Anxiety

Are you constantly worrying? Do you feel a gnawing sense of uneasiness? Do you constantly think of ALL the things that could go wrong if you go somewhere or do something? Do these feelings make it difficult or prevent you from engaging in activities that you would like to do? Does your heart rate increase to an uncomfortable rate with the thought of getting on an airplane, going to public places, and/or being out in the community. You may suffer from anxiety. 

Anxiety disorders are a group of disorders that are marked by the anticipation of a future threat and is often associated with muscle tension and vigilance in preparation for future danger and cautious or avoidant behaviors. Anxiety disorders differ from one another dependent on the types of objects or situations that induce fear. For example, separation anxiety is defined by an excessive fear of being separated from the people you feel attached to, ie fear that one will lose major attachment figures or about possible harm to them, and social anxiety is a marked fear about being judged or scrutinized by others in different social situations. 

Generalized anxiety disorder is defined as excessive anxiety and worry occurring more days than not for at least 6 months, about a number of events or activities and that the individual finds it difficult to control the worry. Common symptoms usually include but are not limited to fatigue, irritability, muscle tension or muscle aches, trembling, trouble sleeping, nausea and headaches. Panic attacks feature prominently within anxiety disorders. 

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States affecting 40 million adults every year. People with anxiety can seem like they have everything under control, they can be high-achieving and perfectionistic, with smiles and achievements hiding their inner turmoil. Because what people don’t see is that most days their thoughts turn into worries and their worries begin to take over and consume their thoughts. Their inner turmoil is hidden by smiles and achievements, 

If this sounds like you, if you can relate to the feelings of panic building up deep inside you and guilt over feeling anything other than gratefulness over all the good things that you have, there is help. Anxiety is highly treatable yet less than half of people who have anxiety get treatment. Both medication and/or psychotherapy can help relieve the symptoms of anxiety. With some work and time, you can calm your body and still your mind. You can calmly and confidently meet the day, go on a trip, and/or participate in the community. 

It is important to understand that anxiety is you body’s natural response to a perceived threat. Rather than suppressing anxiety (which is incredibly unhelpful in the long run) it is important to understand and acknowledge the anxiety and change how we relate to it. One of the ways you can practice changing your relationship to anxiety is to listen to it, accept it and move past it.  Understand that the anxious thoughts are cognitions that lead to an emotional response. That response generally has a time period of 20 minutes, which means that if you accept the feeling as a response to a particular thought, in about 20 minutes your emotional framework will have moved past it. The feeling will begin to dissipate. 

Working together with people who have anxiety, I like to use and teach different mindfulness and grounding techniques, tools that can help people stay or get back to the present. I would also like to explore the triggers to anxiety that my clients have, where the original threat is perceived and how we can find other ways to relate to the threat. I feel it is important to break down the different cognitions associated with the anxiety so that together we can figure out when those thoughts first began and how you can change some of those thoughts, through self talk, reframing and positive affirmations. 

I also work with motivational interviewing to help my client’s figure out their motivations so that in moving past being controlled by their anxiety they can come to a place where they are living a life that feels more authentic to them. 

Remember, you are not alone, there is help and you CAN move past this. Together we will work on a full recovery which involves improving health behaviors, identifying and building coping strategies, addressing cognitive distortions and developing a health supportive relationship with self and others.

If you are interested in talking more please fill out the form on the contact page and I will get back to you within 24 hours.