Christchurch counsellors say there is a spike in the number of people seeking help following the devastating earthquakes that rocked the city in 2010 and 2011.
The number of clients at the Durham Centre, which has five counsellors, has doubled since the September 2010 quake hit.
Spokeswoman Karin Schaeper says following every significant aftershock the centre receives a flood of referrals.
"Sleep deprivation, hyper-vigilance and irritability form the prevalent symptoms for that referral group."
She says as well as the stress of losing loved ones and the family home, people are also suffering due to the lengthy insurance claims process.
"Our resilience has been lowered due to the loss of ability to see a safe future ahead."
"Older people have compared this to World War 2 but when the bombing stopped people felt temporarily safe, while Cantabrians live with constant uncertainty."
Although free counselling sessions are offered to those with quake-related problems, more help is needed to support those in need, she says.
Manager of Rata Counselling Centre, Paul Howard, says their clientele numbers had steadily increased following the February 2011 quake.
"We jumped up from having a waiting list of one or two people here to having an average waiting list of 13 adults and 12 young people per month.
"I expect that will continue, not just this year but for several years.
"From our point of view it has to do with the earthquakes because we've seen a spike a few months after the big one and that's continuing."
Neil McPherson, a counsellor from The Goals Centre, also says there was increased demand following both of the major earthquakes.
Wednesday marks the one year anniversary of the February 22 earthquake which killed 185 people.
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