Are you seeking treatment for anxiety?
We’re all wired to experience some anxiety. We may feel it when we’re doing something unfamiliar or we’re worried about our performance in some way. Anxiety keeps us on our toes and prompts us to be cautious or alert for danger. And we’ve all had the experience of worrying to the point of aggravation over something, whether it’s important or relatively minor, when we can’t stop thinking about it. But people suffering from extreme anxiety often wonder how others cope so well – how is it others seem able to shrug things off, relax and enjoy themselves, get a good night’s sleep, or make it look so easy to socialize, take chances, or do things that seem scary?
For individuals considering therapy for anxiety, things have often gone far beyond these common experiences of anxiousness. Nervous unease or discomfort is one thing, but when your life is consumed by feeling wound up or tense, or you’re worrying constantly, this unwanted anxiousness is robbing you of the ability to feel normal, be happy, and enjoy life. Does this describe you? If so, are ready to get help dealing with your anxiety?
Problematic anxiety can be very effectively treated. If you feel anxiety has taken over and dominates your existence, making you feel out of control and unable to enjoy life, then perhaps it’s time to do something about it.
Anxiety therapy tools:
Sometimes treatment involves learning more effective ways to coax your body into relaxing. We can all benefit from practicing skills like focused deep breathing, progressive relaxation, and mindfulness. Learning mindfulness skills where anxiety is observed but doesn’t have to be acted on can be a very freeing experience when combined with relaxation techniques that encourage the body let go of tension and breath normally.
I often help people tune into thoughts they may not be aware of that have them convinced they need to stay on guard, wound up, and ready for disaster – thoughts that are unwarranted, even irrational, but can be powerful and convincing. Often these thoughts served a good purpose in the past but are no longer appropriate. In therapy we spend time gently challenging those thoughts and examining what it may take to let go of them.
Therapy can also be said to reshape our relationship with anxiety, meaning that we can come to accept that some anxiety is inevitable and even useful, spend less time worrying about our worrying, and get on with the business of living in spite of feeling uncomfortable. I help people build up their ability to tolerate distress and uncertainty with the understanding that while anxiety is indeed uncomfortable, we don’t have to let it take charge.
Anxiety can drive us to avoid things that have made us uncomfortable in the past. We develop patterns of seeking safety through avoidance, then retreat more and more from common experiences. The long-term consequence of this is that our world becomes smaller and more limited in scope – not something any of us would ideally want. As your therapist I would act as a coach and encourager, helping you confront and gain mastery over situations that have been causing you a lot of anxiety.
It seems that some people are more prone to anxiety than others. For some people this appears to be due at least in part to an innate disposition towards anxiousness, something one can be born with and has to work at overcoming. Anxiety is also a learned behavior. Chronic anxiety can be a reaction to profoundly disturbing or damaging experiences that made the world seem harsh or unsafe, or perhaps a person’s spent extensive time with others who function from a place of anxiousness where this trait has been role modeled. In therapy we may want to take a bit of a look into the past to understand the relationship between your history and your current suffering with anxiety.
If your reality is reflected in what I’ve described here, are you ready to seek treatment for anxiety so you can start the journey to a more comfortable, calm, and grounded you?
To schedule your free 15-minute initial consultation, call 505-431-5058 or email me at ravenwatercounseling@outlook.com. Our initial conversation will help me hear how anxiety is interfering with your life and allow us to determine whether I may be the right counselor for you.