Anxiety Therapy
Is it hard to focus?
Decide what to do first?
Got yourself spinning around in indecision, regret and fear of doing the wrong thing, never ending circles of thoughts and repetitive ruminations?
Or does it show up as tension in your body, a chronic pain in the neck, digestion issues or agitation, a restlessness, finding yourself constantly moving around or a feeling that you need to get stuff done, or an urge to crawl out of your own skin? Maybe all of this at the same time?
Anxiety usually represents a dilemma. Should I stay or should I go? If this, then that? We want one thing but also want something else, or want one part but not another part and it’s not possible to have both or make a choice without unwanted consequences.
Decide what to do first?
Got yourself spinning around in indecision, regret and fear of doing the wrong thing, never ending circles of thoughts and repetitive ruminations?
Or does it show up as tension in your body, a chronic pain in the neck, digestion issues or agitation, a restlessness, finding yourself constantly moving around or a feeling that you need to get stuff done, or an urge to crawl out of your own skin? Maybe all of this at the same time?
Anxiety usually represents a dilemma. Should I stay or should I go? If this, then that? We want one thing but also want something else, or want one part but not another part and it’s not possible to have both or make a choice without unwanted consequences.
Anxiety Counseling
The fact is anxiety is normal, a realistic reaction to what’s going on around you in your environment and/ or within your own mind. Anxiety at its best is a motivator to do something about something that is causing tension, at its worst it is a state we are stuck in. It’s always a feeling that wants something. If it can’t get what it wants it gets louder. Anxiety is a sign of life, and sometimes too much of it. Too much anxiety can effect the quality of your life. Learning to work with your anxiety to get its message, to respond to its alarm is a process.
How you cope with anxiety can effect your physical health, your relationships, the quality of your life.
When anxiety is a result of a situation, exploring that situation in terms of what your options are, choices that need to be made, how it relates to past experiences, and other nuances can help settle the energy down and get you going on your way. However sometimes it’s like your nervous system is stuck in a gear, it does not know how to not feel anxiety, some part you might be convinced that the anxiety is what is keeping you safe and alive.
The assumption is that there is a reason you are feeling anxious, that reason may be more rooted in your past more than in the present.
Sometimes feelings from our past take over the present moment and feed off of fears around uncertainty and ambivalence about the future. Often the concerns and worries have some relevance in the present and sometimes the intensity of the feelings are out of proportion with what is currently going on. There is sometimes an impulse to judge ourselves for having strong feelings, that feeds the the anxiety too.
How we work with our minds around anxiety has a direct affect on how things turn out. This is where therapy helps.
The hope and control lies not only in solving the anxiety, which cannot always be solved, but in seeing it from different points of view and developing creative strategies to work through whatever situations arise. Build a tolerance for working it out over time. Explore the tensions that contribute to your anxiety with a trained professional who can reflect back patterns and dynamics. It is like charting the wilderness of your mind, a map to move forward.
What is Anxiety Therapy Like?
We will experiment with different perspectives, approaches and skills that will help you navigate life's anxieties more effectively, more consciously, and provide space for choices to emerge. Choices lead to control and a sense of control calms anxiety. I will help you manage and move through the feelings that are causing you distress.
Therapy helps you build a relationship with anxiety and use its energy rather than being used by it.
HOW DOES TALKING ABOUT ANXIETY HELP?
When you describe emotional and relationship experiences in the presence of another it brings up lots of feelings and thoughts. Sifting through what gets stirred up together helps untangle the tensions that are causing pain and distress. These tensions have roots in our past, reveal current dilemmas and can clarify desires for the future. When we put our experiences into words and connect with the feelings that get stirred up; the physical sensations, the emotional parts and impulses that come with those feelings, stuff starts to shift around and becomes more flexible.
When you describe emotional and relationship experiences in the presence of another it brings up lots of feelings and thoughts. Sifting through what gets stirred up together helps untangle the tensions that are causing pain and distress. These tensions have roots in our past, reveal current dilemmas and can clarify desires for the future. When we put our experiences into words and connect with the feelings that get stirred up; the physical sensations, the emotional parts and impulses that come with those feelings, stuff starts to shift around and becomes more flexible.
HOW DO I KNOW IF THERAPY IS HELPING?
Good question. Most of my clients report feeling more resilient with whatever happens in their lives, less judgmental of themselves and are able to move towards the things that they want and establish boundaries with the things they want less of. Typically clients get a sense of whether or not it’s going to be beneficial after 3 - 6 sessions. If it’s not a good fit I will help you find other resources.
Good question. Most of my clients report feeling more resilient with whatever happens in their lives, less judgmental of themselves and are able to move towards the things that they want and establish boundaries with the things they want less of. Typically clients get a sense of whether or not it’s going to be beneficial after 3 - 6 sessions. If it’s not a good fit I will help you find other resources.
WHAT IF I START TO FEEL WORSE?
Often therapy can intensify feelings. My job is to help you work with whatever arises and help it become a sustainable process. The idea is give you some control over the feelings and tensions that have brought you to me, to help you manage it all. Addressing any problem can bring more awareness, and awareness can stir up feelings of discontent. Not addressing a problem to avoid feelings is not a longterm solution, eventually the problem will demand your attention. In our sessions I will help you be in control of when and where it gets addressed and help you address your problems on your terms.
Often therapy can intensify feelings. My job is to help you work with whatever arises and help it become a sustainable process. The idea is give you some control over the feelings and tensions that have brought you to me, to help you manage it all. Addressing any problem can bring more awareness, and awareness can stir up feelings of discontent. Not addressing a problem to avoid feelings is not a longterm solution, eventually the problem will demand your attention. In our sessions I will help you be in control of when and where it gets addressed and help you address your problems on your terms.
AM I CRAZY?
Most likely not. The world is a crazy place, there is a lot of competition out there for crazy. One idea is that if think you are crazy it is a sign that you are sane and have some self-awareness and capacity for self-reflection. The underlying question might be, “Am I understandable?”, “Will you judge me?”, “Is this fixable?” My job as a therapist is to support you in your process of working things out, to provide guidance towards your goals and desires and to explore who you are in relationship to your life and the others in it.
Most likely not. The world is a crazy place, there is a lot of competition out there for crazy. One idea is that if think you are crazy it is a sign that you are sane and have some self-awareness and capacity for self-reflection. The underlying question might be, “Am I understandable?”, “Will you judge me?”, “Is this fixable?” My job as a therapist is to support you in your process of working things out, to provide guidance towards your goals and desires and to explore who you are in relationship to your life and the others in it.