Counseling for Anxiety
Is anxiety taking over your life? Does it feel like you can’t control it no matter how hard you try? Have you already tried therapy but found it ineffective?
You’ll notice that anxiety is the only diagnosis that I mention by name. This is because, with anxiety, especially, common sense and helpful-sounding approaches often make it worse. I know this might sound scary, but further attempts to control and avoid anxiety tend to make it worse. BUT, there is a different way, and the good news is that treatments for anxiety that include exposure and behavioral activation are among the most powerful methods in all of psychotherapy. Really! This is why Anxiety is my favorite problem to work with.
My practice offers the most effective forms of treatment, to take back the power than anxiety has had over your life- including.
– Exposure, or living the life you want, with courage and intention
– Cognitive methods that increase awareness, understanding, and reframing but don’t actively challenge anxious thoughts
– Motivational methods
– Skills training to address upsetting physical symptoms
– Attention training to address preoccupation with anxious thoughts
When it comes to treating anxiety disorders, research shows that therapy is usually the most effective option. That’s because anxiety therapy – as opposed to anxiety medication – treats more than just symptoms of the problem.
Often, these are the symptoms of anxiety:
- Nervousness, restlessness, or being tense
- Feelings of danger, panic, or dread
- Rapid breathing or hyperventilation
- Increased or heavy sweating
- Trembling or muscle twitching
- Weakness or lethargy
- Difficulty focusing or thinking clearly about anything other than the thing you’re worried about
- Insomnia
- Obsessions about certain ideas; a sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Anxiety surrounding a particular life event or experience that has occurred in the past; a sign of post-traumatic stress disorder
Therapy can help you to understand and make peace with your fears and worries, to respond effectively to the experience of anxiety, to look at situations in a new, less frightening way, and to develop better coping mechanisms and problem-solving skills.
If you suffer from an anxiety disorder, I invite you to contact me today for a free consultation.