Overview.
Starry Night Psychology can’t explain nor deliver all therapies over the internet fully. But we can bring you therapeutic practices that sit within various forms of psychological therapy. We can also explain why those practices are helpful to resolve symptoms and improve your psychological well-being - our main objective.

It takes lots of time and money to create content for this site and particularly the PsychStar App which delivers to you. As you know, we deliver content in different ways, from notes, pod-cast, video and even self-contained self-practice programs. This provides easy and inexpensive access, something that can work for you. We will do more, much more if there is a demand for it, if YOU let us know what you want more of. But for now, we are focused on therapeutic practices that help resolve the highest prevalence difficulties, as experienced in our real-life private practice.

Best wishes.

I want to explore........

Suicide Prevention.
Suicide is too often the end of a miserable road that someone has been enduring. People needing help, often cant ask for it. So it is important that we have some confidence in approaching others and offering that help.

Starry Night cant be the place that helps the person in need, it will be a real person - maybe you? To do that you might like to have some background and starting points so you can assist the person, knowing that you are doing it well. PsychStar provides 3 elements of this for you to consider and maybe practice, or maybe just refer to at the time you need that support.

PsychStar takes you through; “First Aid Assistance”, Generating a “Circle of Support” and Building a “Safety Plan”.
These are typically what a Psychologist or others well practiced in helping people avoid suicide might start with.

Remember, if in doubt, simply call your emergency numbers and they will come and save the person. At least that way we have another day to help them with their personal tug-of-war.

Therapies for Depression.
For episodic Depression, where folk experience an extended period of deep sadness, unable to access a sense of pleasure or achievement, most straight forward cognitive and behavioural therapies seem to help. Depression can, and often does, resolve naturally given time and supports, but therapy is advisable to set the path forward and to undermine the maintaining factors which will extend your depressive episode and likely make it worse. Most well credentialed Psychologists will be able to provide good quality Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. They likely can integrate components of these therapies and find a way that works best for you.

Although I have described these therapies as “straight forward”, they still deal with complex psychological dilemmas. Therefore significant expertise is required to work them well for any particular person. Starry Night recommends working with a well credentialed psychologist and avoiding what are often called mental health workers, or mental health clinicians or counselors. Poorly applied therapy has a bad effect on your psychology and will make your dilemmas worse.

For people who experience long standing patterns of Depressive symptoms, seemingly without any particular precipitating experience, these straight forward therapies might not be suitable. Instead psychologists might offer “deeper” therapies which are more process orientated and have active ingredients. Such therapies include Schema Focused Therapy, Mentalisation Therapy, Psycho-dynamic Therapy and Cognitive Analytical Therapy.

In PsychStar you will find a variety of practices that Psychologists might take you through in their rooms, but also set for you to do at home. Each have active ingredients to resolve symptoms and improve well-being. You can think of these practices as opportunities to work with yourself, building new capacities and patterns of experience that become part of your ordinary mental armoury, for everyday use. In the Depression block of therapies, you get help to start and practice; Behavioural Activation, Diary Cards, Thought Challenging, Breathing Mindfully, Attention Management, Worry Management, Working from Values, Inductions for Calming, Thought Observation Mindfulness and Emotional Processing.

Therapies for Anxieties.
For Anxiety, where folk experience extended periods of over-worry and being fearful, even panicky, most straight forward cognitive and behavioural therapies seem to help. Anxiety has natural maintaining factors which will extend your anxious episodes and likely make them worse in both frequency and intensity. Therapy is advisable to set the path forward and help you undermine is power over you. Most well credentialed Psychologists will be able to provide good quality Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Exposure Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. They likely can integrate components of these therapies and find a way that works best for you.

Although I have described these therapies as “straight forward”, they still deal with complex psychological dilemmas. Therefore significant expertise is required to work them well for any particular person. Starry Night recommends working with a well credentialed psychologist. Poorly applied therapy has a bad effect on your psychology and will make your dilemmas worse.

For people who experience long standing patterns of Anxiety symptoms, these straight forward therapies might not be suitable. Also, some anxiety based disorders such as eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder and separation anxiety can be resistant to those therapies. Instead psychologists might offer “deeper” therapies which are more process orientated and have active ingredients. Such therapies include Schema Focused Therapy, Psycho-dynamic Therapy and Cognitive Analytical Therapy and Dialectic Behaviour Therapy.

In PsychStar you will find a variety of practices that Psychologists might take you through in their rooms, but also set for you to do at home. Each have active ingredients to resolve symptoms and improve well-being. You can think of these practices as opportunities to work with yourself, building new capacities and patterns of experience that become part of your ordinary mental armoury, for everyday use. In the Anxiety block of therapies, you get help to start and practice; Mindfully Breathing, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Inductions for Calming, Thought Observation, Thought Challenging, Visualisation, Attention Management, Worry Management, Mindful Body Scan, Symptoms Exposure and Working from Values.

Therapies to improve sleep.
For improved Sleep, psychologist can help you re-learn to fall asleep and build confidence that you will go back to sleep easily when you wake up. We might need to address underlying anxiety and extended thinking which is often an underlying disruption of your natural daily course towards sleep. Because clinical psychologists understand the interconnected nature of your mind and body and the functions of hormones, some of which set our diurnal life, psychologists will provide an holistic approach to therapy.

Most therapy for improving sleep is about re-learning good habits and practices that move you towards sleep, taking full advantage of your natural diurnal rhythms. This almost definitely will mean un-learning and un-doing some things that you believe and are doing. This applies equally well to assistance to help infants learn to fall asleep on their own without worry. Because of this “un-doing”, many clients chose not to do any therapy, or be very selective in what they will change. For example, people might not give up their morning coffees (most commonly used drug) and learn to become fully awake naturally, or they may not give up evening alcohol, or incorporate a winding down program for long enough because they enjoy various TV shows. They seem to chose to put up with poor sleep for the rest of their lives or want a quick fix - sleeping pills come to mind.

Regardless, for those of you who chose to develop good well-being, and that includes good sleep, in PsychStar you will find a variety of practices that Psychologists might take you through in their rooms, but also set for you to do at home. Each have active ingredients to improve sleep and and improve well-being. You can think of these practices as opportunities to work with yourself, building new capacities and patterns of experience that become part of your ordinary life. In the Sleep block of therapies, you get help to start and practice; Good Sleep Hygiene, Worry Management, Thought Observation Mindfulness, Inductions for Calming, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, and specific help for helping your infant child learn to fall asleep.

Parenting.
People can get lost in their parenting. The combinations of children’s temperaments, parent’s temperaments, parental and family values and experiences, good and not so good (but well-meaning advice), media coverage, community expectations and, environmental circumstances means it is easy to get lost in what you want to do and how to do that.

Each year more and more younger people (children, adolescents and young adults) are presenting with mental health problems. The cause is in our genetics, nor is it in the food and water. We can say with a high degree of confidence, that it is us adults, our priorities, and the worlds we make.

As a parent, you are in the best position to guide the development of your child’s thinking, emotional and behavioural capacities so they are well placed for a healthy and happy adult life. Further, your relationship with your child is the model they will take with them, and then use it as a true model of the world. If it is about right, they will thrive.

Psychologists who are well credentialed and practiced in Developmental Psychology will provide trustworthy counsel for you as a person and a parent. They will help you simplify your parenting and become self-assured. They will teach you and guide you through working the middle paths, staying or moving back to being both warm and in-charge. They will help you see the model of life that you are acting out, so you can if you choose, make changes. They will guide you honestly though the availability and use of portable technology and other modern “gifts” we have bestowed on our children. Your well practiced and credentialed psychologist will guide you through the maze of changing and shaping behaviour towards those needed in healthy adult relationships and citizenship. Through all this though, you will be the psychological agent, the active ingredient in the development of your child’s psychological well-being.

PsychStar provides practices that Psychologists might take you through in their rooms, but also set for you to do at home. Each have active ingredients to improve the opportunity for psychological wellbeing in your children, adolescent and young adults. You can think of these practices as opportunities to work with yourself and your children, building new capacities and patterns of experience that become part of yours and their ordinary life. In the Parenting block of therapies, you get help to start and practice; Warm & Authoritative Parenting, Your Parent Child Relationship, Organising your Cultural Biases, specific help for helping your infant child Learn to Fall Asleep, Correcting Behaviour, Emotional Processing, Organising your Ideas on Learning and Technology.

Preventative Cognitive Behaviour.
Many of you will have sat with a Psychologist, hopefully a good one. Well sometimes, you just need reminding of your practices that you went through with them. CBT is a lot about helping you be your own best scientist, able to observe and analyse the links between your worsening mood or anxiety and your emotional content and your behaviours and the state of your body. You are able to look for and counter growing cognitive distortions and able to set up a Behaviour Activation program for yourself.

Perhaps you are seeing a Psychologist and wondering why and what they are doing with you? Sometimes you need an alternate framework to appreciate the value of your current therapy. If so, CBT is one that can help you. It is probably the most common therapy provided because of its organised approach to helping you - mostly out of short term difficulties.

In any case the CBT Program provided in PsychStar is a good way to go as a first step.
Remember to keep track of any progress, and if not progressing, see your Doctor or Psychologist in a timely way.

Sexual Difficulties - A Sensate approach to self-help.
In my practice, we sometimes do great work resolving depressive symptoms, perhaps working through relationship interactions. Then, as they are getting towards the end of this set of therapy, my client might ask - Steve, can Psychology help with sex? Ouch… a bit late. I figure sometimes this is my fault as it means maybe I missed this in our assessment period, but often it was not a problem they thought psychologist could help with. I’ve found out over time that you don’t know what you don’t know!

Of course, most common difficulties are Psychological ones. Yes, for some difficulties (eg, inadequate erection, early orgasm) you can buy pills. But that path doesn’t lead to longer term satisfaction in your sexuality. That’s because you will still be encountering poor sexual thinking and anxieties.

In any case I’ve put together a program delivered through PsychStar that can get a lot of people going again in this important part of adult life. It will assist with many common difficulties and will be a good first step for any couple interested in improving their sex lives.

It is a Sensate Focused program (yes you will be touching :), but incorporates the necessary cognitive and behavioural therapeutic elements that help counter common myths and beliefs about sex, roles in sex and performance in sex. It then sets you on a “step by step” program to both un-learn and re-learn sex with your partner. Each step includes therapeutic practices that set you up well for the next step, so you cant skip steps and expect the benefits of the program. It takes 5 or 6 weeks if you use my time-table.