Managing Anxiety

“You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.”

– Dan Millman

Everyone experiences worry. You may think your worry goes beyond “normal worry” if you:

Worry about your daily activities
Worry about the “what ifs”
Overthink everything before taking action and sometimes can’t take action
Are a negative thinker
Are harder on yourself than on others
Tend to catastrophize
Worry when you don’t have anything to worry about.

Do you...

Feel stuck in your thoughts & unable to figure out what to do next.
Have a constant loop in your brain of negative thougts that keeps getting bigger.
Feel overwhelmed most of the time and have to overthink everything before making a decision.
Feel you need to be perfect even when you know that is impossible.
Even have experienced "anxiety attacks."

You can tell how your anxiety affects your work, relationships, your ability to relax (what's that?). You feel stuck & can't see a way to stop. It's time to tell the negative thoughts to shut up & sit down! This is where I can help.

Life shouldn't be this hard.

What could you do if you could stop being worried what others are thinking? If you could stop being focused on making others happy? If you could just be comfortable being you?

Can you imagine waking up, looking at your planner, & just reflect on what the day will bring without that knot in your stomach or the loop of anxious thoughts in your head?

It is possible.

Together we will identify your anxiety, begin to understand it, & learn tools or skills to take control of it.

You will...

Develop a toolbox to use when anxious thoughts take over.
Learn to find Evidence of your abilities & when you did have control.
Learn to identify when you are trying to control what is not yours to control.
Learn how to manage your anxiety rather than it managing you.

And I will be there to guide you through this process, to help you navigate your path. Together for change.

Therapy for Anxiety can help you...

Identify your triggers so you can use the tools to take control before it takes control of you
Understand the origins of this way of thinking & why you hold onto it
See that anxious thoughts are not helpful or productive
Learn how to set & maintain healthy boundaries
Choose effective coping strategies for managing your day-to-day challenges
Be confident expressing your needs without guilt

What would life feel like if you could breathe without the heaviness of anxiety? This is possible. You deserve this life.

A: The first step in change is to identify the problem. You can't change what you don't see. Together we will examine your thoughts, the areas you get stuck on, how you look at your day-to-day life, to see if your thoughts are based in negative anxiety

A: Anxiety is a "normal" human characteristic. You won't be able to eliminate it but you can certanly take control of it. With therapy for anxiety you will be better able to identify triggers or situations that tend to increase your anxiety, so that you can use the tools to control it. Anxiety often starts in childhood. Therapy can help you examine the why & when to better understand what it is.

A: You should certainly be checked by your Primary Care Physician to make sure there is not a physical explanation, but these can be symptoms of anxiety. Often referred to as an "anxiety attack" or "panic attack." We will look at what is going on right before you feel these symptoms to evaluate if anxiety could be the cause. Then work to decrease the anxiety & physical symptoms & develop your tools to control these situations.

Let's Talk About Your Anxiety

Those who experience anxiety do so in many different ways. Anxiety has many shapes, sizes & forms, & each way that it presents is unique for that individual.

Some have occasional overwhelming thoughts. Some have intense, excessive, persistent negative thoughts. If your anxious thoughts take control & interfere with your daily life, even occasionally, therapy for anxiety can help. Let's look at what you are experiencing & determine a course of action for change. Relief. Control.

Methodology

EMDR for Anxiety

Eye Movement Desensitazation & Reprocessing (EMDR) is a highly successful technique used to treat anxiety. EMDR is a type of psychotherapy technique that is proven to help people recover from trauma by helping the brain "reprocess" the memories that are causing pain & to be stuck. The goal of EMDR is to allow you to take specific emotions about past memories which are causing the anxiety, & positively address them to improve your emotional health. It does not alleviate the memories, just alters how you experience them.

Learn more

CBT for Anxiety

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can be an effective treatment for anxiety. It works by identifying & addressing how thoughts & behaviors interact to create anxiety. We will work to recognize how negative thought patterns influence your feelings & behaviors. Once we identify the negative anxious thoughts, we will begin to challenge them by finding evidence that the thoughts are or are not true. If true, how did you handle the situation before? If not true, what is true?

I use this technique throughout my sessions & you will hear me talk & ask about "evidence" to support or dispel the anxious thoughts.

Let's connect and get started!

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