Is Anxiety Taking Over Your Life?
- Are you suffering from relentless anxiety and worry?
- Do you avoid social or performance situations out of fear you’ll be negatively judged or act in a way that will be embarrassing or humiliating?
- Do you sometimes experience anxiety attacks in which you are suddenly overwhelmed with intense sensations, such as a pounding heart, rapid breathing, numbness, dizziness, shaking, or sweating, and fear you’re losing control?
- Is irritability, restlessness, or poor concentration negatively affecting your work performance or relationships?
- Are you struggling with an intense fear of a specific object or situation, such as needles or airline travel?
- Do you feel increasingly alone in your discomfort?
- Do you wish you could better understand what causes these uncomfortable sensations, slow down the troubling thoughts, relax, and refocus on what you truly want?
Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it.
~ Tori Amos
Living with persistent anxiety can be a troubling, frustrating, and exhausting experience that can affect every aspect of your life. Friends, family members, and co-workers may not understand your distress, which can lead to isolation or poor self-confidence. If anxiety has started to manifest physically through heart palpitations, shortness of breath, upset stomach, fatigue, or a change in eating or sleeping patterns, you may worry that something is seriously wrong. Though you try to quiet your mind, it may be that nothing seems to lead to lasting relief.
Many People Struggle With Anxiety
If you are dealing with anxiety, you are not alone. Anxiety can take many forms and manifest in different ways, including panic attacks, social anxiety, phobias, and generalized anxiety—in which you find it difficult to control worry about a variety of uncertainties, such as the future of your job, academic performance, health, or finances.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, collectively, anxiety disorders are the most commonly diagnosed mental health conditions in America, affecting 18 percent of adults.
Anxiety is something we all experience, usually in response to a future stressful event or something with an uncertain outcome. Sometimes, it can be motivating and serve a positive purpose; it urges you to prepare for a job interview or engage in fitness training before running a marathon. In these cases, when the stressor has passed, you can relax and return to calm.
However, if worry, fear, and doubt become the norm, interfere with day-to-day functioning, or keep you from reaching your full potential, it’s time to get help.
Experiences of anxiety are often difficult to explain to others, which may lead to feelings of shame or embarrassment and efforts to cover up troubling sensations, worries, and fears. The more isolated you become in your feelings and beliefs, the harder it is to see positive prospects for the future. Although it can seem that everybody but you has it all together, you might be surprised to find just how many people struggle with anxiety in some form. With the guidance of a caring, experienced therapist, it’s possible to learn how to relieve anxiety and experience a greater sense of calm and satisfaction in every area of your life.
With Anxiety Therapy, You Can Discover Confidence, Healing, and Relief
Anxiety treatment can effectively help you develop the insight, perspective, and tools needed to heal and thrive. With my compassionate and pragmatic approach, it’s possible to gain an understanding of your specific experience of anxiety and learn skills to successfully reduce, manage, or release it.
Anxiety disorders are often rooted in persistent worries about the future. Your thoughts have a significant impact on your emotions, so anxiety treatment may focus on identifying troubling thoughts and seeing them from a new perspective.
If you’ve been dealing with anxiety for a long time, you may be experiencing repetitive, negative thinking patterns. By learning a simple system of how to think in a broader, more objective way about future possibilities, you can actually manage thoughts and improve the way you feel. Another approach helps you learn to not engage with the unnecessary worries and looping thoughts.
Empathic self-talk may also help with anxiety. You can learn to quiet distressing thoughts and feelings by silently saying calming, encouraging words or phrases to yourself. The ability to turn self-criticism into self-compassion is soothing and empowering. To help your physical symptoms and nervous thoughts, I’ll describe, demonstrate, and invite you to practice easy methods of breathing, relaxation, imagery, and mindfulness. Depending on your specific needs, I may also suggest lifestyle changes, such as physical activity or nutritional strategies.
Step by step, we can untangle and heal your distressing worries and concerns. You can experience relief from fear and dread and move through your relationships, job, and world with greater confidence and ease. Rather than remaining in the same negative cycle, it’s possible to experience a renewed sense of balance and relief.
You may still have questions or concerns about anxiety therapy…
I’ve been to therapy before, and it didn’t help. How will working with you be different?
Effective anxiety treatment involves learning new ways of managing worries and coping with life’s uncertainties. Because everyone’s experience with anxiety is unique, the education and skills I provide are tailored to your personality, relationships, and therapy goals. My practical and comprehensive approach addresses the three interrelated components of anxiety: thoughts, physical sensations, and behaviors.
I help you systematically change thoughts, disengage from worry thoughts, and calm your body and mind, which allows for more balanced thoughts and effective behaviors. Regular self-care practices support your renewed sense of competence and confidence. The overall goal of therapy is learning to manage, then master, anxiety so that it no longer rules your life.
I’ve heard anxiety therapy is expensive.
Effective therapy provides you with the information and skills to overcome or relieve anxiety in a relatively brief time. The investment you make in therapy can improve your job performance, contribute to healthier relationships, and support your physical health. Overcoming social anxiety allows you to benefit from more fulfilling connections with friends, family, and colleagues. Meaningful social connection contributes to improved brain health.
In short, therapy can lead to greater overall well-being and a higher sense of self-worth.
I’m worried about taking medication.
You do not need to take medication to experience the benefits of therapy. If you or I believe that medication can help you find relief, and work toward long-term healing, I will refer you to your medical provider, as I am not licensed to prescribe. The decision to take medication is a very personal one. I will support you in whatever decision you make.
Experience Relief
If you’re interested in anxiety therapy in Park City, UT, please call (435) 901-3218 to schedule an appointment. I am happy to discuss any questions you have about my practice or how therapy can address your needs.