Anxiety Therapy

Do you ever feel like a prisoner in your own mind?

Your mind is ruminating, thinking about a million things that can go wrong, and it holds you captive in its grip, unwilling to release you to sleep, to work, or to be focused on your relationships. You feel betrayed by your mind, and your thoughts seem like your own worst enemy. Maybe you experience intrusive thoughts, a part of you that tears you away from your present moment and endlessly yells painful and negative things to you. You’ve tried countless things to make the Anxiety go away, but it doesn’t seem to want to leave you alone - it is persistent and never-ending.

Anxiety is a very common experience.

Approximately one in three Americans experience Anxiety at some point in their lives, and Anxiety isn’t always so obvious to the outsider. It can look like an attachment to your phone when in a social situation. It can also look like relationship distress when you feel your partner is not there for you. Maybe you hang onto things, and it’s hard to throw things away. It can also be physical symptoms, like stomachaches and headaches. Or maybe you experience high-functioning Anxiety, and from the outside you seem perfectly calm and okay, but on the inside, your reality feels like a tumultuous storm. No matter how it manifests, Anxiety is a very prevalent state of being for many people, and it may show up in unassuming ways that ultimately impact your joy of living.

Anxiety is meant to be your friend.

A healthy amount of stress and anxiety is moderate. Not all the time, but not zero either. Because Anxiety is a part of your body, and your body’s main goal and purpose is to protect you. When confronted with a high risk, dangerous situation, Anxiety flips your body into hyperdrive, processing the available information in your surroundings, and making snap decisions to maintain your safety. Without the hyperawareness that Anxiety brings, you may have succumbed to a dangerous situation or received serious injury long ago. However, the problem arises when Anxiety starts getting flipped on for every situation. Anxiety is an appropriate response when a lion is charging at you. It’s not so appropriate when a little kitten is waddling toward you. Somewhere along the line, your body started turning on the Anxiety response to smaller and smaller triggers, that now Anxiety seems like an ubiquitous, always-present companion.

With therapy, you can have a healthy relationship with Anxiety.

I use an Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach in therapy to help you meet and learn about the part of yourself that believes Anxiety is necessary in every situation. In therapy, you can learn how to recognize when Anxiety enters into your life, what invites it in, and how to deal with it in a healthy way when it’s present. It can also support you in understanding your self and your body better, to ultimately develop a Compassion and Acceptance of yourself, rather than trying to reject and push away a part of yourself. Anxiety is a part of what makes you a human being able to survive threats and dangers, and therapy can help you reclaim that as a healthy part of yourself.

“Are you sure? You don’t know how bad it gets for me.”

Human bodies are incredibly resilient, and yours is too. Therapy is not magic, but it can tap into your body’s innate resilience to bring effective change to your life. Therapy can even be used concurrently with other treatments like anti-anxiety medications and other avenues of healing to manage Anxiety. Even if you experience extreme panic attacks or you have lived with Anxiety for so long that you can’t remember a life without it, it is possible for you to have a new relationship with Anxiety.

Now what?

Anxiety is not a visible physical illnesses, but can be debilitating just the same. Anxiety can seem so powerful and controlling in your life, that it can make you feel like your life is not your own to live. But you can regain control. You can learn how to live a life that feels honoring to you, rather than being defined by the Anxiety. If you’ve ever felt helpless in the clutches of Anxiety, I can support you in reclaiming your life and gaining ownership. A safe, healthy, and strong therapeutic relationship is an essential part of a fruitful therapeutic experience, let’s connect to see if I can help you change the impact of Anxiety in your life.