Helping you feel, think & function better
Dr Jacob Cooney, Clinical Psychologist, specialises in the formal assessment, diagnosis and psychological treatment of the following
mental health disorders and conditions:
(mostly in adults)
ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY
DISORDER*
(ADHD)
Significant symptoms and behaviours associated with:
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– inattentiveness
(e.g., difficulty maintaining attention; not finishing tasks; getting side-tracked and distracted easily; being disorganised)
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– hyperactivity and impulsivity
(e.g., being on-the-go; having difficulty sitting and being still; saying and doing things impulsively without thinking; feeling restless; being impatient and having difficulty waiting)
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* (Dr Jacob assesses and treats ADHD in adults and young people aged approximately 16 or older)
AUTISM SPECTRUM
DISORDER*
(ASD)
Signs and symptoms of being on the autism spectrum include:
– difficulties with social communication and interactions with others
– restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour, interest, and activities
– too much or too little sensitivity to experiencing the world through the five senses
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* (Dr Jacob assesses and treats ASD in adults and young people aged approximately 16 or older)
OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE
DISORDER
(OCD)
Obsessions are thoughts, doubts, images, or urges that intrude in a person's mind, are unwanted, and cause anxiety and distress.
Examples of obsessions can include:
– thoughts, images and urges about doing harmful things to love ones or random strangers;
– doubts such as whether doors are locked or stove switches are off;
– doubts about whether an individual's hands are clean and whether they or others are "safe" from contamination from germs.
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Compulsions are repetitive behaviours
(e.g., hand washing, maintaining order, checking) or mental acts (e.g., counting, repeating words silently, thought suppression) that an individual does in response to an obsession. The person does the compulsions with the aim to prevent or reduce anxiety, or to prevent a dreaded event from occurring.
Compulsions are often very time-consuming or not connected to obsessions in a realistic way. In reality, compulsions worsen obsessions, anxiety, and costs to quality of life in the long-term.
ANXIETY DISORDERS
Agoraphobia
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Fear and avoidance of being in situations where panic or panic-like symptoms are predicted to occur and escape is perceived to be difficult or embarrassing.
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Examples of agoraphobic situations include cars, planes, trains, buses, boats, car parks, shopping centres, bridges, cinemas, crowded places, and being alone and away from home.
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Specific Phobia
Fear of specific objects; fear of animals such as dogs, birds, spiders, snakes; fear of natural environments such as storms, heights, water sources; fear of specific situations such as being on a plane; fear of vomiting and illness
– Illness Anxiety Disorder
Fear of having or getting a serious medical condition
Social Anxiety Disorder
Fear of judgement and embarrassment in social situations. The social and performance situations are often avoided.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder
Chronic, excessive, seemingly uncontrollable worry and anxiety about day-to-day events and activities.
Examples can include worry and anxiety about work and school performance, well-being of family members, relationships, the future, and finances.
Panic Disorder
– Recurrent, sudden and unexpected panic attacks
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– Fear of future panic attacks
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– Avoidance of situations and activities that the person thinks will lead to a panic attack
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– Panic attack symptoms can include heart pounding, sweating, shortness of breath, feelings of choking, dizziness, things not feeling real, beliefs that you are "going crazy", "losing control", or about to die​
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– Panic Disorder often leads to Agoraphobia
POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
Exposure to an actual or threatened life threatening event, or event involving death or serious injury, or violence.
Re-experiencing the event in the form of recurrent and distressing memories and dreams, or feeling or acting as if the traumatic event was happening again.
Avoidance of things that remind the person of the traumatic event.
Negative thoughts and emotions associated with the traumatic experience.
Increased irritability, anger, physical stress and tension, reckless behaviour, and being very alert and vigilant for perceived danger.
PERSONALITY DISORDER
For example, Borderline Personality Disorder, also known as Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder.
Symptoms can include:
– Frantic efforts to avoid abandonment in relationships with others
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– Unstable and intense interpersonal relationships, in which the person may switch between idealising and devaluing the other person
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– Unstable self-image or sense of self
– Impulsive, reckless and self-damaging behaviours
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– Repeated suicidal behaviour or threats, and self-harm behaviours
– Intense mood instability and reactive moods that usually last a few hours
– Feeling empty emotionally
– Anger that is intense and hard to control
– Paranoid thinking or dissociating from the present reality
Other types of personality disorders include:
Histrionic Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, Avoidant Personality Disorder, and Anti-social Personality Disorder.
MOOD DISORDERS
– Major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder
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ADDICTION
– Alcohol
– Drugs
– Reckless and dangerous behaviours
Doing a behaviour repeatedly in response to a state of tension (physical and/or emotional cravings) despite mounting costs/harm
SUICIDAL
& SELF-HARM BEHAVIOURS
Thoughts, urges, or intentions of killing yourself, and researching and developing plans for killing yourself, are potentially serious and life-threatening symptoms.
They can occur within or alongside any of the mental health conditions described on this site.
If you or someone you know are currently experiencing intense suicidal and self-harm symptoms, DO NOT ACT ON THEM.
If you are not able to make contact with Dr Jacob immediately, call 000 IMMEDIATELY as this is a life-threatening emergency.
Acute, imminent suicidal and self-harm risk will pass with emergency help and follow-up therapy and support with a clinical psychologist, such as Dr Jacob.
PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS
– Schizophrenia
– Delusional Disorder
Neuro-psychological assessment
– Intellectual functioning (IQ)
– Memory
– Cognition