Anxiety Therapy
Are Anxiety, Stress, or Fears Impacting Your Everyday Life?
Anxiety and stress are sometimes used as general terms to describe how one thinks, feels, and reacts to certain symptoms. However, anxiety can affect people differently and it can impact the joy you feel in your own life. Consider some of these questions:
Tired of the tense feeling you have in your chest?
Does it seem like your thoughts are constantly racing?
Do worry and stress create social anxiety?
Do people around you say that you’re often negative?
Is fear preventing you from feeling safe and secure?
Do you often worry about something big… or small?
Life can feel overwhelming when accompanied by anxiety symptoms. The thoughts and emotions can interfere with your ability to stay focused - hindering personal or professional obligations. Physical symptoms from anxiety can include: intense sweating, chest tightness, aches in your body, hand tremors, trouble eating or sleeping well, and even panic attacks. This could lead you to gradually retreating from life feeling the need to isolate more from your friends and things you enjoy.
Anxiety manifests in vastly different ways for people. It can lead to other compulsive behaviors like relying on screen time and scrolling for hours, nail biting, body tics, or excessive cleaning. It can progress and the activities you once enjoyed just quite aren’t the same. Is simply reading this giving you anxiety? The good news is that there is help! Through an anxiety therapy treatment approach, (which can be designed for your needs), you can get back to feeling the way you would like to. At the Recovery Collective you can learn anxiety remedies and concrete skills, develop insight for feeling stable and grounded, and ultimately overcome anxiety, so it doesn’t impact your life and functioning.
Others Are Experiencing What You Are Too
It is believed that mental health disorders affect 13% of the world’s population. Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020, there are reports that show that problems with mental health have doubled in the U.S to approximately 22 percent of adults reporting symptoms. This could be episodic based on what life currently has to offer- social unrest, financial concerns, a toxic culture of blame -first politics, and a world pandemic to name a few. The stress of work obligations while juggling family responsibilities can build up over time conceding to anxiety. For some, anxiety is a lifelong battle that is also a chemical imbalance in the brain. Anxiety changes how you reason and perceive and can affect all parts of you: physically, mentally, emotionally, & socially. Therapy with us is an empowering experience that leads to healing in the form of a new internal strength and wisdom to counteract anxiety.
Anxiety Therapy Can Be The Solution
I’ve worked with clients for over 10 years whose sole purpose of therapy is to rid themselves of symptoms of anxiety. My approach provides a safe space where you can be transparent about difficult and sensitive experiences related to your anxiety. I know there are different causes of anxiety, therefore solutions can be varied as well. Solutions are individualized, however, I do have a simple equation for recovery from anxiety.
Overcoming Anxiety = Insight + Action + Change
People tend to struggle with the action and change portion of the equation, heck, the thought of change itself can even lead to anxiety. Therapy can help you change the way you feel and respond to stressful and fearful stimuli. It’s quite the barrier to overcome and we will be giving you a safe space where you will identify anxious thoughts. You’ll then process new skills and strategies to help with both the feelings and thoughts that are fueling the stress and anxiety. Ultimately this leads to the new action in the form of new coping skills. Action can also lead to a new way of thinking.
Some come to treatment to find out why they have mental illness. The infamous question that is… “Why me?” The insight part of the equation is finding the underlying causes and conditions. When we find out why the symptoms are happening, you then know one specific thing that can be changed, and therapy can help you find the skills and techniques to make those changes.
You’re Considering Anxiety Counseling But Still Have Some Concerns…
Will Counseling Really Help With My Anxiety And Panic Attacks?
I once had two clients, (who both had a significant history with depression and anxiety), candidly discuss their thoughts with their therapy experience while they were in the waiting room. The established client expressed her process with her sessions to the newer client. When it was time for the newer client to enter my office, he immediately stated “I want what she has!” In session, he explained to me what he meant. He listened to someone that explained similar intense anxiety symptoms and behaviors and explained how she no longer had them. What a testament to the therapeutic process! I saw this client’s motivation and desire for change. He was willing to take the actions discussed in sessions, and developed healthier ways to respond to triggers, leading to natural anxiety relief. The result was a healthy change. He now states he doesn’t suffer from anxiety. From his perspective, he differentiates what he calls an occasional stressor from the immense anxiety he once had on a chronic basis.
I’m Concerned What Others Will Think About Me.
It always amazes me that dysfunction of any other organ in the body has little to no stigma compared to that of the brain. If the pancreas stops performing the vital duty of producing the insulin hormone, we as a society “get it” and encourage you to take care of your body through proper nutrition and follow doctors’ orders about insulin or another diabetic medication.
Let’s look at the heart as another organ which often has chemical imbalances. The heart without healthy blood pressure control can weaken itself, lead to a heart attack and/or heart failure. You are not surprised to hear that high blood pressure can damage your arteries which decreases the flow of blood and oxygen and leads to heart disease. It is also not a surprise that it is a FACT that treating this includes decreasing stress, increasing heart rate through exercise, and having foods that are rich in potassium, calcium and magnesium while limiting foods that are high in salts, sugars, and saturated fats. And if lifestyle modifications aren’t enough there are at least 6 categories of blood pressure medications (diuretics, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin- receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers, alpha-blockers) that can be used for the 116 million U.S. adults with Hypertension (ACC/AHA 2017).
People don’t think twice about reducing stress to decrease blood pressure. People don’t do a double take if someone takes the suggestion by a medical professional to take a blood pressure medication. And whether people follow through with it or not, every medical professional recommends minimizing stress and the action of exercise and better eating habits! Yet another example of Insight, Action, & Change.
Mental Health stigmas associated with the brain come from misguided views. It’s a lack of knowledge and a misconstrued belief that because of your depression or anxiety, you must be “different”, though people don’t typically think that about their family member who has diabetes or high blood pressure…but I digress! Anxiety symptoms and disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S.! Over 40 million adults, that’s nearly 20% of the population every year, are affected by symptoms of anxiety!
Your reaching out shows a level of wisdom, bravery, and self-love that should be applauded not criticized.
It takes a lot of courage and strength to ask for help. I can’t wait for that to be the norm. I look forward to the day when our society and evolving culture values seeking guidance and support from mental health professionals. When you do decide to call us, that actually makes you a trendsetter. Like my previous client talking to someone right before their first session… I want you to have what she has. It’s time to stop stress and anxiety from interfering with your life. I’ve helped many people just like you get to lasting peace and relief. Don’t hesitate to message us and set up a free and brief consultation or go ahead and schedule an appointment.
