Therapy for Anxieties
Offering therapy for general anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)…
Anxiety can be a normal and inevitable part of life.
Being nervous or on edge can help us study for a difficult test, prepare and practice for a public speaking engagement, or be extra vigilant when leaving a party at night.
But sometimes our anxiety morphs into something entirely different…
The endless “what if” loop…
Sometimes our fear is a constant, uninvited companion; it’s that ever-present background noise in our heads. It comes in the form of negative self-talk on an endless loop.
It can get so bad that it interferes with our normal, expected functioning. We can develop damaging coping mechanisms such as avoidance or denial… and self-medicate with food, drugs, or alcohol.
Anxiety in children…
Like adults, children’s anxiety can manifest itself in many different ways. It may be generalized fear of new situations and experiences that are age appropriate.
As a result, they may try to avoid school, birthday parties, team tryouts, or amusement parks.
They may dread being the center of attention… or the possibility of embarrassing themselves in front of others.
How our bodies register our anxiety…
Both adults and children can have unpleasant physical sensations of anxiety in their bodies. These feelings can become overwhelming, inducing panic.
Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense physical symptoms such as the sensation of choking, chest pain/tightness, shortness of breath, tingling, feelings of lightheadedness… just to name a few.
Psychologically, someone experiencing panic may feel detached from their body and surroundings. They can have feelings of dread and impending doom to the point that they believe that they are dying.
Airplanes, spiders, and germs. Oh, my!
People can have specific fears or phobias of just about anything. Maybe they have had a bad experience or maybe it’s just the brain being irrational.
Sometimes, people have irrational fears of specific things. This could be snakes (like me), public speaking, airplanes, storms, or driving on the beltway.
Occasionally, these fears arise from specific incidents; i.e., you were caught in a storm, and it was a very scary experience. Now you hunker down like it’s Armageddon when it so much as rains. Other times, you haven’t had a negative experience but are nonetheless scared and avoid anything to do with the activity or trigger.
Take the case of a phobia of public speaking. For some, like a student or certain professionals, this could really hamper their ability to perform in school or business settings. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure Response Prevention Therapy (ERP), and desensitization can be very effective and make phobias a thing of the past.
The “ugly lie” of OCD…
Obsessions, mental rituals, and/or compulsive behaviors are designed to trick us into performing certain acts to quiet the mind and quell anxiety.
I call this the “ugly lie,” because we tell ourselves things like, “If I wash my hands just one more time, I’ll feel better and be free of unwanted thoughts of contamination.”
But that “one more time” turns into ten, and the vicious cycle repeats. We end up feeling like a prisoner.
Here’s how we’ll send anxiety packing…
There are excellent therapies designed to send anxiety packing. CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy) has been shown to be highly effective with anxiety.
PMR (Progressive Muscle Relaxation) and other somatic/body techniques help with the physical symptoms of anxiety.
For people with OCD, ERP (Exposure Response Prevention Therapy) is a type of CBT that is designed to gradually expose you to what triggers the obsessive thinking in the first place, and the “response prevention” part is designed to prevent you from engaging in the compulsive behavior. Over time, you will become used to the exposure and not engaging in the “ugly life” of compulsive behavior to quell the anxiety.
Ready for a final prescription?
In our first meeting, I will determine whether you are ready and if this treatment is right for you. These therapies are designed to be structured, action-oriented, solution-focused, and measurable.
If you are committed, you can defeat anxiety within 6-12 weeks.
If you are ready to get serious about tackling your anxiety and changing the noise in your headspace, call me today for a free 20-minute consultation and screening questionnaire: (571) 289-9181