anxiety
anxiety
Anxiety is a cruel thief that seems to make even little things harder. Your system is on high alert so emotions feel like someone turned up the volume control and caused responses to be much bigger than the situation calls for. There is an underlying fear, often without any clear cause or rationale. It’s as if anxiety has a life of its own. When the anxiety is particularly strong, it can make it hard to take risks like speaking your mind or making decisions. It may even cause you to lose touch with your values and needs, “I don’t even know who I am anymore.”
treatment
Luckily, it is possible to find a calmer norm. We will determine your unique situation to help us identify what would help you feel safer and more resilient. This may include:
- Developing skills that focus on body awareness, mindfulness, and breath. This not only minimizes the intensity of your reactions but also shortens the amount of time it takes to recover.
- Addressing avoidance: fears discourage you from taking risks. Rather than creating protection through avoidance, learn how to handle situations so you become more capable and enjoy greater self-control.
- Building boundaries to promote healthier relationships based on safety and respect.
- Learning to take appropriate risks.
- Releasing self-imposed rules that keep you locked in old patterns. These can lead to relentless internal pressures and a tendency to brace for the worst.
- Facing your fears: finding the fears beneath the anxiety can help ensure we don’t treat the symptoms, but the underlying cause.
The end result will be greater confidence that you can handle what life throws your way.
