Anxiety, Stress, and Worrying

Anxiety, stress, and worry can be overwhelming and make it hard to feel in control.  When the body’s fight-flight-freeze response is triggered, a wide range of symptoms can occur, including:unnamed-12

  • Feeling tense, jumpy or irritable
  • A sense of being frozen, stuck or numb
  • Headaches
  • Muscle tension
  • Pounding heart
  • Upset stomach
  • Dizziness
  • Sweating
  • Shortness of breath
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Intrusive or obsessive thoughts
  • Distraction and trouble concentrating
  • Watching for signs of danger
  • Expecting the worst to happen
  • Feeling like you are going crazy or going to die

Anxiety can be limiting in the sense that you might find yourself avoiding stress-provoking people or situations.  Or it might get in the way of you doing exactly what you (ironically!) need to do in order to unwind, for example driving you to do one more thing for work rather than getting to the gym to burn off the stress of work.

Together, we will unravel what is contributing to your anxiety.  People often think stress itself is the enemy, but actually stress is just a symptom too!  The underlying thoughts, feelings, and actions taken in response are the culprit.  Our work together will help you identify precisely what those are and then how to get them under better control.

How We Will Work Through It:unnamed-13

  • Mindfulness: skills to become attuned to the mind and body in the present moment, without judgment
  • Cognitive behavioral techniques: methods of identifying thinking patterns and develop new, more effective thoughts and behaviors to reduce symptoms
  • Meditation: practices to relax the mind and body, restoring a sense of peace and wellbeing
  • Visualization: a technique to occupy the mind with something pleasant, in order to stop ruminations of fears or worries
  • Controlled, strategic exposure: a gradual approach to facing fears, phobias, and stressful situations head-on so they no longer elicit strong anxiety
  • Positive neuroplasticity: skills to “train your brain” how to counter the negativity bias we all are wired for and increase resilience