Do not confuse shyness with social anxiety. Children can suffer with social anxiety disorder usually because they have an extreme fear of other people judging them. These children’s fear of embarrassment is so great they avoid social situations such as speaking in front of the class and going to birthday parties. It may be difficult to tell the difference between social anxiety and shyness in your child. If you notice them feeling uncomfortable at social events or see them standing back from a group of children playing, you may question if something is going on. A large Australian scale study ..read more

Depression is much more complicated than unhappiness. Others looking from the outside in see ugly behaviour, a malingerer and someone emotionally unpredictable. And who wants to empathise with someone in such an unattractive state? But the truth is you have no control over how you are feeling. Living in a serious state of depression, you become only a small part of yourself. You go through a range of negative emotions such as pessimism, guilt, self-pity and narcissism. Still today people find it hard to be empathetic towards someone suffering with depression. It takes a huge amount of understa ..read more

Self-esteem is how you see yourself. Everyone experiences low self-esteem at times throughout life. Low self-esteem causes you to be unhappy with yourself and your life. When you have healthy self-esteem, you are content with life and value your achievements. Low self-esteem can contribute to developing general and social anxiety disorders. This can put you at risk of experiencing high levels of anxiety which will only make you feel worse about yourself. And when anxiety and low self-esteem interact with each other, it will only continue the negative cycle. Living with low self-esteem can crea ..read more

Are your stress levels overly high and rising? Do you have so many demands on your time that stress is a normal part of every day? While some stress is alright, too much can become overwhelming so you have trouble coping with everything you need to achieve. It can also make you snappy and irritable which can take a toll on friends and family. These are people who are always there for you. If any of this sounds like you, then you need to learn stress management. Once you know how to manage stress, you can better navigate the challenges of everyday life. This will not just help your children gro ..read more

Anxiety is common throughout the world. Almost 4 percent of the world’s population suffers with anxiety. That is around 264 million people dealing with anxiety every year. So you are not alone if you find yourself dealing with anxious thoughts. Chest pain, nervousness, a racing heart, agitation and tension are among the symptoms. And sometimes there are underlying medical causes, such as an overactive thyroid, that causes anxiety. Do not ignore how you feel. Untreated anxiety will only get progressively worse. It is completely treatable with medications, therapy and natural remedies. So it is ..read more

It can be a challenge sometimes to control your anger. You are not alone. It is something everyone has trouble with from time to time. Do you find yourself screaming in frustration when stuck in traffic? Are the kids constantly testing your patience to the limit? Does a friend constantly disrespect you? If you find yourself losing your temper more often than not, you may want to control anger before it controls you. When you anger is out of control, it can damage your health and relationships. The following are 19 tips on how to control anger immediately. 1. Distract yourself by counting to 10 ..read more

A lack of sleep on a regular basis can affect all areas of your life. It can make you irritable, add to your stress levels and affects your mental health. A survey by the Sleep Health Foundation found that around 60% of Australians experienced at “least one chronic sleep symptom”. And this is preventing them from leading a happy, healthy life. Are you one of those who tosses and turns at night and finds your mind racing with thoughts you cannot turn off? Do you wake in the middle of the night and find you cannot get back to sleep? Or maybe you have a diagnosis of insomnia and take medication t ..read more

How we react to stress is instinctual. Your heart starts pounding, you breathe faster and your muscles tense up. This prepares you to quickly respond to possible life-threatening situations. When you perceive there is danger, your sympathetic nervous system releases a shot of energy to prepare you for fight or flight. But if you have an anxiety disorder, you have persistent, excessive, intense fear and worry about daily situations. This is the key element of anxiety. These feelings about everyday situations can cause havoc with your daily life. You may begin to avoid situations or activities t ..read more

Do you have depression? Or have you been diagnosed with it in the past, then all of a sudden it hits you again from time to time? That old familiar feeling of despair, restless nights, withdrawing from the people who matter and lost interest in the things you enjoy comes creeping back. It can feel like a major battle to fight off depressive episodes. Some days you feel like you cannot possibly face the world and others you can meet challenges head on. Battling depression is exhausting but if you do not fight it off, it can get worse. So know there are things you can do that will help you cope ..read more

When you lack self-confidence, it can be hard to build up. Not trusting your abilities and always judging yourself is a tough place to be. But you can learn to be more confident which will increase your health and wellbeing. What is Self-confidence? Not all people are born with self-confidence. It is something you need to build through life experiences. But this can be hard. Sometimes what you experience throughout life can be traumatic and negatively impact your confidence. Confidence is a belief and trust in yourself to take control of your life or it may be just relevant to specific situati ..read more