Anxiety Therapy
Does Anxiety Run Your Life?
Do you crave control over all things and struggle to handle any uncertainty? At times when you can’t predict the outcome of what will happen, does your mind begin racing with catastrophic “What If” scenarios? Do perfectionistic tendencies to get everything just right cause both mental exhaustion and physical discomfort that impact you at work and home as well as in your relationships with others?
If worry has become your constant companion—overthinking, ruminating, and anticipating—perhaps you feel like you rarely get a moment to relax. When anxiety takes hold, you can no longer focus on the task at hand or make decisions. A fear of failure may shift your brain into overdrive, causing you to feel restless, irritable, and tense. What’s frustrating is that the inner torment your mind creates rarely comes to pass, and so you suffer needlessly.
Social Anxiety May Cause You To Avoid Activities
Once anxiety kicks in, you may experience physical symptoms, such as abdominal distress, heart palpitations, sweating, trembling, shallow breathing, and trouble sleeping. These symptoms might culminate into panic attacks or paralyzing phobias over things you fear, such as driving or flying in a plane.
You might be self-conscious in social situations and feel like wherever you go, you are judged by others or may embarrass yourself. Perhaps these fears cause you to self-isolate, avoiding potentially uncomfortable situations altogether. In relationships, you might be a people pleaser who puts others’ needs ahead of your own to avoid confrontation. You play along because you may worry that rocking the boat could result in rejection.
Anxiety may be running your life, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Therapy can help you manage your anxiety symptoms, reducing the emotional and physical distress you experience. By no longer trying to control everything, you will realize there’s an easier, more relaxed way to move through the world.
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Almost One In Five Adults In America Suffer From Anxiety
For millions of Americans, anxiety is a debilitating mental health issue. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that over 19.1 percent of the population (40 million people) have an anxiety disorder in the U.S. [1] Although anxiety is highly treatable, “only 36.9 percent of those suffering receive treatment.” [2]
When you consider the frantic pace of life today, it’s no wonder that many of us suffer from anxiety. With constant pressure to succeed professionally, financially, and socially, we often buckle under the weight of juggling too many tasks at once.
However, in our highly individualistic culture, we often lack adequate social support from friends and family. Many of us were never taught to ask for help when we need it. We worry that by doing so, we become a burden. Instead, we try to be stoic and self-reliant, embarrassed to admit any weakness. Unfortunately, suffering alone only exacerbates anxiety.
Anxiety Is Generally Misunderstood
In addition to lacking support, we are rarely ever taught about the effects of anxiety on our mental, emotional, and physical health. Perhaps we don’t recognize how much anxiety can manifest in physical symptoms or as a secondary emotion related to deeper core issues, such as trauma. Without a basic understanding of anxiety, we don’t stand a chance of knowing how to manage it.
In therapy, knowledge is power—demystifying its physiological function helps you harness anxiety so that it no longer negatively impacts your life. Once you understand the nature of anxiety, you can develop effective strategies to reduce your symptoms.
Therapy Provides Effective Tools To Manage Anxiety
You may hope that therapy will teach you how to eliminate anxiety completely. However, the key to managing anxiety is to surrender to it. Letting go of the perception that all anxiety is bad and should be avoided allows you to tap into the power of acceptance. Acknowledging that we cannot control everything that happens to us is how we get anxiety to subside.
Anxiety disorder therapy is a safe space to examine the root causes of your worries and fears. Working with a counselor can provide you with effective, hands-on tools to overcome anxiety, such as learning how to relax and problem-solve, as well as developing healthier coping skills. Rather than just treating the symptoms, therapy helps you understand how and why your anxiety affects you, teaching you how to manage it effectively.
What To Expect In Sessions
Initially, we will determine how your life is negatively impacted by anxiety. Once we have established your goals for treatment, I will provide you with psychoeducation about anxiety’s effect on the nervous system, which causes both physical and emotional symptoms.
You will hone self-awareness by focusing on where you feel anxiety in your body and exploring where your anxious thoughts originate. Taking the time to listen to what your emotions are telling you offers fresh insights. For example, you might trace your anxiety back to a traumatic incident in your life when you felt the same way as you do now. Or you may realize that your anxiety has surfaced to protect you or prepare you for a future event.
The Modalities I Use In Anxiety Counseling
Research has shown that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) can be helpful treatments for anxiety. [3] [4] With CBT, we challenge your negative beliefs. For example, by recognizing the difference between a worst-case and real-case scenario, you begin to notice instances when your thoughts are not accurate and lead to fear-based behaviors and physical responses.
Oftentimes, anxiety is the manifestation of a deeper core issue such as grief, early childhood attachment wounds, or generational trauma that gets passed on not only environmentally but also genetically. EMDR can help reduce your symptoms by targeting specific memories that have become stuck. In addition to CBT and EMDR, we might also incorporate other relaxation techniques in anxiety therapy, including meditation, mindfulness, grounding and breathing exercises. I will also encourage you to find other activities, such as physical exercise or hobbies that can provide a healthy outlet for excess energy, such as art, yoga, exercise, music, hiking, camping, and reading.
When you start noticing improvements both in and outside of therapy, it instills hope that change is possible. This hope will fuel your desire to continue building positive momentum to meet your goals. With treatment, it’s possible to break away from the habits that have contributed to anxiety and form healthier ways of thinking and feeling.
But Maybe You’re Not Sure If Anxiety Therapy Is Right For You…
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A common fear that keeps people from seeking out psychotherapy for anxiety is that once you share your deepest, darkest secrets with the counselor, you will be judged. However, therapy is a safe, nonjudgmental space where you can speak openly about what’s on your mind. As a therapist, I aim to use compassionate language that helps support, validate, and normalize your experience. Keep in mind that we’re all human, and what you’re feeling is normal. Allowing yourself to talk about it is the first step toward alleviating anxiety.
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If you’re new to therapy, the idea of confiding in someone you don’t know about your anxiety may seem uncomfortable. Perhaps you’re worried that you’ll clam up and won't find the words to express yourself. Or maybe you fear the embarrassment of becoming overwhelmed with emotions. However, it’s often easier to talk to a therapist about anxiety than a loved one. I will build your trust and ensure you feel emotionally safe and supported during our sessions.
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Even if your anxiety has been passed down through generations, you can still make meaningful breakthroughs with treatment. Research has shown that the human brain has the ability to rewire itself. [5] Working with a therapist can help you tap into your brain’s neuroplasticity, enabling you to think differently about stressful situations and reduce anxiety. Whether you suffer from social anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, or people-pleasing behaviors, the goal of therapy isn’t to eliminate anxiety completely but to mitigate it so it no longer impedes your quality of life.
Anxiety Doesn’t Have To Bully You Anymore
Learning how to surrender to anxiety in healthier ways can help liberate you from it. If you would like to find out more about anxiety therapy with me, please call 720-935-1702 or visit my contact page to set up a free,15-minute consultation today. For your convenience, my services are all online.
[1] https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/any-anxiety-disorder#:
[2] https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/facts-statistics
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4610618/
[4] https://www.emdria.org/about-emdr-therapy/recent-research-about-emdr/
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4026979/
