Anxiety Treatment

Are you Overwhelmed with Stress and Worry?

Do you experience racing thoughts, often worrying about past experiences or future hurdles? Has anxiety interfered with your relationships with your loved ones? Do you experience the physical effects of anxiety, such as a racing heartbeat, stomach pain, headaches, shortness of breath or trembling? Perhaps certain situations cause you to feel more stress and anxiety. Or maybe you consistently feel tense throughout your day. Do you wish you could let go of your anxiety and move forward in a more peaceful and connected life?

When anxiety takes over and runs amuck, you may feel exhausted, frightened and overwhelmed – even when no real danger presents itself. You may feel like you have no control over your thoughts. You may be unable to calm yourself and think clearly.

Sometimes your anxiety may appear out of nowhere – seemingly unconnected to any ongoing problems. This kind of anxiety can lead to feelings of panic or panic attacks that can quickly become distressing and disruptive of your life. Excessive worry may have held you back from many rewarding life experiences. When left untreated, feelings that might bring panic and anxiety, can rob you of your ability to participate in life and may affect your ability to to work efficiently or to work at all.

If you have struggled with anxiety for a long period of time, you may also feel hopeless or sad because you feel drained of your energy and feelings of wellness. You may have feelings of not trusting yourself and not feeling able to cope.

If you are experiencing anxiety that is interfering with your life in any way, whether mild or severe, anxiety treatment can help you gain control of your life and feel better.

Anxiety is a Very Common and Treatable Condition

Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental ailments in the US. This is no surprise when you consider the magnitude of stressors in modern day life. Fortunately, anxiety is also one of the most treatable conditions, with a number of effective short-term and long-term strategies that can help individuals who experience a wide range of symptoms.

Understanding Anxiety and Panic

If a lion were attacking you, your body would produce a huge amount of adrenaline, which you would use to escape. If you experience anxiety symptoms throughout your day, it can replicate that feeling of danger (like you are being chased by a lion); your reserves become depleted, and you feel exhausted. While a part of you knows the danger is not real (a lion is not chasing you), another part of you insists that you are not safe (not calm and relaxed).

When feelings and reality don’t match, daily life can become an ordeal to be survived – a seriously draining experience. Not being able to identify the “danger” is a huge frustration associated with anxiety and panic. In all likelihood, you are aware that your reaction is out of proportion, but you can’t seem to get it under control.

If you’ve experienced trauma, it’s likely that events occurring in the present can feel much more dangerous and frightening then they otherwise might be. A part of you knows this, but another part of you still feels threatened and fearful. Regardless of your life experience, when underlying fears and feelings are explored, acknowledged and worked through, new possibilities exist for handling all kinds of life situations that once felt unmanageable and frightening.

Gain insights and Learn to Overcome Intense Worry and Panic

During our sessions, we will not only look to ease feelings of fear and stress that are occurring in your anxious moments, but we will also look deeper to understand the sources and triggers of your overwhelming thoughts and feelings. Anxiety treatment sessions can help you mitigate your symptoms – while making these feelings informative, useful and energizing, rather than a destructive force in your life.

Much of your anxiety may relate to previously unchallenged thinking and attitudes that are counterproductive and destructive. You may even be unaware of the thoughts and feelings that lead to your anxiety. Together, we will uncover and confront these internal culprits making way for more productive, resourceful thinking.

The feelings that trigger anxiety can often be the result of long-term or historical events as well as more current events that are causing worry, pain and stress. When you and I work together during anxiety treatment sessions, you can learn to manage the present while understanding and confronting the past. The combination of managing the present while understanding and confronting the past can lead to a lifetime of lower anxiety.

In our work, we will explore how anxiety and worry are natural feelings that can be constructive and protective in life-threatening situations. When you worry appropriately about things that are concerning or problematic, you can prevent harm to yourself and to your loved ones. Together, we will look to restoring balance and toward tempering anxious feelings so that they can become instructive rather than destructive.

The goal of our sessions is for you to once again (or perhaps for the first time) feel like you can trust yourself and your reactions to guide you and help you respond healthfully to life’s stresses and problems. Anxiety should be a signal, not a lifestyle! Success builds on success, which can be used as a resource for keeping worry, confusion and anxiety at bay when they attempt to take over again. When anxious feelings and worry aren’t in the forefront of your daily experience, life can become joyful, creative and meaningful.

Specifics Related to Panic Attacks

If you experience panic attacks, we will work toward reducing and eliminating panic from your thoughts and your life – leading you toward feeling more confident and in control.

One of the difficulties associated with panic attacks is that they can create a new layer of anxiety: fear related to the panic itself. In other words, fear about fear. You may now worry about the embarrassment of others witnessing and discovering your panic and about the physical and mental exhaustion that follow a panic attack. As we begin to help you recognize and understand feelings before they turn to panic, you’ll have the opportunity to learn and experience feelings and fears in a healthier, more useful way. Healing from panic disorder takes time and commitment, but the rewards are well worth it.

You may be interested in seeking treatment for your anxiety, but you still have concerns …

I am worried about what others will think of me if I am in therapy.

The first step in anxiety treatment is a willingness to challenge “old thinking” that is counterproductive. I believe that participating in therapy takes courage and commitment. Those who would judge this endeavor simply don’t understand the nature of the treatment and the hard work and grit required. It is this “old thinking” that contributed to your struggles in the first place – it’s time to think more compassionately and with greater clarity. Challenging long standing feelings and thinking is an act toward health, clarity, well-being and peace of mind.

Will the benefits of anxiety treatment outweigh the costs?

Anxiety treatment does take time, money and energy to successfully complete. However, when you take into account the depth and breadth of our sessions, you will notice that therapy may have a positive impact on multiple areas of your life. Through treatment, you may find that you are more productive at work and more thoughtful in your relationships with your loved ones. I believe that investment in well-being and a peaceful state of mind is an invaluable one.

Find Relief From Overwhelming Thoughts

If you’re ready to mitigate your anxiety or panic in order to attain lasting relief, please call or email me so you can begin moving toward a healthy, peaceful and confident way of life.

Phone: 949-222-4200

Email: lisa@lisaquinncounseling.com