The moment you wake your mind is racing through the things you have to do and all the ways those things could go wrong. When you think about work responsibilities you tense up with a sense that you will be revealed to be unprepared or incapable. When you think of socializing, a dread wells up around the ways people could judge you. Your mind never turns off and much of your mental energy goes into these fears. Physically you are exhausted and tight from all the stress your worries cause. Despite the exhaustion, when nighttime rolls around you can’t fall asleep, as concerns about tomorrow start to cycle.
Fortunately, therapy for anxiety can help to greatly alleviate distress.
Some anxiety is normal and not inherently bad–the capacity to feel anxious is hardwired into us to help us respond to signals of potential threat in our environment, just as the capacity to feel pain helps us to know what potentially hazardous situations we need to stay away from. All animals have the ability to feel anxious and stressed, but humans have the unique capability to imagine potential future threats that have not as of yet occurred.
When you couple this ability with the overwhelming amount of messaging society bombards people with about the different things they need to do and the ways they could be judged as inadequate, and anxiety can start to go off the rails, like an alarm system that never turns off.
Our capacity to imagine threats is compounded by the reality of the many challenges we face in our fast-paced daily lives.
Many of us are trying to navigate several of the following major contributors to anxiety:
If you are struggling with anxiety, you are not alone. About a fifth of the US population was diagnosed with some form of anxiety in the past year. Some of the common symptoms of anxiety are:
Brain:
Body:
Behavior:
Anxiety won’t look the same for everyone, and there are many distinct types of it. Some of the most prevalent forms of anxiety include:
It is common for people to struggle with several forms of anxiety simultaneously.
For people struggling with significant anxiety, it can be hard to believe that they will ever be able to get their anxiety under control, but it is possible.
I draw on techniques from therapies that have been studied and shown to help reduce anxiety (e.g. cognitive-behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavior therapy).
While each person is different and may have unique needs, some of the techniques that frequently help include:
Having a positive experience with a therapist where we feel understood, cared for and supported can also be healing in and of itself and help to alleviate anxiety. With commitment we can master our anxiety and allow peacefulness to emerge.
Anxiety can relate to a lot of other emotional challenges. Anxiety that interferes with our ability to engage with important life goals can contribute to depression. Perfectionistic beliefs caused by anxiety often contribute to difficulties with self-esteem and body image. Anxiety often underlies difficulties with anger management. Trauma can lead to heightened levels of anxiety and difficulties with trust. Acute grief can lead to feelings of vulnerability and anxiety.