Dr. Anna Mandeville

ASSESSMENT & TREATMENT

Dr. Mandeville will provide a thorough assessment of the presenting difficulties which forms the basis for a treatment plan. In most cases this will be done in one appointment, but if the difficulties are complex an assessment may take two sessions.

When the assessment is complete Dr. Mandeville will construct a treatment plan using the most appropriate intervention strategies. This will usually include an estimate of how many sessions are needed. Treatment plans almost always involve working on agreed goals in between sessions. Dr. Mandeville will share details of proposed interventions with other healthcare providers with your consent, if helpful.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

These evidence based approaches have been shown to be effective in pain management and mood difficulties of many kinds. They help by teaching us in more detail how our feelings are linked to the way we think (cognitions). Our thoughts are not facts!

We often have habitual ways of viewing things, but these can sometimes be distorted or not useful. In CBT and MBCT we are able to develop more useful ways of thinking and feeling. We may also work on our behaviour, using goal setting and building up a sense of confidence and competence in managing mood and pain.

Clinical Hypnosis

Hypnosis is actually a natural state; this is the brain's state of 'focussed attention' and is the state we go into when absorbed in a film or a book. It is an ‘imaginal’ world. The ability of someone to engage in active imagination has been linked with skill in hypnosis and self hypnosis. Hypnosis has been found to increase the effectiveness of CBT and has also been shown to be effective in acute and chronic pain management.