FAQs

How do Mental Health Treatment Plan’s Work?

All Australian Citizens (and individuals from the New Zealand, UK and a number of European countries) can access 10 sessions of psychology a year (January 1st to 31st December) where you receive a rebate which will reduce the cost of the session. For example, if you see a Clinical Psychologist whose standard hourly fee is $220, Medicare will pay $141.85, which means you pay $78.15.

To get a Mental Health Treatment Plan you have to book an appointment with your GP (usually a slightly longer appointment), where you will be assessed. If you receive a plan, the first one will cover 6 sessions. If you require more help after completing 6 sessions, you will have to return to your GP and get another plan for 4 sessions.

What is the most effective type of therapy for mental health?

When asked this question in 1962, leading psychotherapist and folk singer Bob Dylan sung “The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind”. Bob was not referring to a type of ‘blowing’ or ‘wind’ therapy. He was simply stating that some simple questions don’t have simple answers.

Every now and then, a psychologist will claim that their type of therapy is the most effective, and will point to a few treatment studies that proves they are right. However, if you do a meta-study on ALL of the treatments and the studies and compare their performance, they all perform the same. Personally, I have my favourite therapies, but I have to reluctantly accept they are not statistically more effective than the ones I don’t rate. So be wary of any psychologist who claims their snake oil is better than their competitors. They might be drinking their own snake oil!

Can Psychologists prescribe medications to treat mental illness?

No.

GP’s and Psychiatrists prescribe the medications used to treat mental illness. This is a good idea, as psychologists are not trained in medicine, so they would be unaware of the effects of a medication on your physical system, or the potentially dangerous interactions between the drugs you are taking.

Psychologists are trained in psychotherapy. When working in a clinical setting a psychologist will use only non-drug treatments, such as Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy.

Is diagnosis in mental health more a description than an explanation?

In Australia we use a book, written by American Psychiatrists to help us diagnose mental illness. It is called the DSM, and it is updated every couple of years. Why is it updated? Not because mental illness or people change, but because American society and psychiatrists’ perspectives on mental illness have changed. For example, a few years back homosexuality was a diagnosed mental illness. There was also a time when you could not be diagnosed with autism and ADHD, you either had one or the other. This is no longer the case. Until recently, Gambling Addiction was not a disorder.

Essentially a mental health diagnosis is a description of your symptoms, the impact of them on your life and relationships, and the duration of you experiencing these symptoms. It helps communication between health professionals so that rather than having to describe all your symptoms, your GP can simply say ‘This woman is suffering from depression’. Unfortunately, a mental health diagnosis cannot help you with the cause (i.e. ‘why’ you are depressed).

You could say diagnosis is our best attempt so far to describe mental illness. However, we have a long way to go before we can understand what causes mental illnesses and how to treat specific symptoms effectively.

How many sessions will I need when I see a psychologist?

It depends.

There are some general rules. If you have a problem that has been with you for a long time, then you will need more sessions. If your problem is severe, you will need more sessions. If you want to get to the cause of the problem (not just lower or manage the symptoms) it will also take a bit longer.

For example, an individual who has suffered episodes of severe depression for over 10 years who wants to break this cycle and be depression free will require many more sessions than an individual who is experiencing their first mild episode of depression.

What is a mental health care plan?

A mental health care plan aims to support individuals experiencing mental health challenges. Developed in collaboration with your General Practitioner (GP) or psychiatrist, a mental health care plan outlines your mental health needs and the recommended treatment approach, including referrals to mental health professionals (psychologists).

The primary purpose of a mental health care plan is to providing eligible individuals with Medicare rebates for up to 10 sessions per calandar year.

 FAQs about therapy at Koira

  • All humans are pack animals . We are wired to co-operate, work together, and belong to a group. When we don’t feel a part of the ‘group’, we experience fear and anxiety. Being constantly fearful and anxious can lead to the development of psychological disorders such as depression, generalised anxiety, OCD, social anxiety, etc.

    Being bullied is an example of when we feel outside and excluded from the group. When bullied we will experience depression, elevated anxiety, and low self-esteem.

    At Koira, our aim is to help identify why you are experiencing disconnection, and to help you re-connect.

  • Experiencing low levels of anxiety can be helpful, especially when we have to prepare and carry out difficult tasks that require concentration and persistence. High levels of anxiety can also be helpful in moments when your life is under threat. You need to act, and act now, and a surge of fear can help us in these situations. However, long term/chronic anxiety is extremely harmful to our health and greatly reduces our quality of life.

    When we are highly anxious we literally cannot learn or problem solve. In a highly anxious state we will continue to do what we have always done. The part of your brain that helps you to make wise and informed decisions or adopt new behaviours is literally ‘shut down’. When highly anxious we also cannot clearly identify our emotions, so we are also unable to know how we are feeling.

    At Koira our therapy is aimed to help you work out what triggers and maintains your high levels of anxiety, and to make changes so you can think and feel clearly again.

  • Depression is often a result of being isolated and disconnected, either from yourself or others, and being unable to see how this will change. Other than people who have a physiological issue (e.g. hypothyroidism, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, etc), the majority of people who come to see a psychologist due to depression are reporting feeling ‘disconnected’ and can see no way of fixing this problem.

    Examples of statements about disconnection and hopelessness

    Disconnection from others (“I don’t have enough friends”, “I feel isolated in my community”, “I find it hard to trust and be open with others”, “I keep doing things that push people away”, “I fear upsetting people”)

    Disconnection from self (“I don’t care about myself”, “I don’t do enough for myself”, “I don’t like myself”, “I always put myself last”, “I am not in touch with my feelings”, “I don’t have any drive, purpose or goals”)

    Hopelessness (“I don’t know how to fix this”, “This is too hard to change”)

    At Koira, we work on helping you to find the courage to face the problems that cause your depression, so you can find hope and solutions, and then re-connect with yourself and with others.

  • We only recommend ‘coping strategies’ for problems that are short term. Coping is not a long term strategy. It will not bring you long term contentment and quality of life.

    For example, if you hate your job and drink every evening to numb your feelings about your work, you are using a coping strategy. If everytime you feel anxious, you grab your phone and start scrolling, you are using a coping strategy. At Koira we aim to help you find long term solutions to your problems.

  • A defense is a thinking pattern or a behaviour that you don’t notice you are doing. Defenses are unconscious responses. Others may see your defence in ‘real time’, but you will not see it while you are doing it.

    All defences have one thing in common: They help us to avoid strong and painful emotions in the present moment. If it gets too much emotionally, we use a defense. If we keep using the same defense over and over, we start to experience psychological symptoms and social problems that harm us.

    “The attempt to escape from pain, is what creates more pain.” - Gabor Maté

    Psychologists over the years have categorised defenses and given them names such as black and white thinking, projecting, catastrophising, splitting, etc. Behaviours such as unnecessary aggression, arrogance, and avoiding social activities are also examples of defenses.

    At Koira, we help you to see ‘in real time’ how you use defenses to avoid emotional pain, and help you to find better ways to think and behaviour that don’t harm yourself and those around you.

  • Many of the people we see in therapy know of the Serenity Prayer, and believe it to be the correct approach to problems in our lives.

    “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”

    However, we come to therapy because we are unable in some parts of our life to carry out this plan. The ongoing failure at either ‘not accepting’ or ‘not changing’ can cause us great suffering.

    At Koira we help you to apply the ‘wisdom’ part, so you can reduce your suffering and move forward.

  • If you find yourself over-reacting to an everyday situation, the first question we often ask in therapy is ‘why’? What would make you respond to a small mistake like it was a major disaster?

    The answer typically lies in the past. This current situation you are experiencing has uncosciously triggered emotional memories of past events that were painful and extreme, and suddenly you are feeling waves of emotion that are making you over-react in the present moment.

    Our goal at Koira is to help you identify what memories might be getting triggered and separate these memories from the present situation, so your reaction will be appropriate to the current situation.