At Mindstate Psychology, we are highly experienced in anxiety counselling in Perth, offering expert support to those dealing with generalized anxiety disorder and other forms of excessive anxiety. Our experienced anxiety therapists are dedicated to helping you manage and treat anxiety through personalised strategies.
Whether you're facing a stressful situation or dealing with chronic anxiety, our compassionate anxiety counsellors are here to provide effective techniques, including progressive muscle relaxation, to promote a sense of calm and well-being.
Our personalised counselling approaches can help you whether you're facing social anxiety, panic attacks, need help overcoming a specific phobia, or just feel generally anxious. Let us guide you on your journey to a more peaceful, balanced life. We can empower you with the tools, strategies, and coping skills you need to get back on track.
Anxiety is a natural stress response characterised by feelings of fear, apprehension, and overwhelming worry. It is important to recognise that anxiety is completely normal! While people experience different levels of anxiety, everyone experiences some stress and worry throughout their life.
Typically, feelings of anxiety occur during stressful or dangerous situations. However for some people, feelings of anxiety can become constant. They may occur without a particular reason and interfere with daily lives. This may signify an anxiety condition.
While anxiety can feel overwhelming, it is important to know that you are not alone. As many as 3 million Australians are living with anxiety right now, and as many as 1 in 4 Australians will experience an anxiety-related disorder at some point in their lives.
With an anxiety condition, feelings of stress, anxiety and worry are more frequent or don’t go away at all. The feelings aren’t always connected to an obvious change or trigger and may develop slowly over time, making it harder to notice.
Generally, the symptoms of anxiety include feelings, thoughts and physical symptoms.
Because we all experience varying levels of anxiety, it can be difficult to know when you need to seek professional support. Generally, anxiety becomes a problem when:
Please remember that some of the symptoms of anxiety can present similarly to symptoms of medical conditions. If you are ever in doubt as to whether you are experiencing anxiety or a medical emergency, please speak to your doctor, visit an emergency department or call Triple Zero (000) for an ambulance.
Anxiety can stem from a complex interplay of genetic, environmental, psychological, and developmental factors. Its causes are as diverse as the individuals it affects. They might occur from genetic predispositions, psychosocial development, to life experiences and external stressors.
Events such as trauma, significant life changes, and chronic stress instances can trigger anxiety disorders. There is an intricate link between our environment and mental health.
Agoraphobia is the fear of situations or places that have the potential to cause panic, helplessness, or embarrassment. After experiencing adverse events (e.g., panic attack) people may avoid situations which they believe will lead to further extreme distress. This can result in feelings of extreme discomfort in spaces outside of home, especially in crowds, locations that are unfamiliar, or while being alone.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is an excessive worry about a number of events or activities. It is a severe anxiety disorder that interferes with daily life. This particular anxiety disorder has similar symptoms to those of obsessive-compulsive disorder and other types of anxiety. With GAD, individuals feel overwhelmingly anxious and worried most of the time, regardless of other stresses.
OCD is a chronic mental health condition characterised by uncontrollable, recurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviours (compulsions) that the individual feels the urge to repeat over and over. Obsessions cause significant anxiety and distress, and compulsions exist for the purpose of reducing the anxiety.
Compulsions are debilitating, consuming more than an hour a day, and often present as ritualistic behaviours, such as excessive cleaning or checking.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition triggered by experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. Individuals with PTSD uncontrollably relive previous traumatic events.
Symptoms of can include flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, and uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Unlike the temporary discomfort of acute trauma, PTSD symptoms can persist for months or even years, profoundly affecting an individual's daily life and functioning.
Illness Anxiety Disorder, previously known as hypochondria, elicits feelings of extreme health anxiety. People who suffer from Illness Anxiety Disorder are excessively worried that they have a serious, but undiagnosed, medical condition.
Panic Disorder is characterised by unexpected and repeated episodes of panic attacks, which can peak at any given moment. Panic attacks can occur with a range of symptoms, including heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, or abdominal distress. Unlike normal brief anxiety provoked by a stressful event, panic attacks in Panic Disorder are recurrent and often unexpected, and often lead to excessive worry about future attacks or significant changes in behaviour to avoid them.
Social Anxiety Disorder, also known as social phobia, is characterised by an intense fear of social situations where a person might be exposed to possible scrutiny and judgement by others.
This overwhelming anxiety and excessive self-consciousness can lead to avoidance of social interactions, affecting an individual's ability to function in daily life. People with social anxiety find speaking in public, attending social gatherings, and meeting new people extremely difficult and triggering.
Specific Phobia is a type of anxiety disorder characterised by an intense, irrational fear of a particular object or situation. This fear goes beyond normal caution and is so strong that it leads to avoidance behaviour, significantly impacting an individual's daily life.
Common phobias include fear of heights (acrophobia), fear of spiders (arachnophobia), fear of flying (aerophobia), and fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia). The onset of a phobia can be sudden and often originates from a past negative experience, but not always.
At Mindstate Psychology, we employ a range of anxiety therapies and treatment options to help you manage your anxiety and improve your daily functioning. While we tailor our treatments to your specific circumstances, some of the many options that we utilise include
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is a highly effective, evidence-based psychological treatment that focuses on identifying and altering negative thought patterns and behaviours that contribute to mental health issues.
Central to CBT is the concept that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are interconnected, and by changing maladaptive thoughts and behaviours, we can influence our emotions and improve our mental well-being.
CBT is a structured, goal-oriented therapy, typically conducted over a series of sessions.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a form of psychotherapy that encourages you to embrace your thoughts and feelings rather than fighting or feeling guilty for them.
ACT operates on the principle that it is ineffective to try to control painful experiences and that doing so can lead to more suffering. Instead, this therapy teaches you to accept these experiences while committing to actions aligning with your values and life goals.
Graded Exposure Therapy is a behavioural treatment designed to help you confront your fears in a controlled and systematic way. It is particularly effective for phobias, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The core principle of graded exposure therapy involves gradually exposing you to the feared object, situation, or activity, starting with the least frightening scenario and progressively confronting the fear more directly.
While exposure therapy may sound confronting, your psychologist will work with you to ensure that it is conducted in a gradual and supported way. It is also important to note that while highly effective, exposure therapy is not the only way to overcome specific anxiety triggers.
Schema Therapy is a highly effective approach for addressing anxiety disorders, offering individuals a comprehensive framework to understand and manage their symptoms. Grounded in the same principles as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), Schema Therapy delves deeper into the underlying patterns and beliefs that contribute to anxiety.
By identifying and challenging maladaptive schemas – deeply ingrained emotional patterns developed in childhood – clients can gain insight into the origins of their anxiety and develop healthier coping strategies. Through a collaborative therapeutic process, individuals learn to recognise and reframe negative thought patterns, cultivate self-compassion, and build resilience in the face of stressors, ultimately achieving lasting relief from anxiety symptoms.
Didactic Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a structured and evidence-based approach that offers practical strategies for individuals struggling with anxiety disorders. Rooted in the principles of behaviorism, DBT focuses on teaching clients specific skills to manage and reduce anxiety symptoms. Through psychoeducation and structured exercises, clients learn to identify triggers, challenge irrational beliefs, and develop effective coping mechanisms. By incorporating techniques such as relaxation training, exposure therapy, and cognitive restructuring, DBT equips individuals with the tools they need to confront anxiety-provoking situations with confidence and resilience.
Hypnotherapy is a type of therapy that utilises guided relaxation, intense concentration, and focused attention to achieve heightened awareness.
During hypnotherapy, while your focus is guided in a trance-like state, anything going on around you is temporarily blocked out or ignored.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a distinctive, evidence-based form of psychotherapy designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories.
EMDR therapy facilitates the accessing and processing of traumatic memories and other adverse life experiences to bring about an adaptive resolution.
A key element of this therapy involves your focused attention on traumatic or disturbing content in brief sequential doses while simultaneously engaging in bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements).
Psychodynamic therapy offers a profound exploration into the root causes of anxiety, delving into unconscious conflicts and unresolved issues from the past that contribute to present-day symptoms. Drawing from psychoanalytic principles, psychodynamic therapy emphasises the significance of early childhood experiences, interpersonal relationships, and unconscious motivations in shaping an individual's emotional life. Through a supportive and reflective therapeutic relationship, clients gain insight into the underlying dynamics fueling their anxiety, allowing for deeper understanding and resolution of internal conflicts. By bringing unconscious patterns to light and processing difficult emotions in a safe therapeutic space, psychodynamic therapy facilitates lasting healing and personal growth.
Neurofeedback is a cutting-edge therapeutic approach that harnesses the brain's natural neuroplasticity to alleviate anxiety symptoms. By using real-time monitoring of brainwave activity, neurofeedback enables individuals to learn to regulate their brain function more effectively, leading to reduced anxiety and improved emotional resilience. Through a process of operant conditioning, clients are guided to modify their brainwave patterns towards more balanced and adaptive states, promoting a sense of calm and relaxation. Neurofeedback offers a non-invasive and drug-free alternative for individuals seeking relief from anxiety disorders, allowing them to gain greater control over their mental and emotional well-being.
Neurofeedback has extensive evidence supporting its use as a drug-free treatment for anxiety.
Group therapy uses the powers of social connection within a supportive and dynamic environment, allowing individuals to explore and address their anxiety symptoms alongside peers facing similar challenges. In group therapy, participants have the opportunity to share their experiences, gain insights from others, and learn coping strategies from a diverse range of perspectives. Led by a trained therapist, group sessions typically incorporate evidence-based techniques such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), mindfulness, and interpersonal therapy to help participants develop practical skills for managing anxiety. Through mutual support and encouragement, group therapy fosters a sense of camaraderie and belonging, reducing feelings of isolation and stigma commonly associated with anxiety disorders.
You don't need to be seeing a psychologist to join one of our group therapy programs.
Our anxiety psychologists in Perth are highly experienced in providing mental health support and therapeutic interventions to individuals experiencing anxiety. We employ various evidence-based approaches to help individuals understand, manage, and alleviate their symptoms. Our experts work towards creating a safe and empathetic environment, aiming to tailor our support to each client's unique needs. We work with other healthcare professionals, such as GPs and Psychiatrists, to ensure a holistic approach to your mental wellness.
Fear and anxiety are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct differences in terms of emotional and physiological responses. Fear is a direct, focused response to an immediate threat, causing an urgent reaction to a known danger. It's typically associated with a fight-or-flight response, preparing the body to react to the present danger. Anxiety, on the other hand, is more diffuse and future-oriented. It involves a heightened state of arousal and worries about potential threats or negative outcomes that may or may not happen. Anxiety can persist even in the absence of an immediate threat and can affect daily functioning over a longer term. Understanding these differences is key to identifying and treating anxiety disorders effectively.
We understand how distressing, unpleasant thoughts and obsessive thinking can significantly impact your quality of life. Our team includes experienced therapists who have extensive experience in treating conditions associated with these symptoms, such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders. We offer a supportive environment and evidence-based treatments tailored to your needs, helping you manage and overcome these intrusive thoughts.
Treatments for anxiety are generally covered by Medicare if you have a GP mental healthcare plan. Anxiety therapy may also be eligible for private health insurance rebates, although this depends on your insurance provider and the type of cover you have. More information is available on our individual therapy and group therapy fees pages. Please note that Neurofeedback is not covered by Medicare.
If you or someone close to you is experiencing symptoms of anxiety, we’re here to help. When you visit Mindstate Psychology, you’ll meet experienced, caring professionals who are here to help. Contact us today and start your journey towards mental wellness.
Mindstate Psychology does not provide emergency mental health services.
If you're worried about harm toward yourself or others, or you are otherwise experiencing an emergency, please call 000.
