Anxiety Therapy

Do You Feel Too Overwhelmed To Enjoy Life?

Are you stressed out by work, finances, or relationships? Do you find yourself catastrophizing, expecting the worst-case scenario in every situation? Does lack of confidence hold you back from going after the things you want in life?

When you’re dealing with anxiety, you may feel keyed up, restless, impatient, and irritable. Perhaps you have trouble falling asleep—you’re always running through countless scenarios that haven’t happened yet. Your work and relationships may suffer, as you’re too stressed out to concentrate on what’s important. No matter how much you try to slow down in life, your mind keeps racing at a thousand miles per hour.

Anxiety Can Be Deeply Lonely And Isolating

Anxiety can make your whole world feel small. You may turn down social outings because you’re afraid of how other people will perceive you. As much as you long for romantic connections, fear of rejection may prevent you from dating. To cope with your stress, you may turn to drug use, drinking, and other less-than-healthy activities.

Your coping skills may temporarily stave off anxiety, but in the long run, they probably can’t address the deep-rooted emotional pain driving your symptoms. If you want to explore the sources of your distress and address your concerns directly, I encourage you to pursue anxiety counseling with me. Together, we will create a safe and confidential space to help you calm your mind and body and identify the triggers driving your anxiety.

Anxiety Is Designed To Keep Us Safe—But Sometimes It’s Too Powerful For Its Own Good

Anxiety is normal. Our brains are wired to feel anxious in order to stay safe—anxiety is a survival mechanism that helps us be more alert and prepared for danger. But when this survival mechanism runs out of control, it can affect our quality of life and impair our ability to manage day-to-day activities.

Oftentimes, anxiety arises because of past hurt or trauma that was never fully resolved. Neglect, abuse, financial insecurity, chronic illness, and grief and loss can all lead to elevated stressors and anxiety. Oppression and discrimination can also play a part, as people in minority groups face an especially high risk of suffering from an anxiety disorder. Those in the LGBTQ+ community are 1.5-to-2.5 times more likely to struggle with it than non-LGBTQ+ people.

People Often Have Trouble Overcoming Anxiety Because Their Coping Skills No Longer Serve Them

Many people try to resolve their anxiety without much success. As a result, they often feel ashamed, embarrassed, and even worthless, as if there’s something wrong with them. But the problem isn’t them—it’s the way they go about trying to manage anxiety. Put simply, the ways they try to cope may no longer serve them as well as they used to.

This is why anxiety therapy is so important. It’s a time to assess how you’ve tried to cope with stress in the past and update your toolbox of coping skills. Partnering with me, you have the opportunity to learn new ways to reduce your symptoms, increase your confidence, and experience peace of mind.

Anxiety Therapy Can Help You Identify The Sources Of Your Stress And Increase Your Confidence

Anxiety Treatment Can Help You Identify The Sources Of Your Stress And Increase Your Confidence

Self-awareness is essential to healing and inner growth. By becoming aware of what makes you anxious, you can recognize your stressors before they rise to unhealthy levels. That’s why anxiety therapy follows a multi-step process: initially we will identify the situations causing distress in your life. Then we will work on learning new ways to respond to troubling events in a mindful and reasonable way.

Above all, anxiety therapy is a chance to release the pressure valve and have a space to be yourself without any fear of judgment or criticism. If you feel like you don’t have a safe place to go when you’re stressed, I want you to know that you can find it here. Together, you and I will identify the sources of your anxiety, challenge negative thought patterns, and work on building your confidence and self-esteem. I know you can achieve your goals if you put your mind to it.

What To Expect In Sessions

Before any of the deeper work in anxiety therapy begins, we will work on establishing an environment where you feel safe and comfortable. The goal is to help you develop coping and grounding skills so that you can explore anxiety without experiencing an increase in your symptoms. We will spend considerable time scaling the intensity of your emotions and implementing mindfulness techniques to reduce your stress. Oftentimes, this means building on the innate abilities and resources that you already have.

From there, we will look more deeply into the origins of your anxiety and any associated thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. We’ll explore the connections between the past and the present in your life, looking at how traumatic and disturbing experiences may contribute to your symptoms.

Exploring Anxiety’s Effects On The Body

One of my main focuses in therapy is on how anxiety manifests in the body. Most people overlook the body when treating anxiety, but the body holds within itself a storehouse of clues that can help you become aware of your symptoms. This allows you to identify feelings of overwhelm and anxiety. Connecting the mind and the body can help you get to know your anxiety and decrease its hold on you. You can learn to recognize how stress affects the body through physical symptoms—such as sweaty palms, muscle tension, shortness of breath, trembling, or a pounding heart. The goal is to expand your vocabulary in describing your felt senses, enabling you to increase your awareness and make connections between your mind and body.

No matter how hopeless you feel, you are not broken and anxiety does not define you. By working together, you have the opportunity to explore and identify the thoughts, feelings and behaviors that don’t serve you anymore and learn to manage your anxiety symptoms in a new way.

You May Have Some Concerns About Anxiety Therapy…

I take a strengths-based approach to the healing process. I want you to build on the innate gifts and talents that you already have. That said, no matter how strong, capable, and resilient you are, there are limits to what you can achieve by yourself. On your own, you are bound to one perspective. When you have a trained professional at your side, it becomes easier to think about anxiety differently and explore new methods for overcoming it.
Prescription drugs can be very effective and provide quick symptom relief, but their effects may wear off over time. What’s more, in most cases medication treats the symptoms, but not the underlying issues. That’s the great thing about anxiety therapy—it can get to the root cause of your struggles while still providing symptom relief.
I hear you—life is busy and it can be hard to make time for counseling. The good news is that therapy does not have to be a lifetime endeavor. Together, we will work on expanding your awareness and building your confidence so that you can experience lasting change when therapy is done.

Let Me Help You Expand Your Awareness And Experience Peace Of Mind

If you feel like you can never get a moment’s peace because of your anxiety, I would be honored to help you find healing and relief. I provide both online and in-person therapy in Wilton Manors and the greater Fort Lauderdale, Florida area. Most major health insurances are accepted in-network and I also participate with clients for out-of-network health insurance benefits. To get started, you can contact me for a free 15-minute phone consultation.

Reach Out Today