Therapy for Anxiety
Common symptoms of anxiety include:
- Nervousness, restlessness or being tense
- Feelings of danger, panic, or dread
- Excessive worry and increased fear
- Rapid breathing or even hyperventilation
- Trembling, easily startled, or muscles twitching
- Awareness of heart pounding
- Cold hands, increased sweating
- Insomnia
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety has two main components:
- The cognitive part includes learning how to fight effectively the battle of the mind so that your focus isn’t always on what could go wrong or on your own insecurities. Many of your feelings result from what you tell yourself, what you believe, about a situation and sometimes are exaggerated or inaccurate. Therapy is not about my telling you what to think. It’s about my training you in the tools that help you to see things for what they are.
Sarah Kerr said, “Where your lens is focused determines the picture you receive.” This doesn’t mean to ignore the things that are wrong or scary. I teach you how to relabel more accurately what seems frightening. It is training in working on your “self-talk,” on learning how to catch yourself before you become anxious. Learn how to replace worry with problem-solving, for instance.
- Being able to relax your body more quickly and completely is a learnable skill. Psychology research shows that practicing for a month the approach I use in training you to relax yourself works with close to 90% of the people who do the practice. While many approaches to learning to relax are helpful, I have found this one to be more helpful more quickly.
The goal of the exercise isn’t to just give you an exercise that really relaxes you. After a month of practice, most report that their deep breath is now much more powerful at calming themselves in the situation and they no longer need to practice the daily 20 minute exercise. Most have been able to stop having panic attacks, as well as to lower general anxiety levels.
Medication for anxiety treats the symptoms, but many become dependent and don’t like the side effects Learn how to calm yourself with mental and physical techniques instead. I invite your inquiry regarding how I can assist you in lowering your anxiety.
