Therapy for Anxiety

You don’t have to experience this alone.

Does this sound familiar?

  • Feeling overwhelmed often

  • Feeling stuck in the past, worrying about the future, and/or struggling to be in the moment?

  • Feeling restless and unable to relax

  • Worrying getting in the way of enjoying the things you want to do?

Therapy can help shift the control from anxiety back to you.

new possibilities

Imagine this instead

Building a new relationship with fear and discomfort

Feeling peace in your mind and body

Being able to be in the present

Letting go of your avoidance strategies

impact

What can anxiety look like?

Some amount of anxiety can be helpful, like that voice that keeps you on track with work projects and deadlines, gets you out the door in time for an important event, makes you practice for an interview. Anxiety can also alert us to danger in a variety of settings and get us to slow down or proceed carefully. While this type of anxiety isn’t necessarily problematic, anxiety can grow to an overwhelming size and spill out into many areas of our lives.

Worrying can give us a false sense of control.

Unhelpful anxiety really holds us back from living the life we want to live. It gets in the way of experiencing calm, feeling enjoyment, and connecting with others.

 Anxiety can look like:

  • nervousness and excessive worrying

  • irritability

  • feeling restless or on-edge

  • sensations in your body like: racing heart, sweating, shaking, muscle tension, nausea, etc.

  • being stuck in a thought spiral (anxiety can wear a groove in your mind and make you worry about the same things over and over or in different ways)

  • poor concentration

  • negative thoughts

  • feeling on alert and unable to relax

Because of anxiety, the following responses might occur:

  • avoiding people, places, and things

  • procrastination

  • difficulty getting to sleep, changes in sleep, nightmares, and insomnia

  • stress eating, substance use, and other maladaptive coping

  • problems in friendships and relationships

It can really cause problems in all areas of your life.

With social anxiety, in particular, you may be missing out on making friends, dating, or building more intimate connections with friends and loved ones. It’s common too to experience performance anxiety in work or career settings and that will keep you from being able to focus on the present moment and show your best side.

Anxiety can really make us feel terrible and it’s easy to let the fear take over. 

  • “It is much more effective to say, "Hello, Fear. How are you today?" Then you can invite the two aspects of yourself, mindfulness and fear, to shake hands as friends and become one.”

    Thich Nhat Hanh

a new beginning

How can therapy help me?

When you feel anxiety, the next thing you do is either worrying or engaging in a behavior that allows you to escape the feeling. Sometimes we think that by worrying, we are in control – but this is a false sense of control. Worrying can actually be a way of avoiding what is truly causing you discomfort.

Our anxiety can create a cycle of thoughts in our brains that becomes like a well-worn groove. It reinforces itself. It grows bigger. It’s hard to get out of.

For example, with social anxiety you might be at a party and notice yourself feeling nervous about saying the right thing:

  • Trigger: Social setting, group conversation

  • Sensation: Feeling worried / nervous - “I bet they all think I’m uninteresting. I don’t have anything to contribute here. Maybe I’ll just go home early.”

  • Action: Removing self from the present moment.

  • Thought: “Whew, I got out of there. I don’t feel anxious now!”

  • Thought: “Why is it so hard for me to be with people? This is hopeless.”

  • Sensation: Feeling worried / anxious again.

 Therapy for anxiety is all about breaking the avoidance cycle. 

As you make progress in therapy with your anxiety, you can:

  • learn about mindfulness and other coping skills to better manage your anxious feelings

  • slowly let go of your avoidance strategies

  • discover new ways to think about fear and discomfort

  • feel encouragement and empowerment from confronting your anxiety

You can overcome your fears and find freedom from anxiety. You don’t have to navigate this alone. Let’s unwind your anxiety, together.