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A forensic assessment is conducted either at the request of an attorney or by a court order. Either way, the purpose of a forensic assessment is to determine the facts under question in a legal matter such as a lawsuit or a criminal case.

The psychologist may be asked to assess whether or not the client was legally insane when he committed a criminal act, or whether she is mentally competent to stand trial. Depending on the specific question, the psychologist will conduct a clinical interview, collateral interviews with witnesses, family, friends, attorneys, police officers, etc. The psychologist will review records such as medical, psychological, criminal, school, etc. as well as administer psychological tests, and form an opinion to answer the legal question.

Most people feel anxious or depressed different time of their life. Losing someone you love, losing a job, getting a divorce and other situations can make a person feel sad, scared, lonely, nervous, or anxious. These are normal feelings as a reaction to the stressors of life.

If a person is having these feelings daily for no apparent reason, and it is interfering with normal daily functioning, it may be anxiety, depression, or both.

Depression and anxiety disorders are different, but similar in the symptoms of nervousness, sleep disruptions, difficulty concentrating and irritability. Each disorder has it’s own cause and its own emotional and behavioural symptoms.

Grief is usually associated with feelings of sadness, guilt, anger, regret and yearning, among others. Some people may feel a sense of meaninglessness, while others may feel a sense of relief. Emotions can surprise us in their strength or mildness, and can be confusing.

Everyone grieves in their own way, and there is no one way better than the other. Recovering from grief can happen in six months, with moment of sadness, while others may feel better after a year. Some people will grieve for years, complicated by other conditions, such as depression.

Counselling and Psychotherapy can help career transitions and issues. During this process you can set goals, explore motivations, and face challenges. Therapy can help you develop your potential to make positive changes in your life – so that you realise and achieve your intention. You can be motivated to develop tools and resources to change your current environments, change negative thought patterns and negative self-talk, and promote healthier patterns of living.

Many things can trigger the stress reaction, including danger, financial difficulties, illness, as well as significant changes in one’s life such as the death of a loved one. While stress is common, and sometimes unavoidable, it puts us at risk for problems with depression and anxiety, marital discord, depression and anxiety, as well as substance abuse.

Addiction is a chronic and misunderstood illness. Addiction is a brain disease that affects a person’s control over their behavior as well as the brain circuits involved in motivation, reward, memory and learning. Specifically, drug or alcohol substance abuse can lead to significant changes in the structure and function of the brain, making recovery a complex process. Once underlying issues are addressed, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, among others, then an individual will regain the ability to make sound decisions and employ self-control over the intense impulses to continue to abuse drugs, drink alcohol or resume their addictive behaviors.

Conflict resolution is the lessening of conflict and tension between people or teams, generally via the utilization of active methods, like negotiating or reasoning. Commonly referred to as constructive conflict resolution and destructive conflict resolution.

Helping patients with pain to understand the relationship between one’s physiology (e.g., pain and muscle tension), thoughts, emotions, and behaviors is a main goal in treatment. Encouraging helpful thought patterns, targeting a behavioral activation of healthy activities such as regular exercise and pacing. Lifestyle changes are also trained to improve sleep patterns and to develop better coping skills for pain and other stressors using various techniques relaxation, meditation, and diaphragmatic breathing.

Assertiveness is about finding a middle way between aggression and passivity that best respects the personal boundaries of all relationship partners. Assertive individuals aim to be neither passive nor aggressive in their interactions with other people, and allows an individual to act in their own best interests, to stand up for themselves without undue anxiety, to express honest feelings comfortably and to express personal rights without denying the rights of others

As people approach the end of life, changes occur and challenges may arise. Growing older means facing head-on many psychological, emotional, and social issues that come with entering the last phase of life.

Burnout is a psychological term that refers to long-term exhaustion and diminished interest in work. Burnout has been assumed to result from chronic occupational stress (e.g., work overload). However, there is growing evidence that dispositional factors play an important role.

Depression is a medical illness that affects both the mind and body; it affects how you feel, think and behave.

It is a chronic illness that typically requires long-term treatment. If feelings of extreme sadness, despair last for two weeks or more and begin to interfere with your normal everyday activities, you may be suffering from a deppressive disorder.

Addiction is a chronic and misunderstood illness. Addiction is a brain disease that affects a person’s control over their behavior as well as the brain circuits involved in motivation, reward, memory and learning. Specifically, drug or alcohol substance abuse can lead to significant changes in the structure and function of the brain, making recovery a complex process. Once underlying issues are addressed, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, among others, then an individual will regain the ability to make sound decisions and employ self-control over the intense impulses to continue to abuse drugs, drink alcohol or resume their addictive behaviors.

Feeling angry is normal, natural, and sometimes necessary. It’s an adaptive emothional response to feeling hurt, experiencing injustice, fear or frustration, and is often accompanied by a rush of adrenaline, increased blood pressure, increased heart-rate and fast breathing. This physical response can lead to aggressive behavior, which allows us to defend ourselves if attacked. If anger is not managed properly, it can become destructive at work, hurt relationships, and affect our overall well-being.

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can develop following traumatic event such as, the unexpected death of a loved one, rape, assault, a natural disaster and war. The normal psychological response to such trauma is ‘shock’ or acute stress.

With post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) you remain in a state of mental shock and symptoms begin to worsen, including experiencing nightmares, feeling ‘numb’, and having continuous thoughts about the traumatic event. PTSD doesn’t always develop immediately following the trauma, sometimes it can develop several days or sometimes years later.

In psychology, the self-esteem is used to describe a person’s overall sense of self-worth or personal value. Self-esteem is often seen as a personality trait, which means that it tends to be stable and enduring. Self-esteem can involve a variety of beliefs about the self, such as the appraisal of one’s appearance, emotions, beliefs, and behaviors.

Self-esteem levels at the extreme high and low ends of the spectrum can be damaging, so the ideal is to find a balance somewhere in the middle.

Eating disorders refer to eating patterns that are somehow destructive in nature, and there are many different forms including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating, and EDNOS. They are all very serious conditions. Syptoms vary significantly between individuals; negative and distorted self images are common as are preoccupations with food, social withdrawal, low self esteem, depression, and anxiety.