Blog
A Collection of Posts from Brisbane ACT Centre's talented psychologists, psychiatrist, therapists and social workers.
What Makes a Good Therapist? 10 Traits Explored!
This is the second in the Brisbane ACT Centre’s two part series on finding a psychology practitioner that’s perfect for you. In our first post we looked at choosing a therapist, now we move onto the qualities and actions of effective therapists - what makes a great...
3 Steps To Finding the Right Psychologist For You
This is the first in the Brisbane ACT Centre’s two part series on finding a psychology practitioner that’s perfect for you. In this post we look at how to look for psychologists and choose between therapists. In the next segment we’ll explore what research shows makes for a great psychologist.
Acceptance – Getting Comfortable with the Uncomfortable
Can you recall the last time you had a pebble in your shoe?
You knew it was there, but you were too busy to be bothered.
Maybe you were running late for the bus or trying to enjoy the view. But each time you took a step you were reminded of how uncomfortable it was. And not feeling comfortable is not acceptable.
Ten things you can do to deal with depression
So you find these dark periods are here again. You may try many things which help somewhat but depression keeps coming around. You don’t want it, and you don’t like it. But when it is here anyway, here are some tips which may help: 1. Allow yourself to feel the way...
Where does Suffering Come From?
The ACT model predicts that a lot of suffering is caused by becoming entangled in difficult and painful thoughts and feelings, and then is further exacerbated by trying to push those thoughts and feelings away.
How to Reduce Your Work Stress & Burnout Risk Using ACT
Nursing is often a high stress profession, with difficult hours, systems, patients, colleagues, bureaucracy – you name it! These challenges mean that nurses and other health workers are more susceptible to burnout than other low stress professions, but is there...
Using Cutting Edge Virtual Reality Technology to Treat Depression
Self criticism can be a helpful tool but for many people it can be damaging, pulling us away from the things that matter most to us or slowing us down with anxiety or depression. A wealth of research shows however that we can learn to manage overly self critical...
Can Washing Dishes Improve Your Life?
When was the last time you looked at your empty coffee mug and realised you had no recollection of drinking it? Perhaps you even wondered if someone else drank it…. until you realised you were the only one at home! It’s easy to go into “automatic pilot” when we’re at...
Mindfulness: Being Where You Are and Doing What’s Important
Mindfulness: Being Where You Are and Doing What's Important Courtesy of: Hank Robb, PhD, ABPP I purposely did not title this “meditation” because it seems to me the word “meditation” now has quite a number of different and contradictory meanings. One meaning is a...
The Struggle with Sleeplessness
One of the key tools that the world’s foremost sleep coaches at the Sleep School use is acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT. Guy Meadows nicely described ACT as “a revolutionary research-based psychological tool that recognises that it is our struggle or...
From Struggling to Striving
ACT can quickly transform struggle into thriving, as it completely changes the psychology agenda. We drop the struggle to rid of difficult thoughts and feelings. We coach skills to quickly handle them more effectively, emphasising living the kind of life you want....
4 & 1/2 Steps to Vitality
By Nikita Kotlarov, learn more about Nik at his website mindzone. Ever had a day when you woke up and things seemed just right? You couldn’t explain it. The world hasn’t changed. But you felt just good. What if there was a reliable way of producing this effect?...
The Neuroscience of Stress and Mindfulness
Fortunately, the emerging field of cognitive neuroscience is making it increasingly clear that you can train your brain to support you in taking a mindful approach to stress. With practice, you can achieve a more relaxed and transcendent state of mind that will...
What is ACT & Briefly on Medication
Welcome to Brisbane ACT Centre's first ever blog post. I thought I'd talk in a less formal way about "What is ACT" and how we integrate with medication use in psychological problems. Firstly, off the bat, I personally reckon that "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy" -...
Can ACT and Mindfulness Help Ease the Burden of Common Medical Problems?
ACT is closely related to other mindfulness-based approaches, sometimes called “fellow travellers” and two in particular are Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction - MBCT and MBSR. An important recent review article in the highest...
Anxiety and Parenting
Courtesy of Dr. Nga Tran. Nga is a consultant psychiatrist working at the Brisbane ACT Centre. Get in touch with our friendly staff to book an appointment with Dr. Nga. Being a parent is probably the most important role your life. It is frequently a time of great...
Winning Your Sweetheart’s Heart… and Again
Courtesy of Brisbane ACT Centre psychologist, Nikita Kotlarov. Check out Nik's website here. Winning Your Sweetheart’s Heart... and again. Perfect relationship? Where? You are different, most of this will not change. Unburdening or Winning Your Sweetheart’s Heart?...
Mindfulness and Christian Meditation
By Ingrid Ord I am frequently asked to comment on Christian meditation websites, and these requests have increased as, I suspect, the availability of such websites has increased. Many Christian denominations are represented, and I suspect that there is a fairly even...
3 Quick Tips to Improve Confidence
Renae Jarrett People come to therapy for a variety of reasons such as anxiety, depression, work stress, relationship difficulties and substance issues just to name a few. However, in my clinical experience of working with a broad range of clients and their varied...
Emotional Agility
Mindfulness, acceptance and values are key aspects of ACT which a colleague nicely calls “a new science of the mind that is sweeping the world of psychology and turning conventional approaches upside down.” But they can sound like weird stuff which require you to...
