Case Studies
Andrew
Andrew, an eight-year-old boy, came to the clinic with his parents as they were worried about his aggressive behaviour at home. He did not follow instructions, hit his siblings, and they thought that he may have ADHD.
Our child psychologist discussed these problems with his parents, conducted some assessments, and discovered that the family needed some assistance with behaviour management.
The psychologist worked together with both parents and developed a parenting program which included education about routines, consistency, and developing some consequences to manage negative behaviour and encourage positive behaviour.
After only 4 visits, Andrew’s parents felt more confident in managing Andrew’s behaviour which quickly improved, and no further intervention was required for the family.
Molly
Molly recently had her first child and moved to the Sunshine Coast with her husband, away from her extended family and friends.
She felt teary after the birth and was increasingly more upset, isolated, and anxious as the weeks went by. Molly did not feel that she could confide her feelings to anyone, as she was worried that it was not normal to resent her new baby. The baby took hours to go to sleep, did not feed easily and, then only slept for a short time.
Finally, Molly went to see the Child Health Nurse and she referred Molly to our perinatal team.
Over the next few weeks, Molly's mood slowly improved with the chance to talk about her feelings and normalise her experience. Our psychologist provided her with various tools to manage her negative thinking and improve her moods.
Molly also joined the PND support group and found that she was not alone.
JILL
Jill, a mother of three young children, went to see her GP as she was having panic attacks.
She had recently had a car accident, and although she was not hurt, she was too scared to go out in the car in case she had another accident. She was especially fearful of her children getting hurt.
Jill spent most of her time at home with the children, spending hours cleaning and organising the house. She realised that she was spending less time with the children and was feeling resentful if they demanded her time or made a mess in the house.
Jill spoke of experiencing physical feelings, like tightening in the chest, dizziness, and shortness of breath. She also explained that her thoughts would race and that she would imagine the worst happening.
One of our psychologists and Jill worked together to reduce her physical symptoms and manage her unhealthy thinking patterns.
A couple of months later, Jill was able to enjoy a normal life and spend more time relaxing and playing with her children.