About
Anxiety Treatment
Are Anxious Thoughts Negatively Affecting Your Life?
Does anxiety haunt your daily life, impacting how you engage in normal activities? Are many of the thoughts you have seemingly out of your control? Have you noticed that your anxiety symptoms have been worsening and feel like it’s time to seek help?
When you’re experiencing low-level anxiety, you carry it everywhere with you. Whether at home, work, or social occasions, it seems as though you can’t escape a persistent anxiousness that leaves you feeling exhausted and frustrated. Rather than enjoying people and activities at face value, you may ruminate over worst-case scenarios, unable to escape a sense of dread.
Or maybe your anxiety has gotten worse over time, leading to physical symptoms such as heaviness in your chest, sleep disruptions, or a churning, upset stomach that affects your appetite. Stressful situations may trigger panic attacks where it feels like the world is crashing down on you. You may experience shortness of breath, an accelerated heart rate, and sweaty palms as you struggle to calm yourself down.
Maybe You’re Anxious About Your Relationship
You may find yourself worrying about whether your partner loves you. Whenever you argue or disagree, you may wonder what the future of your relationship will be. Your constant worry and insecurity could be causing your partner distress and negatively impacting the dynamic between the two of you.
The Pandemic Has Contributed To More Anxiety
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health condition in the United States, affecting 18.1 percent of adults every year. Research confirms that anxiety and depression have been on the rise since the onset of the pandemic, climbing from 36.4 percent to 41.5 percent. Although anxiety is a natural response to the stressors of life, for some of us it becomes our only response—negatively impacting our lives.
For many of us, the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic has adversely affected our mental health by creating the perfect breeding ground for anxiety. Since its onset, the world hasn’t felt like a safe place—our lack of social interaction and the sense that we no longer have control over our lives only serves to exacerbate our uneasiness.
Anxiety Thrives When We Feel Powerless
Anxiety stems from a sense of powerlessness which may stem from experiencing trauma or not being supported the way we needed to be in childhood. If needs weren’t met in our formative years, we might still carry this lack of security along with us.
Unfortunately, we commonly downplay our anxiety or may not have noticed how it has worsened over time. We may turn around one day and wonder, “When did it get this bad?” Perhaps we resist seeking treatment because we’re uncomfortable with the idea of admitting to ourselves—let alone a therapist—that we have anxiety.
Fortunately, anxiety disorders are highly treatable. When you decide you’re ready for treatment, whether it’s to treat low-level anxiety, severe anxiety, or panic attacks, Inner Compass Counseling is here for you. We can provide you with the help you need to sort out the anxious thoughts that keep you feeling stuck and guide you toward a calmer, more grounded sense of wellbeing.
Treatment Can Help You With Overcoming Symptoms Of Anxiety
Perhaps you’ve tried medication or working through anxiety on your own but haven’t been able to get to the root of your issues. Treatment can help you better understand what you’re experiencing and identify methods for managing your anxiety or panic attacks. As you learn to control your symptoms, you will gradually be released from anxiety’s grip.
Oftentimes, when you decide to seek therapy, it’s because your anxiety has reached a point where it is negatively impacting your life and can no longer be ignored. Perhaps you’re finally considering treatment because you’ve been reluctant to reach out to others you know, doubtful they would understand what you’re going through, or fearful that they might judge you.
At Inner Compass Counseling, we approach the healing process from the perspective that while a certain amount of anxiety is normal, something needs to change when it begins to dominate your daily activities. We don’t necessarily view anxiety as a negative phenomenon, but rather as a coping mechanism that has gotten out of hand. We aim to create a safe space for you to understand the origins of your anxiety and learn effective ways to mitigate it.
What To Expect In Sessions
In the initial session, we’ll talk about what has brought you here and review what your goals are for therapy. From there we will begin to explore the ways anxiety has impacted your life, , as well as how it may have changed over time.
If you are struggling with panic attacks, we will discuss what usually brings them on and how often they occur. We will discuss ways to manage your panic attacks so that you feel more “in control” when you feel one brewing. You will also be invited to share what your fears of the future may be if you struggle to stay in the present moment.
Getting To The Root Of Your Anxiety
If you only treat symptoms and never get to the root of what causes your anxiety, nothing will change. However, when we delve into its origins and work through it together, intense anxiety will diminish. The treatment we find most effective is a combination of exploring the origins of your anxiety disorder as well as providing you with solution-focused techniques to manage its symptoms.
Many times, we don’t realize that anxiety is a style of emotional attachment. Rather than forming secure connections in relationships, there may be a history of forging insecure ones, an attachment style that often underlies anxiety. By exploring the dynamics of your family of origin and your emotional attachment style, you will understand the difference between secure attachment and anxious attachment and be shown how to create more secure connections with others.
Additionally, you will learn specific relaxation techniques, such as breathing and visualization, to help you manage anxious feelings. If you suffer from panic attacks, we will provide you with prevention exercises to help deescalate the attack before it happens. We will also address any other physical symptoms you may be struggling with that are interfering with your sense of wellbeing.
Once you seek support and commit to putting in the work, your anxiety will no longer be in charge of your life. With treatment, you will understand what fuels your anxiety, gain control over the symptoms, and get back to living life on your own terms.
But You May Wonder Whether Anxiety Treatment Is Right For You…
Can therapy for anxiety really help me?
You might feel like you’ve already tried everything to deal with your anxiety and have doubts that therapy can help. However, working with a therapist can make a difference because you can finally unearth the root cause of your anxiety. When you can examine the reasons that underlie your anxiety and work through them—in tandem with being provided with tools to manage anxiety—a lot of progress can be made.
I’m afraid anxiety counseling will end up making my symptoms worse.
Perhaps you’re concerned that delving into what underlies your anxiety will somehow exacerbate your symptoms. But more often than not, the opposite is true. Seeking treatment with a therapist who offers you a supportive environment to share your concerns can lead to diminished anxiety over time. As you identify the issues that underlie what you’ve been experiencing, you will realize that overcoming your anxiety is possible after all.
Can’t I just take medication for anxiety instead of going to therapy?
The good news is anxiety is treatable in a couple of ways. If you’re considering medication, it’s important to determine whether or not it’s an appropriate option in close consultation with a medical professional. Additionally, therapy is a beneficial treatment for anxiety. In therapy, you will gain insights about yourself to help understand what’s happening and learn effective ways of coping with your anxiety. It’s possible that medication may be unnecessary.
There Is Hope For Treating Anxiety
Anxiety doesn’t have to control your life or keep you from the activities you enjoy.
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