Matt M Psychology

31/07/2026

We often assume people hold onto negative beliefs about themselves because they don’t know any better, or because they’re too painful to let go of.

What if that’s not the whole story? 🤔

Sometimes people cling to narratives like “I’m broken,” “I’m unlovable,” or “I’m the problem” because those beliefs preserve something even more important than self-esteem.

🛑 They preserve coherence.

Because if those beliefs are wrong, then a scary and unbearable reality emerges.

🌱It means the suffering was never necessary.

🌱It means the love that should have been there was withheld.

🌱It means what happened to you was never deserved.

And perhaps most painfully, it asks you to grieve a life you never chose to lose.

Shame, however devastating, can still offer an illusion of control. If I’m the problem, then perhaps I can become someone different.

🤝Helplessness offers no such bargain.

Sometimes healing isn’t frightening because it hurts.

It’s frightening because it dismantles the story that made your world survivable, and asks you to mourn the person you might have become had that story never been necessary.

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Disclaimer:
My social-media accounts are for general mental-health tips. It does not provide individual psychological advice, therapy, or assessment. Following, liking, or commenting on posts does not establish a therapeutic relationship. For legal and ethical reasons, I will not respond to direct messages or public comments related to therapy, nor will I follow clients or former clients on social media. If you are experiencing a crisis, please contact 000 / 911 ☎️.

13/07/2026

✨ Not every unusual sensory experience is psychosis.

Many people living with anxiety, trauma, PTSD, BPD, sleep deprivation, OCD, ADHD, migraine, or overwhelming stress report experiences such as:

👂 Mishearing their name being called.
👁️ Catching a shadow in the corner of their eye.
👃 Smelling smoke or perfume that others can’t.

These experiences can feel incredibly real—and they can also be frightening.

One of the biggest misconceptions in mental health is that any auditory, visual, or olfactory experience automatically means someone is experiencing psychosis.

It doesn’t.

The context matters.
The duration matters.
The impact on functioning matters.
Most importantly, whether there is insight into the experience matters.

This carousel explains the difference between illusions (misinterpreting something that exists) and hallucinations (perceiving something without an external stimulus), while also highlighting some of the key features clinicians consider when assessing psychosis.

Mental health isn’t black and white. Understanding these differences can reduce fear, improve conversations, and help people seek the right support sooner.

If you’re experiencing distressing changes in your perceptions or you’re unsure what’s happening, speak with a GP, psychologist, or psychiatrist. Assessment is always better than assumptions.

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Disclaimer:
My social-media accounts are for general mental-health tips. It does not provide individual psychological advice, therapy, or assessment. Following, liking, or commenting on posts does not establish a therapeutic relationship. For legal and ethical reasons, I will not respond to direct messages or public comments related to therapy, nor will I follow clients or former clients on social media. If you are experiencing a crisis, please contact 000 / 911 ☎️.

11/07/2026

30/05/2026

🩵 Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) is more than what happened to you. It is about the significant and deep impact of repeated trauma on your mind, body, relationships, and sense of self.

CPTSD can develop following prolonged, repeated, or inescapable traumatic experiences including domestic violence, slavery, neglect, and attachment disruptions. Such adverse experiences often occur over an extended period and leave the individual feeling trapped, powerless, unsafe, or unable to escape.

⚠️Many people living with CPTSD spend years believing they are "too sensitive", "broken", “defective”, “worthless”, or "not enough".

However, these beliefs, fractured identity, disturbed self-organising narratives, they are not theirs to own; they are conclusions drawn from relational ruptures.

Your nervous system has adapted to survive difficult experiences.

Common symptoms of CPTSD include:
✨ Emotional overwhelm or numbness
✨ Hypervigilance and anxiety
✨ Difficulty trusting others
✨ Negative self-beliefs
✨ Chronic shame or guilt
✨ Relationship challenges
✨ Dissociation or feeling disconnected

The good news? Healing is possible.

🌱 With the right support, safety, connection, and evidence-based treatment, people can learn to regulate their emotions, rebuild trust, and create meaningful lives beyond trauma and challenge their self-defeating narratives.



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Disclaimer:
My social-media accounts are for general mental-health tips. It does not provide individual psychological advice, therapy, or assessment. Following, liking, or commenting on posts does not establish a therapeutic relationship. For legal and ethical reasons, I will not respond to direct messages or public comments related to therapy, nor will I follow clients or former clients on social media. If you are experiencing a crisis, please contact 000 / 911 ☎️.

22/04/2026

So excited to be joining Bluff Road Psychology on Tuesdays 🧠🎉

15/04/2026

✅ Grateful to share that I’ve been endorsed in Clinical Psychology with AHPRA.

Supporting adolescents and families with evidence-based care, with access to higher Medicare rebates for eligible clients.

29/03/2026

⚠️Do you, or your young person

❓Find it hard to start things?
❓Feel overwhelmingly sluggish and slow in the mornings?
❓Feel mentally drained planning or structuring tasks?
❓Feel that your head is noisy, making it difficult for you to think?
❓Lose track of time late at night because your brain feels quieter?

💡ADHD is not related to laziness or not making an effort to get things done. It is simply a differnce in brain function when it comes to starting things, managing mental load and emotions.

For many teenagers, starting to get things done can feel like being “stuck,” even when they are motivated to get started 😰. It can feel like everything is overwhelming and hard to think through due to decreased brain capacity. Emotions can feel overwhelming and longer-lasting due to difficulties with emotional regulation ⚖️.

🥱 Getting out of bed in the morning can feel like the hardest thing in the world, not because of choice or motivation, but because of brain function and difficulty getting started ⚠️.

It is not until we understand ADHD and how it affects the brain that we can change our thinking from “why aren’t you trying?” to “what’s making this hard?”

✅ With the right support, compassion, and understanding, we can not only reduce, but prevent the shame-based narratives that develop as a result of constant criticism, rejection, and relational conflict.

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Disclaimer:
My social-media accounts are for general mental-health tips. It does not provide individual psychological advice, therapy, or assessment. Following, liking, or commenting on posts does not establish a therapeutic relationship. For legal and ethical reasons, I will not respond to direct messages or public comments related to therapy, nor will I follow clients or former clients on social media. If you are experiencing a crisis, please contact 000 / 911 ☎️.

27/02/2026

⬇️Underneath anxiety.
⬇️Underneath perfectionism.
⬇️Underneath anger.
⬇️Underneath pulling away.

So often, there is just one quiet question beneath it all:

💭 “Am I genuinely worthy of love?”

From a developmental point of view, this question is not some dramatic thing — it is built into us. 🧬

⚠️ If the responses are inconsistent, conditional, or contingent, rejecting, scary, or just not there, the brain changes course. Not because it is broken or weak — but because survival means adjusting. This sounds like

👂🏻“Please do not leave me”
👂🏻“I do not need anyone”
👂🏻 And some are torn between both, unsure of where to land.

Self-organisation theory reminds us the “self” is not set in stone — it is a forever evolving system, shaped by the relationships we have, again and again. Over time, those protective moves can start to feel like who we are. 🤗

Healing is not about convincing someone they are loveable.
At its core, it is about creating relationships that let the nervous system catch up and feel safe.

Safety reshapes who we are.
Consistency changes what we expect.
Being understood mends what unpredictability broke.

The most powerful therapeutic question is not about logic.
It is about connection. 🩵

🧠 Next week we will explore neurodevelopmetnal predispositions 🤗


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Disclaimer:
My social-media accounts are for general mental-health tips. It does not provide individual psychological advice, therapy, or assessment. Following, liking, or commenting on posts does not establish a therapeutic relationship. For legal and ethical reasons, I will not respond to direct messages or public comments related to therapy, nor will I follow clients or former clients on social media. If you are experiencing a crisis, please contact 000 / 911 ☎️.

19/02/2026

✅ Single Mums out there
✅ Single Dads out there
✅ To All single caregivers

Security is not built through perfection but through co-regulation. 🤝

Children do not measure the number of adults in a home; they assess the nervous systems of those present. Instead, we are born asking:

- If I call out, will you hear me?
- Will you see me?
- Will you hold what I feel?
- Will you come back?

Beneath each tear sits a deeper question, rooted in our genetics

- Am I wanted?
- Am I needed?
- Am I truly lovable?

🌱Attachment security develops in thousands of small, ordinary moments: a pause before reacting, a repair after rupture, a softening of tone and a hand reaching back.

Family structure DOES NOT predict attachment security; relational safety does. 🩵

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Disclaimer:
My social-media accounts are for general mental-health tips. It does not provide individual psychological advice, therapy, or assessment. Following, liking, or commenting on posts does not establish a therapeutic relationship. For legal and ethical reasons, I will not respond to direct messages or public comments related to therapy, nor will I follow clients or former clients on social media. If you are experiencing a crisis, please contact 000 / 911 ☎️.

14/02/2026

Safety and Intimidation can look exactly the same 👀.

The behaviour is identical — your child listens, your partner agrees, or your colleague follows through.

But on the inside? They are living in profound, overwhelming affective pain.

❗️Intimidation is rooted in fear. It says: “I have to, or something bad will happen".

❤️ Safety is rooted in attunement. It says: “I choose to, because I feel valued and understood".

One activates the nervous system. The other helps to soothe it.

From the outside, both just look like “good behaviour” or "compliance".

We think - "Finally, that washing has been put away" or "those dishes that had been sitting in my child’s bedroom for days (probably weeks) are in the dishwasher”. 🍽️

But, on the inside, one quietly fosters anxiety and resentment, while the other promotes trust, loyalty, and genuine, internal motivation.

I believe it is important that we not only pay attention to what someone does, but we should remain deeply curious about what their nervous system is going through while they do it. 🧠

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Disclaimer:
My social-media accounts are for general mental-health tips. It does not provide individual psychological advice, therapy, or assessment. Following, liking, or commenting on posts does not establish a therapeutic relationship. For legal and ethical reasons, I will not respond to direct messages or public comments related to therapy, nor will I follow clients or former clients on social media. If you are experiencing a crisis, please contact 000 / 911 ☎️.