Kelly felt like everything was just so…big. Scary. Overwhelming.
The simplest missteps were a reason to fret and second-guess.
The slightest relationship disruptions were reason enough for phone calls, outbursts, or the need for repeated reassurance.
Even when nothing was happening, she worried something might be happening that she just wasn’t aware of yet.
Anxiety was changing her, and short-changing her life.
It was time to seek help.
Do you sometimes feel like Kelly?
Are you or a loved one burdened with fear or worry?
Therapy sessions, meetings with a support group, even employing self-help strategies can help you put anxiety back in the mental space that reads “only in case of emergency,” and encourages you to face life more calmly and easefully.
Here’s how:
-
Anxiety therapy helps with shifting thinking and behavior.
Therapy effectively helps you take a good look at worry and fear, in order to help literally change your minds, in favor of a more balanced and realistic world view.
Therapy encourages you to ask more questions, instead of jumping to unhelpful conclusions:
- Is that really dangerous?
- What is the likelihood of that happening?
- What are some other possible outcomes of your situation?
This is especially useful for providing perspective that guides you back from mental stories, and emotional fears, to see anxiety provoking situations and interactions more completely. You can learn to see anxiety coming, and develop both cognitive and behavioral ways to respond.
-
Anxiety therapy can help you reduce anxiety through strategies meant to cultivate a less stressful life.
Do you feel like you’re constantly bracing yourself against your own hectic life?
Anxiety therapy can give you the tools to take stock of what matters to you.
You may find that techniques like meditation, journaling, or just routinely and mindfully exploring your motivations and fears with a non-judgmental party, can give you the mental space to observe, examine, and address the stressors contributing to your anxiety.
-
Anxiety therapy supports you in accepting discomfort and uncertainty in life.
Facing your fears is no easy task without support. A therapist or therapy group is an excellent way to garner the backup you need. If you have secured support, both therapeutic and personal, you may be able to see uncertainty as more than just a set of fearful possibilities. Anxiety can be an opportunity to develop courage and discipline.
Learning to sit with discomfort, accept waves of uncertainty, and resist the urge to hide or control anxious feelings are vital coping skills that therapy can help provide.
-
Anxiety therapy helps you live in the present.
Anxious thoughts are usually located in the past or future. Learning to be mindful, calmly present, and anchored in the here and now is vital.
Therapy is often very helpful in reminding you to stay with “what is,” rather than ruminating on “what if” in order to solve current problems, set productive goals, and better enjoy the people currently in your life.
-
Anxiety therapy reminds you to be kind to yourself.
When you’re alone and suffering through another anxious episode, you can become extremely tough on yourself. You might even experience a cycle of shame, and mean-spirited self-talk that sounds like “What’s wrong with me,” or “I can’t believe I’m so stupid,” or “This is never going to end.”
A therapist can remind you that you need help with this, and that it’s okay to need help.
Don’t beat yourself up for being afraid or worried. That just exacerbates the
distress.
With support and objectivity, your therapist can remind you to treat yourself compassionately. Your anxiety is a surmountable challenge–not an indictment or value judgment.