Anxiety Therapy
“Worrying is carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength - carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
― Corrie Ten Boom
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a response to stress that doesn’t end.
Typically when something stressful happens our body naturally goes through a process of activation to get us ready for whatever stressors is coming our way. Our cortisol and adrenaline increases, our pupils dilate, our muscles tense, and energy is taken out of the rest-and-digest state into a fight-flight state.
But what happens when these stressors are repeated frequently, or the body’s alarm system is malfunctioning, labeling things as a threat when they are not?
We get stuck. Meaning instead of dropping the levels of cortisol and adrenaline and returning energy to the digestive tract, our bodies remain activated with no relief in sight.
Anxiety can show up as:
Feeling restless and on edge
Anxiety can make you fidgety, restless and tense. You may feel like you can’t sit still, need to be constantly in motion or doing something.
Difficulty concentrating
You may find it hard to focus on things that are important to you because your mind is worrying about your to-do list or all the things that didn’t go right yesterday.
Body responses
You may experience frequent stomach issues, nausea, constipation, IBS, chest pains, muscle tension, vision issues, and other body symptoms that are hard to explain or point to their origin. You may also feel like your heart is always racing, and your breath is nearly always short.
Sleep issues
It may be hard to fall asleep at night because your mind is just too active to sleep. You may find yourself ruminating on what happened that day, what needs to happen tomorrow, or feeling like your brain simply can’t turn off.
Feeling in a spotlight
You may feel like everyone around you is paying close attention to you, what you say and what you do. You may ruminate on what others think about you, or whether that last interaction with a friend went “wrong” for some reason.
Not feeling like you are good enough
Anxiety frequently can make us feel like we are not good enough, or that we lack self-esteem, self-confidence or resolve to get things done.
Anxiety is a symptom, it is not who you are.
How can therapy help?
Let’s face it - anxiety is exhausting. It takes so much energy, time and effort to have a hundred tabs open in your brain, making sure each one is attended to.
Therapy can become a safe space to process your anxiety and identify its root causes. While working with a therapist, you can begin to identify what triggers your anxiety and how you can move through it to a more regulated state of body and mind. Anxiety responds well to grounding exercises and practices, as well as to an empathetic, validating presence that is there just for you.
Your anxiety has developed for a reason: in some form it has helped you get where you are today. And it is time to set yourself free.
You deserve a break from anxiety.
Reach out to take the first step toward healing.
Triggers are a way our body communicates important information to us about what is and isn’t tolerable. While many people immediately want to know why they are triggered, a more important question to ask in the moment is “What is happening right now?” and get very detailed about the answer.
In this blog post I will talk about how to recognize you are getting triggered using the clues your body and its response may be giving you.
We all get activated sometimes. What happens to our nervous system when we do and how do we move through it with gentleness?
Read more to learn several emotional regulation techniques to help you in between your therapy sessions.