability also […]