Anxiety Counseling

Anxiety Affects More People Than You May Realize 

Everyone experiences anxiety to some extent. In fact, it is estimated that nearly 34 percent of all adults will be affected by an anxiety disorder at some point in their life. However, due to the number of cases that go unreported, some researchers believe this number is closer to 50 percent.

Various factors can influence how you experience anxiety and your ability to cope with symptoms. These factors can include genetics, how you learned to cope with anxiety and difficult feelings growing up, negative past experiences, and major life stressors, to name a few. 

There is also a wide variation in how people experience anxiety and to what extent it disrupts your quality of life. You may experience anxiety due to decision-making, an increase in daily life stressors, transitions, relationship issues, work challenges or an anxiety disorder. 

Some common stress and anxiety disorders include:

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) happens when you worry excessively about activities or events. 

• Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) involves intense fear of being judged by others in social situations. 

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can develop after you experience a traumatic event and can cause anxiety, distressing memories or flashbacks, nightmares, and the desire to avoid things related to the trauma. 

• Phobias involve an excessive fear of a specific object, situation, or activity (such as flying, heights, spiders, receiving injections, blood).

• Panic Disorder occurs when you experience recurring, seemingly out-of-the-blue panic attacks and have a constant fear of another panic attack occurring.

It can be easy to think that you can manage anxiety symptoms yourself. You may try to distract yourself with extended screen time or busyness, avoid situations or experiences that make you anxious, self-medicate with substances, or try to control everything in your environment, so nothing goes wrong. 

Although these strategies can provide you with temporary relief in the moment, over time, they only end up making anxiety worse. This is because they help you avoid the source of your anxiety instead of helping you uncover and deal with what is causing your distress. 

Therapy can give you a safe space to increase your self-awareness, thoughts, and emotions. In an environment free of judgment, you can learn to identify different factors that contribute to and trigger your anxiety. Once we understand the origins behind your negative emotions, we will work together to create an individualized plan so that you can learn skills to manage negative feelings when they arise outside of session and heal from the source of negative beliefs and feelings that fuel anxiety.

You May Be Interested In Anxiety Counseling But Still Have Some Concerns… 

I’ve Tried Getting Treatment For Anxiety Before, But It Didn’t Work For Me.

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to therapy because we all have different backgrounds, preferences, and needs. If your past experiences with anxiety therapists didn’t benefit you in the ways you wanted, it could be because you needed:

• A different approach: For some people, CBT may work great to help them face anxiety-producing situations and reframe anxious thoughts; while someone else may get more help from mindfulness skills or healing past wounds.

• Something else first: Sometimes, therapy needs to help you learn tools to deal with anxiety, distressing emotions and current life challenges first before you move on to addressing the underlying reasons for them. At other times, skills and changes won’t stick unless you address the root cause first.

• Medication: If therapy isn’t enough to control your anxiety, your brain may need a chemical boost to ease symptoms of anxiety, irritability, and hopelessness to the point that recovery and healing can take place.

• More time: It takes time and consistency for symptoms of anxiety to dimmish and have changes stick. How long this will take for you will depend on your goals for therapy, the origin and depth of your challenges, the work you do in and outside of each session, and the unique way your brain and body work.

For this reason, I’ve trained in many different therapeutic approaches so we can tailor our approach to your unique needs and preferences. Together, we will work to explore your goals and collaboratively decide what needs to be addressed to help you get to where you want to be. 

I Don’t Need Anxiety Counseling Because Taking Medication Should Be Enough. 

While medication can help soothe the symptoms of anxiety in the short term, it isn’t always the most effective means of treatment for lasting results. In fact, research shows that engaging in therapy can lead to fewer setbacks in your progress in the long-run. 

This because therapy helps you realize what triggers your anxiety so you can learn coping skills to use whenever the stressors arise in your everyday life. Therapy can also help you identify and address the source of negative beliefs and emotions that fuel your anxiety so you can experience more lasting confidence and peace. 

Sometimes you can reduce your levels of anxiety without medication and sometimes combining therapy with medication and lifestyle changes are necessary to help you get the results you want. If you are not sure what you need, we can explore together in therapy what is the best option for you.

Therapy Is For People Who Have It Worse Than I Do. 

Regardless of how severe or mild your symptoms are, understanding how one’s unique brain functions is an opportunity and gift many people do not allow themselves. A dear mentor of mine used to say, “Successful people work on themselves.”

Many people who experience anxiety are smart, analytical, creative, caring, perfectionistic, and hard working. Consulting with a therapist is not about being “defective” or having worse-than-average problems. Getting treatment is about the personal change and growth you experience in your journey to feeling better and getting more of what you want out of life. Therapy is about helping you be your best personally and professionally.

In fact, decades of research on emotional intelligence have shown that people who understand their own feelings are more innovative, can synthesize diverse opinions and lessen conflict better, and have higher job satisfaction, stronger job performance, and better relationships.

Some of the benefits that the people I have worked with in therapy have experienced are:

• Feeling lighter, happier and calmer because anxiety, panic attacks and emotional pain have significantly lessened or gone away completely.

• Increased connection and satisfaction in relationships because it is easier to identify and share your emotions, let your guard down and be your real self with others.

• Greater self-confidence and trust in your abilities because you understand how you operate, have tools to work through difficulties and obstacles, and have worked through past experiences that keep fueling anxiety in the present.