Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - or ADHD - affects one in 20 children worldwide. Many children and adolescents struggle at school or home but psychologists have developed a 'toolkit' of skills and approaches that can help parents, carers and teachers bring the best out in those with the disorder.

 Clynical psychologist EMMA SCIBERRAS (MAPS) explains what these approaches are.

Original video posted by Psychlopaedia.org on their YouTube channel.

BY PROFESSOR MICHAEL KYRIOS. FAPS
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY EXPERT IN OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE SPECTRUM DISORDERS AND BEHAVIOURAL ADDICTIONS

Donald Trump has famously professed an aversion to germs. But when does distaste become a disorder?

What is germaphobia?
Germaphobia (sometimes spelt germophobia) is a term used by psychologists to describe a pathological fear of germs, bacteria, microbes, contamination and infection. It is known by a range of other terms including mysophobia (fear of uncleanliness), verminophobia, bacillophobia, bacteriophobia. Other terms which relate to an abnormal fear of dirt and filth include molysmophobia or molysomophobia, rhypophobia, and rupophobia.

Is there any relationship to obsessive-compulsive disorder?
The problems associated with germaphobia are closely related to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). From studies in the US and other Western countries we known around one-quarter to one-third of people with OCD have contamination fears and associated decontamination rituals such as compulsive handwashing, washing and cleaning compulsions, and avoidance of potential contaminants. Studies from the Middle East reveal a higher prevalence of washing and cleaning rituals in OCD samples (between 50 per cent and 80 per cent), with females twice as likely to present with such difficulties.

BY THE PSYCHLOPAEDIA TEAM - THE AUSTRALIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

• Panic attacks are sudden and frightening.
  Panic attacks are a sudden and overwhelming experience of anxiety and fear. They can be an abrupt escalation of pre-existing anxiety or can seemingly arise out of the blue.
  
  
• They are relatively common.
  One study found one in four people reported having had an anxiety attack at some point in their life, but other sources have suggested that  as many as a third of Australian university students reported suffering a panic attack.  Women are more prone to them, and though they can be experienced at any life stage the typical onset is between 25 and 30

By ​Maria Tedesco - Clinical Psychologist

One of the most significant experiences for any person is heartbreak. The loss of a loved one through divorce or separation impacts the psychological well-being of a person in a way probably best described by writers, poets and musicians. Why? Because they have a way of capturing the emotional turbulence entwined with the processes of "Falling out of Love".

When you fall out of love,
your soul drowns
into a bath of suffocation.

It wanders, lost in a realm
of pain and heartache, worse
than any imaginable nightmare
​
(Logan LaFetch 2013)

​According to the (2007) National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing 14.4 percent of Australians have experienced an anxiety disorder within the past 12 months, with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Social Phobia being the most prevalent. ​

All of us experience anxiety at some point. It is a normal but, uncomfortable response to fear. During periods of anxiety we experience hypervigilance and physical arousal/agitation as our bodies assess the situation and prepare for a response based on previously learnt experiences.  
Some people feel they will not cope with these symptoms, this perception is often developed from experiences or events which have been very dangerous, threatening and out of a person’s control. They can include physical assaults, emotional abuse, parental abandonment and childhood trauma.  
​
Other factors also render people vulnerable to anxiety disorders like:  

• Hereditary - some people with a family history of anxiety are more likely to develop the disorder.
  
• Thinking styles - people who are perfectionist, have high unmanageable standards, or have a high need for control, are also vulnerable to anxiety.
• Behavioural styles – people who tend to be avoidant are more at risk of developing anxiety. This is because their world can “close in on them” as they try to escape stressful situations they also decrease their capacity to learn how to cope and adapt to difficulties.

​An effective psychological treatment for anxiety is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). This treatment aims to restructure the thinking style of clients, helping them assess stressful situations in more adaptive and helpful ways. It also includes challenging clients’ behaviour to their symptoms of anxiety with the aim of reducing avoidance. At Thinkwell Psychology we use empirically supported treatments tailored to the clients’ needs to help them respond to experiences of anxiety in ways that maintain their quality of life.