Anxiety Treatment

 

Your heart begins to race, your breathing feels shallow, and it’s hard to get enough air. You may feel lightheaded or disconnected. Thoughts come so quickly that you can’t slow them down, and it becomes difficult to focus on anything except what might go wrong. A new fear creeps in: What if I faint? What if I lose control? What will people think?

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Anxiety can feel overwhelming and unpredictable. Sometimes it seems to appear without warning. Other times, it shows up in social situations—when you’re meeting new people, speaking in front of others, or simply being in a crowded room. You may find yourself going quiet, avoiding eye contact, or leaving early, only to later replay the interaction and criticize yourself for not handling it “better.”

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Over time, the fear of having another panic attack can become just as limiting as the panic itself. You start trying to control everything. You might start avoiding places or situations altogether, worried about feeling embarrassed or out of control. What once felt manageable begins to shrink your world.

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Or Maybe This Sounds Like You...

Maybe your anxiety focuses on a certain thing like spiders, flying, or germs. You certainly can't be around that thing! Heck, you can't even think about it without breaking out in a cold sweat. And it's keeping you from spending time with your family and friends, not to mention that it's very embarrassing! You can't help but ask yourself what's wrong with you that you can't just stop it! It seems like everyone else just effortlessly goes through life.

 

This anxiety is keeping you as an observer of your own life. You always are on the outside looking in, rather than being an active participant in your own life. Wouldn't you like to be in control for a change rather than being controlled by your anxiety?

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Perfectionism and

Anxiety

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Sometimes anxiety doesn’t look like panic at all. Instead, it shows up as perfectionism, overthinking, and a need to stay tightly in control. Your mind rarely slows down—replaying conversations, anticipating problems, running through worst-case scenarios, and trying to plan for every possible outcome. Even during quiet moments, your thoughts keep racing. It’s exhausting to live in a constant state of mental preparation.

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You may hold yourself to incredibly high standards and feel uneasy when plans shift or things aren’t done “right.” From the outside, this can look like competence and drive. On the inside, it often feels like pressure that never lets up. Letting go—even a little—can feel risky, as if something will fall apart. In therapy, we work on calming the nervous system, softening the grip of perfectionism, and helping you feel steady and capable without having to control everything around you.

 

 

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You Are Not Alone

If you have anxiety, then you know what it is like to feel completely alone and like no one understands you. However, the truth is that anxiety is one of the most common mental illnesses in the US today. There are over 40 million adults over the age of 18 every year diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, and there are perhaps many more who never seek treatment.

 

There are several different anxiety disorders including Generalized Anxiety Disorder, OCD, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Panic disorder. But no matter which type of anxiety you suffer from, they all share the fact that the anxiety can be completely disruptive to your life. All of these different anxiety disorders also tend to share a tendency to avoid whatever brings your anxiety on. Unfortunately, this avoidance can often make your anxiety worse.

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                                                             Getting Your Life Back
 

The good news is that talking therapy can be very effective in helping you tame your anxiety. It is actually one of the most treatable mental health conditions. Many people are able to reduce their anxiety after just a few sessions, and most people are able to reduce or completely eliminate their anxiety after a couple of months. I like to use techniques from several different theories, a few of which I have listed below:

 

Treatments We Might Try Together...
 

• CBT is one of the most studied and proven psychotherapies that we have available currently. There are several different techniques used in CBT to help with anxiety which focus on changing your thoughts and beliefs to effect a change in your feelings. Currently, this is the preferred therapy for anxiety because it is so effective and generally works faster than other methods. This is why I almost always include at least some CBT techniques when I'm working with someone who is experiencing anxiety.

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• Mindfulness therapy uses various exercises to focus your attention on the here and now. This can be particularly helpful with anxiety as anxiety is often caused by worrying about either the future or the past. Mindfulness techniques can help you learn to relax, decrease the symptoms of anxiety, and to increase your resiliency so you are better able to cope with all the things life throws at you.

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• Problem-Solving Therapy does just what you would expect! It helps you to clarify your issues and find various solutions to try until you find one that works for you. Together we can problem-solve different solutions that you will be able to use in your everyday life.

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• Relaxation and Stress Reduction in which you learn various techniques to calm the fight or flight response of your body, reducing the overall effects and sensations of anxiety. This helps to stop that anxiety spiral from getting out of control, allowing you to address the situation that brought on the anxiety.

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• EFT Tapping works on the principles of acupressure to calm your body and mind by applying pressure or tapping on various points while focusing on the stressful or traumatic situation. 

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• Medications can often work well alongside talk therapy. If you want to explore this option, talk with your doctor or psychiatrist about your symptoms and your goals. Know that if you do decide to use medications that this does not in any way make you weaker. Anxiety is a very real psychiatric disorder with physical symptoms that can be aided by medications.

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Questions You Might Be

Asking Yourself

 

Does going to therapy mean I'm crazy?

No, absolutely not! Your decision to start therapy shows that you are strong enough and brave enough to know when you need a little help and are willing to ask for it. People go to therapy every day for help dealing with problems they're having in their lives.

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I'm worried that a diagnosis will follow me and hurt me in the future.

One of the advantages of offering therapy where you pay for it, and not your insurance, is that you do not have to be given a medical diagnosis. Insurances insist that all treatment is  "medically necessary" and want a diagnosis to prove this, and this is why at times therapists are forced to give medical diagnoses. But once insurance is taken out of the equation, a diagnosis does not necessarily need to be given. Another advantage of not dealing with your insurance is that there is no need to share your records with anyone and they will be kept confidential following ACA guidelines.

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Will I be forced to take medications?

Absolutely not! Medication can at times be helpful as an adjunct to anxiety therapy, but study after study has shown that therapy alone can be extremely helpful. I will follow your lead on this and respect your decision to either take medications or to not. When you start therapy with me, it is YOUR thoughts and feelings that take center stage. Therapy works at its best when we are able to work together as a team, and so I will never try to force you into something that you don't want.

 

Moving Forward  

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So the question now becomes whether we are a good fit to work together. If you want more information about me, you can check out the about page here. Or, contact me today using the button below to schedule a time to discuss this further. I hope to hear from you soon!