Anxiety

You feel that old familiar feeling creeping in again.

The tightness in your chest, your vision going in and out of focus, your heart racing, and your brain moving too fast. “What is happening? Is this a stroke? A heart attack?”

It feels like the walls are closing on you, and you’re ready to jump out of your skin. What would even help this feeling right now?

You want to cry, scream, yell, and run, but you can’t get your arms and legs to move.

The above represents the effects of anxiety.

Anxiety is the number one symptom that brings clients to treatment in my practice. It can vary in severity and can feel different for everyone.

The scene above details what physical anxiety or a panic attack can feel like. For many of the people I have worked with, a severe panic attack like this can land you in the Emergency Room out of fear that you are having a stroke or cardiac event.

Anxiety can feel like a swarm of impending doom or dread that something terrible is about to happen. One client described it as an overwhelming urge to “control the uncontrollable” and micromanage details.

Expressions of anxiety take on many forms.

It can take the form of feeling quick to anger and snap at people or worrying all the time. Irrational and racing thoughts take over and keep you awake at night.

Overthinking and playing through 200 different “worst-case scenarios,” even if they’re unlikely to happen, happens frequently.

Some describe anxiety as a spiral, a tornado, or a tsunami that comes on quickly and leaves you struggling to keep your head above water and gasping for breath.

Anxiety can rob you of your joy and happiness and can feel like a storm looming with the BAD THING just hiding around the corner.

There is hope – anxiety is treatable.

Our sessions together can teach you the skills you need to learn to take back control of your anxiety and learn to turn down the volume of the noise inside your head.

Through techniques like Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy, you can learn to examine your inner self-talk and to quiet those judging thoughts that keep you awake at night or steal the joy from happy occasions.

Mindfulness Skills Training can be a great way to learn to combat the physical symptoms of anxiety and help you stay in a calm and relaxed body.

Talk to me about how you can learn to take back control of your anxiety and begin to appreciate the joys around you again.