23 Oct Addressing Anxiety

“Anxiety is a form of intelligence that can wake us up.”

Is Anxiety Running Your Life?

Do you wake up each morning flooded with feelings of worry, stress or fear that you cannot shake throughout the day? Do you often feel on edge, fixated on everything that could go wrong? Perhaps your anxiety is manifesting physically through constriction in the body, an accelerated heart rate, heightened blood pressure, insomnia or shallow breathing. Or maybe looping thoughts and feelings of worry, stress, fear or even panic are making it difficult for you focus on tasks at hand or to stay present with loved ones. Do you sometimes wonder if something is really wrong with you? Do you wish you could relax and breathe, if even just for a moment?

Living with an anxiety disorder can be a frustrating, exhausting and even seemingly helpless experience. You may be experiencing a constant undercurrent of worry, unable to ever fully relax regardless of how hard you try. Or, your anxiety may have become so severe that it causes panic attacks or keeps you from doing things you once enjoyed. Regardless of the severity, anxiety may be impacting your productivity at work or negatively affecting your relationships with the people in your life, especially if they don’t understand or you struggle to communicate what you’re experiencing. You may desperately want anxiety relief, but feel stuck in a looping cycle of fear.

Anxiety Is Extremely Common In Our Culture

If you’re struggling with anxiety, you are not alone. Anxiety disorders are the most commonly diagnosed mental health issues in the U.S., affecting roughly 40 million American adults each year. Given our need-to-succeed culture, it is no big surprise that so many Americans can’t relax. We live in a go-go-go society where many of us rarely have time to stop and breathe. And, the increase in technology capabilities and use demands that we’re everywhere at once, doing many tasks at a time. Many people believe that their anxiety is somehow their fault. It’s not. Rather, it’s a form of your body’s intelligence. If you are feeling anxious, your body is very awake and trying to tell you something.

Anxiety has many causes and its symptoms manifest on a wide spectrum. Some people develop anxiety in childhood and experience anxiety in some form throughout their lives. Anxiety can often be rooted in feeling unsafe as a child or it can be passed down through an anxious caregiver. Other people develop anxiety following a trauma, loss, or during a significant life transition, especially if the change is sudden, unwanted or spinning in uncertainty. And, still others experience anxiety about certain events or things, which manifests through phobias, social anxiety, panic disorders or fears around public speaking.

The good news is that there is help and hope. While anxiety disorders are very common in our culture, with the right techniques and the help of an experienced and understanding anxiety therapist, anxiety can be overcome.

Anxiety Treatment Can Provide You With Tips, Tools, Support And Sustainable Relief

If you are truly ready to let go of your anxiety and experience more joy, calm and focus in your life, treatment for anxiety can be extremely effective. In a trusting, warm and nonjudgmental therapeutic relationship, you can be yourself. You can learn how to make friends with the habitual tendencies that define your anxiety, relax your nervous system and allow yourself to ride the wave of an overwhelming world.

I can help you understand your anxiety, its impermanence and how you can allow it to move through you rather than consume you. Simply noticing rather than fighting the sensations created through fear, stress or panic can help to normalize the experience and sometimes even bring immediate feelings of relief. It’s often said that what you resist persists, and that is truly the case with anxiety. The more we try to push it away, the worse anxiety becomes. However, by feeling into your body and noticing where anxious feelings arise, you can release fear, panic, stress and even trauma from the body. In sessions, we can work together to track the sensations of anxiety in your body using somatic therapy techniques. I will help guide you through your sensations and support you while you track the feelings to ensure you feel comfortable.

In anxiety therapy sessions, we can also explore any looping, negative thoughts that fuel your anxiety. There are simple tools, such as mindfulness and meditation exercises, to help generate positive thinking and keep you grounded in the present moment. You can learn to notice how you receive and respond to the world around you. You can develop the skills needed to relax and accept what you cannot control. We can also engage in Feeding Your Demons work, which can further help you make friends with your anxiety rather than continuing to let it control your life.

I know both personally and professionally how debilitating anxiety symptoms can be. I also know that anxiety can be released and overcome. For more than a decade, I have helped clients find peace and restore calm. Through anxiety counseling, you can experience relief, too. With the help of a compassionate and experienced anxiety therapist, you can transform your anxious energy into something positive. You can work with your anxiety and enjoy more focus, productivity and connection. You can learn to relax and really experience presence, balance and calm in your mind, body and life.

Although you may be seeking anxiety relief, you still may have questions or concerns about anxiety treatment…

Does an anxiety diagnosis mean that I’ll have to take medication?

There are many highly effective ways to treat anxiety that do not include medication, which can lead to long-term, sustainable results that no medication can. That said, in cases of severe anxiety, medication can help mitigate symptoms enough to engage in the therapy work and other important aspects of your life. While I believe in a holistic approach to healing—and we can explore natural anxiety remedies— I also understand that there is a place for medication. If you are on an anxiety medication or are interested in one, we can talk about your options. Ultimately, I am here to serve as a guide and the decision whether to take medication or not is up to you.

I’m worried that talking about my anxiety will only make me feel more anxious.

While this is a common fear, anxiety exists within you whether you are talking about it or not. And, if it is severe and/or you have been anxious for a long time, anxiety is unlikely to go away on its own and may even worsen until you release it.

In sessions with me, you do not have to talk about your anxiety or what fuels it unless you want to. We can take a somatic therapy approach, meaning that we will explore the sensations of anxiety that arise in your body. And, I will be there to support you and keep you regulated during the process so you don’t become overly anxious or overwhelmed. We can work at a pace that feels comfortable for you.

I’ve been dealing with anxiety that is so severe, or for so long, that I’m worried that nothing – even anxiety treatment – can help.

If your anxiety is severe or has been part of your life for a long time, it is possible that it is rooted in a developmental trauma, such as abuse or neglect. If we discover this is the case, I am highly trained trauma therapist and can help you process your experience and release trauma from your body. In gentle, compassionate sessions, we can work together at a comfortable pace to better understand, explore and address your past and present experiences. And, you can heal. No matter how bad you feel or how long you’ve been in pain, relief and healing are always possible.

You Can Experience Balance, Peace And Joy In Life

You don’t have to navigate this challenging time on your own. If you’re in Boulder, CO or the surrounding area, please call me at 303-489-8432 for a free 30-minute initial phone consultation. I’m happy to discuss your specific needs and situation and answer any questions you have about anxiety treatment, somatic trauma therapy and my Boulder, CO therapy practice.