Mental illnesses may be caused by a reaction to environmental stresses, genetic factors, biochemical imbalances, or a combination of these. Some of the more common disorders are depression, bipolar disorder, dementia, schizophrenia, psychosis, and anxiety disorders. Symptoms may include changes in mood, personality, personal habits, inability to think and communicate, and social withdrawal. With proper care and treatment, many individuals learn to cope or recover from a mental illness. The treatment administered for different mental illness can vary according to the individual, the severity of the illness and history of the illness.

Family plays an important role in our social system. They contribute to who we are and who we become. We learn our vocabulary, our habits, our customs and rituals, how to love, how to interact with others and how to view and observe the world around us. Family therapy is a type of psychological therapy that can help family members to resolve family conflicts, deepen family connections, develop healthy boundaries, foster cohesion and communication, promote problem solving through understanding of family patterns and dynamics, build empathy and understanding, and maintain a healthy, functional family. You may address specific issues such as marital or financial problems, domestic violence, parent-child conflict, or the impact of substance abuse, death, trauma, divorce, new additions to the family or an illness on the entire family - which can cause stress, grief, anger or conflict. 

Maintaining a marriage or relationship requires daily and continuous effort. With two different individuals of two different personalities, thought process, coping skills, problem solving skills, expectations, and lifestyle - there's bound to be conflicts and disagreements. If these are not addressed properly, it can affect the marriage or relationship quality and longevity. Couple counselling is an effective form of talking therapy that helps to improve communication and resolve issues within an intimate relationship of two individuals. Some common issues that can be explored through couple counselling include trust, communication, finance, jealousy, betrayal, sexual needs, love, passion, parenting, and conflicting or contrasting lifestyle and opinions. 

A person may become so overwhelmed by a loss to the extent that their normal coping processes are disabled or shut down. Often people feel disorganised, tired, have trouble concentrating, sleep poorly, have vivid dreams, and experience change in appetite. In these circumstances, grief/trauma counselling may provide an avenue for healthy resolution by lending additional support through the grieving, recovery and healing process. Grief counselling aims to help people cope with grief, mourning, changes and challenges following the death of loved ones, or with major life changes that trigger grief (e.g divorce, breakups, separation, a terminally ill loved one). While trauma counselling is designed to maximise safety, trauma processing, and reintegration. The goal of of these therapies is to identify and solve the psychological and emotional problems which appeared as a consequence to an event.

Clinical hypnotherapy is a combination of hypnosis and therapeutic intervention. Hypnotherapy is guided hypnosis, or a trance-like state of focus and concentration achieved with the help of a clinical hypnotherapist. In this state, clients can turn their attention completely inward to find and utilise the natural resources deep within themselves that can help them make changes or regain control in certain areas of their life. Hypnotherapy can be used to treat anxiety, phobias, substance abuse including tobacco, sexual dysfunction, undesirable spontaneous behaviours, and bad habits. It can also be used to help improve sleep, learning disorders, communication, and relationship issues. Hypnotherapy can also aid in pain management of medical conditions such as digestive disorders, dermatology issues, and gastrointestinal side effects of pregnancy and chemotherapy.

Clinical assessment is a way of diagnosing and planning treatment for a patient. Our clinical assessments at ASTARA Consultancy will include clinical interviews and various psychological testings. During the clinical interview, you will be asked specific, open-ended questions in order to assess your thoughts, behaviours and feelings. It is often referred to as a conversation with a purpose. The essence of the clinical interview is to get a good grasp on how you interpret your situation and to get a clear picture of your thoughts, feelings and behaviours outside of the therapy room. These assessments are also used to diagnose - introversion/extroversion traits, mental disorders, verbal intelligence, career interest, and cognitive ability, memory and problem-solving skills.

Our clinical psychologist will do a complete in-depth psychological testing and evaluation by asking you to take a series of standardised written tests, in the form of questionnaires, ability ranking lists, surveys and checklists. The psychologist will then use these complied information to write up an overall evaluation, determine a diagnosis and develop a treatment plan or provide referrals. Referrals are used in many instances, including:

• to determine if a person is mentally competent to stand court trial

• to evaluate if a candidate is the right person for the company's vacant position

• to learn the needs of an active employee

• to ascertain if a child is experiencing behavioural, social and academic problems due to a learning disorder, an attention deficit or hidden emotional issues.

A psychiatric evaluation is designed to diagnose client's emotional, behavioural, or developmental conditions or disorders. The initial evaluation prior to making a clinical formulation and recommendation, will explore many aspects including developmental history, medical history, family history, social and environmental influences, academic/work concerns, substance use, history of the current problem, and emotional and cognitive (thinking) strengths and weaknesses. Our clinician specialises in the analysis and understanding of and treatment through therapy, the behavioural, psychological, and sociological aspects of psychiatric conditions.

Acquisition of essential life skills is important because it teaches psycho-social abilities that helps prevent harmful behaviours or attitudes, and promote overall mental health and emotional balance. The workshops we offer under Bridging Minds With Dr. GS aims to help you understand and take responsibility of your own mental health and wellness. These learned skills and knowledge training can work for different settings - including individual, family or corporate.