Overview

Clinical Psychology in Galway and surrounding areas

Clinical Psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with understanding, alleviating and preventing psychological distress and promoting psychological well-being and personal development.

Many people experience psychological problems

Most of us will experience a psychological problem at some point in our life. Statistics from the World Health Organisation indicate that 1 in 4 people in Europe will experience depression at some time in their lives, and mental health problems account for up to 30% of consultations with general practitioners in Europe.

The reasons these problems occur are varied, but they can usually be traced to difficulties in a person’s past, current stressors or a combination of both. Some psychological problems are severe and can have an impact on almost every aspect of a person’s life, whilst others may be mild and only interfere with certain aspects of their life.

When thinking about the impact of psychological problems, difficulties usually occur because the person no longer does the things they would usually do (for example a person who feels depressed and lacking in energy may not go to work), or they are doing things they would not normally do (for example a person feels compelled to wash their hands repeatedly because they fear contamination).

We treat a wide range of psychological problems

At Evidence-based Therapy Centre in Galway, the Clinical Psychologist specialises in treating adults with a range of psychological problems including:

Depression
Anxiety
Trauma
Panic
Fears
Phobias
Social anxiety
Health anxiety
Eating disorders
Binge eating disorder
Adjustment disorders
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Low self-esteem
Complicated bereavement
Bi-polar disorder
Borderline personality disorder

In addition, the Clinical Psychologist works with people who have emotional difficulties associated with physical health problems, including terminal illnesses.

Not sure if Clinical Psychology is for you?

If you have a problem that you are not sure is treated by the psychologist, please contact us and we can clarify this for you.

We start by getting to really understand the problem

The first step is to develop a detailed understanding of the difficulties the person is experiencing. This involves specifying what the difficulties are, why they have occurred and what is stopping them from going away. This is usually achieved in the 1 hour assessment session, but in complex cases, this can take longer.

Part of the assessment involves completing a number of questionnaires. These help to assess the severity of the difficulties and help when evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention.

Once we have an understanding of the problems and their causes, a tailored treatment plan is developed to suit the person’s needs. This plan will be based on the best available research and the goals and preferences of the individual.

Then we recommend the approach most likely to be effective

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is known to be one of the most effective approaches for a range of psychological problems and is therefore a major part of the work at EBTC. However, Clinical Psychologists are trained in a variety of approaches including systemic and psychodynamic approaches and these are used alongside CBT as appropriate to the needs of the person in therapy.

Treatment sessions help the person achieve their goals

Clinical psychology treatment appointments are 50 minutes long. Since the impact of psychological problems is usually caused by a person doing something they would not usually do or not doing the things they would usually do, treatment focuses on teaching a range of strategies and techniques to help tackle these problems. To achieve the desired treatment goals, people in therapy will undertake tasks at home which they will discuss in the next session. Progress will be closely monitored and discussed each week to ensure the treatment is working.