Anxiety Treatment
Do you worry all the time? Feel nervous about things that seem easy for others? Suffer from attacks of fear, panic, rapid heart beat without any medical cause? Do you avoid situations due to anxiety or embarrassment?
Anxiety is something that all of us feel once in a while, but for some of us, those feelings can be more intense, too frequent, and start to impact our ability to live our lives. If your worry or anxiety stops you from things you want to do or feels debilitating, you may need help figuring out how to manage it. At its worst, anxiety can feel like a perpetual cycle of racing mind —> poor sleep —> irritable and stressed —> worrying constantly and anxiety attacks. Which creates anxiety about having anxiety.
If this sounds familiar to you, please know that you can change this pattern and start living the life you want again.
You’re not alone.
You’re not suffering alone —anxiety disorders are the most common mental health issue in the United States, affecting about 40 million adults each year.* Anxiety disorders also come in many forms and for many different reasons. You may have anxiety due to a life stressor or change you are going through. You may have a specific fear or phobia that affects only one area of your life, or you might worry all the day every day about lots of different things. You might have anxiety that occasionally becomes panic attacks, or you might just have panic attacks that arise out of the blue. Your anxiety might appear as irritability or flashes of anger that are hard to control.
There is help for all these forms of anxiety—-and for you.
How anxiety treatment can help
Therapy for anxiety helps you rewire your nervous system through a process of unlearning and relearning how to change how your thoughts and your body respond to stressors. This can be done in a number of different ways. For mild anxiety or worry, it might be talking through your stressors to help you problem-solve a way to resolve the causes of the stressors in your life. It might include learning specific tools for coping with anxiety and to change the “fight/flight” response that is happening in your nervous system. If your anxiety has been long-term or started in childhood, we might need to identify the thoughts, beliefs and behaviors that are supporting the anxiety so you can work to change the patterns that underlie the anxiety. Some of the specific approaches might include:
Mindfulness training to increase your awareness of how anxiety impacts your body and changes your thoughts, so that you can improve your ability to change this impact
Education about your nervous system, how it is causing the bodily experience of anxiety, and how you can turn that process off
CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) approaches to help you identify the ways that your thinking patterns are affecting your worry and anxiety, and how to change them
Exposure and imaginal exposure therapy to gradually increase your ability to manage situations that make you anxious along with the specific skills that change your fight/flight response
Methods from trauma therapy if your anxiety stems to a difficult or traumatic experience from your past that is stored in a memory network that is getting triggered in the present
Will I have to take medication?
Much of the time, anxiety can be resolved without medication. Because anxiety is a physiological process that most people can affect through specific skills and activities, often medication is not needed. However, changing patterns can take some time, and if you need immediate relief then medication can be helpful. If we discuss medication as an option, I will always discuss with you a plan for getting you off the medication as well. Medication for anxiety should generally be considered a short-term aid rather than a long-term solution.
What causes anxiety disorders?
Anxiety disorders do not have a single cause. Often you will find anxiety disorders running in families and likely have a genetic component. Sometimes anxiety has to do with normal variations in your nervous system (such as how sensitive your system is, or particular differences in your brain chemistry). Anxiety can also stem from personality differences or from specific life experiences. Whatever the cause, unfortunately only about one third of those suffering with anxiety receive any treatment. Please know that whatever the cause, treatment can help.
How long does treatment take?
Many people have success with anxiety treatment in little as 8-12 weeks. However, the length of treatment depends of the severity of your anxiety and whether you have any co-occurring issues that might complicate it. For example, if you also struggle with depression, substance abuse, medical issues, or other mental health issues, treatment may take longer.
I tailor your treatment to you.
Almost all of my clients that come to me for help with anxiety improve because I tailor each person’s treatment to their specific needs. My training and long-term experience with different approaches, integrative therapy foundation, and personal experience with anxiety have contributed to my success in treating anxiety in clients I see. I also have good relationships with medication providers and have a flexible and gentle approach to anxiety treatment.
Get back to living.
If you are ready to start the healing process, or have any questions about anything here, please call me at (970) 889-0038 or if you prefer, click the contact me button below.
I offer a free 30-minute consultation to let you get to know me and answer any questions you have.
