Anxiety COUNSELLING

Individuals with panic disorder experience episodes of intense anxiety and dread called panic attacks. Panic attacks are usually very intense and include physical sensations such as chest pain, heart palpitation, sweating, shortness of breath, and dizziness. People experiencing panic attacks sometimes feel “out of body” and disconnected and worry that they will die. Sometimes the anxiety symptoms are so scary that a client ends up in a hospital`s emergency room.
Anxiety counselling helps clients to learn how to cope with panic attacks when they arise. More importantly, anxiety therapy helps clients process what underlies their panic attacks so that their nervous system becomes more regulated in the long run and does not go into panic as often.

People with generalized anxiety disorder feel a general sense of anxiety, restlessness and being on edge on a regular basis. They have common anxiety symptoms such as abdominal discomfort, digestive issues, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, irritability, difficulty concentrating and sleep issues. Individuals with generalized anxiety disorder often think of the worst-case scenarios, overprepare for an upcoming situation and avoid any situation that involves uncertainty.
An anxiety therapist will help a client with GAD to develop coping skills as well as understand the root of the heightened arousal of their nervous system. Clients with severe generalized anxiety disorder might benefit from combining therapy with an anxiety medication.

Post-Trauamatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is anxiety disorder that happens when a person has witnessed or experienced a life-threatening and terrifying event which was inescapable. People with PTSD have common anxiety symptoms along with flashbacks (reliving the traumatic moment), intrusive thoughts/memories about the traumatic event and avoidance of potential triggers. Trauma for PTSD includes helping the client to heal the emotional, physical and cognitive footprints of the trauma by processing the traumatic event in the safety of therapy sessions.

Phobia is an anxiety disorder which involves an intense, excessive, persistent and unrealistic fear of an object, animal, situation or activity. People with phobia experience intense anxiety when faced with their feared object and will go to extreme lengths to avoid the object of their phobia, which increases their symptoms of phobia. One of the most effective therapy approaches to treating phobias is “desensitization “therapy in which clients are gradually exposed to their object of phobia over time to reduce anxiety.

There are different evidence-based approaches to treating anxiety, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness-based therapy, IFS therapy and AEDP. My training in all of these approaches allows me to choose what works best for your anxiety symptoms.

Research has shown that therapy can be very effective in reducing the symptoms of anxiety. It is important to remember that changes with therapy happen gradually and there is no fast cure. It is also important to remember that anxiety therapy is most effective when combined with healthy lifestyle changes.

Anxiety disorders are the most common types of mental disorders. If you are experiencing anxiety , you are not alone.

Untreated anxiety often gets worse over time as our nervous system becomes chronically dysregulated. Untreated anxiety can also lead to depression.

There is often not a single factor that causes anxiety. Anxiety disorders usually arise through a combination of current and past life events , childhood traumas, temperament , genetics and medical conditions.