#menzies anxiety centre

[menziesanxiety]

Overcoming Anxiety with Supportive Anxiety Therapy Sydney

Anxiety is a prevalent mental health condition that affects millions of Australians. While it can feel overwhelming and isolating, the good news is that anxiety is highly treatable. At the Menzies Anxiety Centre, we’re here to provide compassionate, evidence-based care to help you manage anxiety and regain control of your life.

Understanding Anxiety and Its Impact

Anxiety can manifest in many forms, such as social anxiety, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), panic attacks, or phobias. These conditions often involve excessive worry, difficulty concentrating, physical symptoms like a racing heart, or even avoidance behaviours. Without the proper support, anxiety can interfere with relationships, work, and daily life.

At the Menzies Anxiety Centre, we believe that understanding your anxiety is the first step towards managing it. By identifying the specific triggers and patterns that contribute to your symptoms, our psychologists help you develop effective strategies to regain balance and peace of mind.

Why Work with a Skilled Anxiety Psychologist in Sydney?

Seeking professional support for anxiety is a critical step in improving your mental health. Our team at the Menzies Anxiety Centre is skilled in tailoring therapies to meet individual needs. Every client��s experience is unique, and we take the time to understand your goals and challenges to ensure your treatment aligns with your personal journey.

Our treatment approaches include:

● Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT): This evidence-based approach helps you identify and reframe negative thought patterns that contribute to anxiety. By replacing unhelpful thoughts with constructive ones, CBT allows you to approach situations with confidence.

● Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): ACT encourages you to accept difficult emotions and focus on living a meaningful life aligned with your values.

● Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques: These strategies help you stay present and reduce the impact of anxious thoughts and feelings.

The Importance of Personalised Care

Anxiety affects everyone differently, which is why our care is never one-size-fits-all. From your initial consultation to ongoing therapy sessions, our focus is on creating a safe, supportive environment where you can openly discuss your concerns.

Our team’s goal is to equip you with practical tools and coping mechanisms that you can use not just during therapy, but also in your daily life. With the right guidance, you can build resilience, strengthen your mental health, and work towards achieving your goals.

Accessible Anxiety Therapy in Sydney

At the Menzies Anxiety Centre, we understand that seeking therapy can be daunting. That’s why we prioritise creating a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for all our clients. Our Sydney-based clinic is conveniently located and designed to provide a calm, private space where you can focus on your well-being.

For those unable to visit in person, we also offer telehealth options, allowing you to access high-quality care from the comfort of your home. This flexibility ensures that support is accessible to anyone in need, regardless of their circumstances.

Take the First Step Towards Managing Anxiety

You don’t have to navigate anxiety alone. Seeking professional support from a skilled anxiety psychologist Sydney can make a profound difference in your journey towards mental wellness. At the Menzies Anxiety Centre, our team is here to help you regain confidence and build a life that feels fulfilling and manageable.

Contact us today to learn more about our services or to schedule a consultation. Your path to better mental health starts here. 

[whiskyhorse]

Earl Grey: Where do you prefer to study?

At home.

English Breakfast: If you could get a degree in anything, regardless of career marketability, what would it be?

Practical fine art.

Green Tea: Hardcover or paperback books?

Hardcover

Peach: Favorite study snack?

Chocolate cake

Citrus: Do you prefer to sit at the front or back of the room during lectures?

Depends on the lecture.  Some lecturers you really want to get up in their face.

Cinnamon Apple: Describe your dream school as an aesthetic.

Oxford University.  Barbarous political in-fighting conducted among the involuted hallways of a series of gothic buildings and meticulously manicured parks while tourists bumble unawares amidst the Darwinian chaos. Me, astride the chaos, laughing, my red hands lifted and dripping in triumph yet unseen by the still striving rabble.

Or an apprenticeship with someone calm, empty and worthy of respect bordering on adoration, who channels their inspired craft through almost inhuman skill.

The red handed nonsense can be fatiguing.

Chamomile: What is the best book you’ve had to read for school?

Some that have proven useful:

Much Ado About Nothing

Containing Anxiety in Institutions, Isobel Menzies Lyth

On Aggression, Konrad Lorenz

Matcha: What is your favorite study method? (Notes, flashcards, etc.)

Look at the course material.  Dissect how the course is structured, where the marks are awarded and then centre your effort around what the lecturer wants (or needs) to hear.  Find the aspects of the teaching material that interest you personally and then bend the rules so that you’re able to meet the marking criteria while presenting the arguments you want to make. This is the best possible balance between having passion for your material while still meeting the educational requirements of the course.

Decide whether you are intending to become an expert or look like an expert.  Becoming an expert requires immersion in the subject and practical use of the material.  Looking like an expert can be done with nothing more than confidence and surface reading.

Go to lectures, take notes and remember what they say.  Argue with people and the flush of debate will force wider reading.  Write about the subject and be rigorous so that you have to double check your sources.

Prepare your overview of the subject well and in advance because it’s likely you'll be monstering the detail quite close to the test.  

Sleepytime: How late do you usually stay up studying?

You can probably guess from the above.

Peppermint: Study groups or study alone?

Done both.  Both work.  Study groups tend to lack focus - you need the right personalities.  I find it’s best to get to know someone who likes making stacks of note cards and organising material.  I can then compare my dissection of how the course is gamed against their more rigorous approach to absorbing THE WHOLE COURSE to see whether I’ve missed anything and to check whether my level of knowledge holds up to their interrogation.

Rosehip: Have you ever studied abroad? If not, where would you like to?

No, but I have taught abroad.

Lemon Ginger: Do you study a little at a time, or all at once before exams?

Broad themes early, detail late.

Chai: What language would you love to learn?

Welsh, Icelandic, Arabic, Cantonese, Swahili

Lavender: Has a professor ever changed your life for the better?

Yes.  Several times.

Jasmine: Do you dress up for school or wear whatever is comfortable?

Capsule wardrobe.  Black, grey, colour to please and astonish.

Blackberry: Handwritten or typed notes?

Hand.

[kathleenseiber]

COVID-19 news and trends

The numbers

Global COVID-19 deaths are set to pass the one million mark in coming days. The grim champion of most deaths per 100,000 population is tiny San Marino, a microstate in northern Italy. From a total population of about 34,000, it has recorded 723 cases and 42 deaths – that’s 124.32/100,000. At 98.06/100,000, Peru is the only other nation above 90.

Global

As at 16:47 CEST on Thursday 24 September, cases confirmed worldwide by national authorities stood at 31,425,029 (246,165 of them reported in the preceding 24 hours). 967,164 deaths have been recorded (4520). (Source: WHO Coronavirus Disease Dashboard)

Johns Hopkins University’s Centre of Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) reported (at 15:30 AEST on Thursday 24 September) 31,779,835 confirmed cases and 975,104 deaths.

Australia

The Department of Health reported on 23 September that national confirmed cases stood at 26,973, a rise of 22 in 24 hours. 859 deaths have been recorded. More than 7,393,500 tests have been conducted (0.4% positive).

State by state: ACT 113 total cases (first case reported 12 March); NSW 4212 (25 January); NT 33 (20 March); Qld 1153 (29 January); SA 467 (2 February); Tas 230 (2 March); Vic 20,100 (25 January); WA 665 (21 February).

Research

 First or second wave?

Mathematicians Max Menzies, from Tsinghua University, Beijing, and Nick James, a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, have developed a model to determine whether US states are in a first or second surge of COVID-19. They’ve published their work in the journal Chaos.

The pair studied data from all 50 US states and the District of Columbia from 21 January to 31 July. They found that 31 states and DC were experiencing a second wave as of the end of July.

Their method smooths raw daily case count data to eliminate artificially low counts over weekends and even some negative numbers that occur when localities correct errors. After smoothing the data, a numerical technique finds peaks (P) and troughs (T), from which turning points can be identified.

A turning point occurs when a falling curve surges upward or a rising curve turns downward. Only those sequences where the P and T amplitudes differ by a certain minimum amount are counted. A second wave that’s less than one-fifth the size of the first doesn’t qualify as a “second wave” – it’s just too small.

Thirteen states – including California and Texas, the US’s most populous – had increasing case numbers throughout the entire seven-month period studied and are considered to be still in their first wave. Another 31 states showed sequences of the form TPTP – zero cases to a first peak, then another trough and peak. This is the signature of a second wave.

New York and New Jersey completely flattened their curves by the end of July. The analysis confirms these two states experienced just one wave.

“In some of the worst performing states, it seems that policymakers have looked for plateauing or slightly declining infection rates,” says James. “Instead, health officials should look for identifiable local maxima and minima, showing when surges reach their peak and when they are demonstrably over.”

“The real moral of this paper is that COVID-19 is highly infectious and very difficult to control,” says Menzies.

The authors have also applied their method to analyse infection rates in eight Australian states and territories. The Australian analysis hasn’t been peer-reviewed but it applies the peer-reviewed methodology. The analysis clearly identifies Victoria as an outlier, as expected.

“What the Victorian data shows is that cases are still coming down and the turning point – the local minimum – has not occurred yet,” says Menzies, and from a mathematical perspective at least, Victoria should “stay the course”.

Fine weather for COVID

With winter approaching in northern hemisphere coronavirus hotspots, an understanding of the effect of weather on the virus’s spread is timely.

A paper published in Physics of Fluids reveals results of a study into the effects of relative humidity, environmental temperature and wind speed on the respiratory cloud and virus viability.

Researchers found that a critical factor for the transmission of infectious particles in respiratory clouds of saliva droplets is evaporation.

“Suppose we have a better understanding of the evaporation and its relation to climate effects,” says author Dimitris Drikakis, of the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. “In that case, we can more accurately predict the virus concentration and better determine its viability or the potential for virus survival.”

Despite the importance of airborne droplet transmission, research regarding heat and mass transfer around and within respiratory droplets containing the virus has been scarce.

Weather impact on virus transmission. Effect of relative humidity (RH=10%, 50%, and 90%) on coronavirus respiratory droplet cloud at temperature 30 C and wind speed of 4 kph. Wind direction is from left to right. Credit: Talib Dbouk and Dimitris Drikakis

“We found high temperature and low relative humidity lead to high evaporation rates of saliva-contaminated droplets, thus significantly reducing the virus viability,” says co-author Talib Dbouk.

Additionally, the researchers observed the travel distance and concentration of the droplet cloud continued to be significant, even at high temperatures if the relative humidity is high. Wind speed is another crucial factor that might alter all the rules for the social distancing guidelines.

The findings help explain why the pandemic increased during July in crowded cities around the world, such as Delhi, which experienced both high temperatures and high relative humidity.

It also provides a crucial alert for the possibility of a second wave of the pandemic in the coming autumn and winter seasons, where low temperatures and high wind speeds will increase airborne virus survival and transmission.

The study adds to the growing body of research that reinforces the importance of social distancing and the use of face masks to prevent full virus spread.

The asymptomatic minority

There’s been plenty of talk about individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infections and no symptoms, and a new study published in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine addresses the question of what proportion of total infections these cases represent.

Diana Buitrago-Garcia from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and colleagues suggest that true asymptomatic cases of COVID comprise a minority of infections.

The full spectrum and severity of COVID-19 symptoms are not well understood. Some people experience severe infections resulting in viral pneumonia, respiratory distress syndrome and death. Others remain completely asymptomatic or develop mild, nonspecific symptoms.

To better understand the proportion of people who become infected with SARS-CoV-2 and never develop any symptoms, as well as the proportion of people who are asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis but develop symptoms later, researchers systematically reviewed literature using a database of SARS-CoV-2 evidence between March and June.

While the study was limited by its inability to ascertain the impact of false negatives, the researchers were able to estimate that 20% of COVID-19 infections remained asymptomatic during follow-up.

“The findings of this systematic review of publications early in the pandemic suggests that most SARS-CoV-2 infections are not asymptomatic throughout the course of infection,” wrote the authors.

“The contribution of presymptomatic and asymptomatic infections to overall SARS-CoV-2 transmission means that combination prevention measures, with enhanced hand and respiratory hygiene, testing and tracing, and isolation strategies and social distancing, will continue to be needed.”

Research bites

Credit: iStock

According to a new study from The George Institute for Global Health published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, the COVID-19 pandemic has more than doubled the number of smokers wanting to quit but a different approach may be needed to help them succeed. Lead author Simone Pettigrew says it was good to see positive intentions, but the right support was needed to ensure successful follow-through. “Most smokers want to quit, and many have tried unsuccessfully in the past,” she says. “COVID represents an important opportunity to help them use proven support tools while their motivation to quit is high.”

Preliminary findings from the University of South Australia’s ongoing Annual Rhythms in Adults’ lifestyle and health (ARIA) study (which isn’t peer-reviewed) suggest that effect of lockdown on people’s lifestyle and wellbeing was not as bad as we might have expected. During the lockdown period of February to April, on average people slept longer, got up later, did less light physical activity, drank a bit more alcohol and ate a little less protein. The findings also noted no changes to weight, dietary energy intake, quality of life or symptoms of depression, anxiety or stress.

“Given the unprecedented nature of lockdown, we expected to see greater levels of anxiety and depression – and perhaps even increases in weight as people were at home and had greater access to their fridges – but no,” says researcher Rachel Curtis. “All in all, it’s reassuring to see just how resilient Australians were in terms of their health and wellbeing during lockdown.”

A new study on the health sciences preprint server medRxiv suggests that herd immunity played a role in the size of the COVID epidemic in the Brazilian city of Manaus. SARS-CoV-2 initially spread rapidly through the 1.8 million-population city, but since the peak in May new cases and deaths have rapidly fallen. The joint Brazil/UK research team says that’s because the virus is running out of hosts. “Although non-pharmaceutical interventions, plus a change in population behaviour, may have helped to limit SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Manaus, the unusually high infection rate suggests that herd immunity played a significant role in determining the size of the epidemic,” the authors write.

Researchers claim that COVID-shutdown-related reductions in human-made noise has seen birds in parts of California adapt their songs to be higher quality. The study, published in Science, provides strong evidence that previously reported regional changes in birdsong, which lowered song quality and affected male birds’ ability to defend their territories, resulted from increased anthropogenic noise. The study focused on birdsong in urban and rural populations of white-crowned sparrows in the San Francisco Bay area, the subject of many years’ observation by researcher Elizabeth Derryberry and colleagues. The authors say that results reveal how quickly birds can adapt to changing environments and suggest that lasting remediation might lead to other promising outcomes, including higher species diversity.

In a Correspondence in Nature, geneticist Paul Nurse, astronomer Martin Rees, former UK prime minister Gordon Brown and colleagues write that with the Brexit transition period ending in just three months, it’s now impossible to develop separate UK equivalents to European Union and European Commission science and knowledge-exchange programs. “Anything less than continued UK association with these programs will be catastrophic for both British and European research,” write the authors, who claim such programs have a total value approaching €100 billion (AU$165 billion) over their lifetimes. The authors conclude: “As we weather the worst public-health crisis in living memory, now is the time for the United Kingdom to be leading and enhancing scientific collaborations with our European partners, not leaving them.”

COVID-19 news and trends published first on https://triviaqaweb.weebly.com/

[menziesanxiety]

Finding the Right Anxiety Treatment in Sydney – The Menzies Anxiety Centre

When it comes to managing anxiety, finding the right support is essential for your mental health and well-being. The Menzies Anxiety Centre is dedicated to providing effective anxiety treatment Sydney, helping individuals overcome challenges and regain control over their lives. Whether you're dealing with general anxiety, panic attacks, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), our team of experienced professionals offers compassionate care tailored to your needs.

Anxiety Psychologist Sydney – Guidance for Managing Anxiety

If you're struggling with anxiety, working with an anxiety psychologist in Sydney can be a game-changer. At the Menzies Anxiety Centre, our psychologists are trained in evidence-based therapeutic techniques, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which have been proven to help individuals manage and reduce anxiety. Our approach is focused on empowering you with practical tools to cope with anxiety, so you can lead a more fulfilling life.

Whether your anxiety is triggered by work stress, relationship issues, or other personal challenges, our anxiety psychologists are here to provide the support you need. We understand that each person’s experience with anxiety is unique, which is why we offer personalised treatment plans designed to address your specific symptoms and concerns.

Anxiety Therapy Sydney – A Holistic Approach to Mental Health

At the Menzies Anxiety Centre, we offer comprehensive anxiety therapy in Sydney to help you better understand and manage your emotions. Anxiety therapy isn’t just about alleviating symptoms – it’s about developing the skills and strategies necessary for long-term emotional resilience. Our therapy sessions offer a safe, non-judgmental space to explore your thoughts and feelings, helping you uncover the underlying causes of your anxiety.

We also recognise the importance of a holistic approach to mental health, and our team works with you to integrate lifestyle changes, such as mindfulness techniques and relaxation exercises, alongside traditional therapy methods. By addressing anxiety from all angles, we can help you achieve lasting relief.

Sydney Anxiety Clinic – Your Path to Recovery

Choosing the right Sydney anxiety clinic is an important step in your journey to recovery. At the Menzies Anxiety Centre, we pride ourselves on creating a supportive and understanding environment where you can feel comfortable seeking help. Our clinic is dedicated to providing compassionate, client-focused care, and we are here to guide you every step of the way.

Our clinic offers a range of treatments and therapies to help you manage anxiety, including individual therapy for OCD. If you're looking for effective anxiety treatment in Sydney, the Menzies Anxiety Centre is the place to start.

Visit the Menzies Anxiety Centre today to learn more about our services and take the first step towards a calmer, more balanced life.