Do you find yourself worrying about things you know you have no control over? Maybe you replay conversations in your head over and over again – ones from the past and others that are yet to happen. As a result, these thoughts result in a complete sense of doom and desperation. Consequently, your ability to concentrate on responsibilities and work suffer. Treating anxiety can offer relief to this difficult symptoms.
Anxiety symptoms can also include intense physical reactions. Specifically, heart pounding, sweating, trouble catching your breath, body shaking and sweating are all common ways your body may respond to stress. It can even lead to panic attacks, which are particularly scary. How would treating your anxiety change your life?
FAQs of Anxiety and Anxiety Therapy
What are common symptoms targeted by anxiety therapy?
- Restlessness, feeling on edge
- Easily tired, fatigued
- Trouble concentrating
- Irritability
- Muscle tightness and tension
- Sleep disturbance
- Impossible to control the worry
- Panic attacks
What are the types of anxiety that anxiety therapy can help?
There are many diagnosis that fall under the cluster of anxiety disorders:
- General Anxiety Disorder (GAD; Anxious about many topics)
- Social Anxiety Disorder (social situations, giving presentations)
- Specific phobias (heights, closed spaces, leaving the house)
- Obsessive – Compulsive Disorder (OCD; unwanted, repetitive thoughts and/or behaviors)
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; following a trauma)
- Panic Disorder (recurring and unexpected panic attacks)
When should I contact an anxiety therapist?
A key indicator that any ‘quirk’ has become a problem is to evaluate how it impacts your daily life – home, work, and emotional wellbeing
- Notice physical symptoms – racing heart, shortness of breath, headaches, digestive issues
- Sleep problems – trouble falling and/or trouble staying asleep
- Regularly feel restless, irritated – impatient, quick to get annoyed, slow to let it go
- Hypervigilant – always scanning the world for danger and threats
- Emergencies are on the horizon at all times, you always anticipate the worst
- Routine activities are really difficult – leaving your house, driving, socializing
- Obligations, like work or school, are a real struggle and energy consuming
Is anxiety controllable or preventable?
- Stay physically active since exercise reduces stress and improves your mood
- Avoid substance use because nicotine, caffeine, alcohol and drug use are known to worsen anxiety
- Find and practice relaxation skills that work for you – for instance, yoga, meditation, journaling, time with friends
- Get 7-9 hours of sleep a day
- Healthy eating – in particular, processed foods dysregulates your digestive system, which may impact your mood
- Practice time management skills, incorporate stress management skills
- Notice when anxiety starts and use techniques to distract and refocus yourself
Diagnosing anxiety, what will my anxiety therapist do?
There are two main ways to diagnose anxiety.
Clinical Interview – your therapist will ask specific questions about your symptoms, when they started, what makes them worse and what helps alleviate them. It’s important to share these details with your therapist so they can better support you.
Assessments – your therapist may ask you to fill out a few assessment forms. These questions will largely be the same as the interview however, they are quantifiable. This allows the therapist to administer again at a later point and evaluate your progress.
How can I support a loved one through their anxiety therapy?
What to do:
- Listen – hear what they are concerned about, even if it’s irrational to you, it’s rational to them
- Validate – Say that you understand, that it must be overwhelming for them
- Carve out dedicated time for these hard conversations
- Ask how you can best support – take them for a walk, help with a task, brainstorm self-care and self-help activities, recognize patterns you’ve noticed
- Encourage – point out small steps and growth, remind them it takes time to work through
What not to do:
- Minimize their pain – ‘It’s not that bad’
- Ignoring their needs – be consistent in reaching out with support
- Getting frustrated yourself – remember it takes time to overcome anxiety
- Be a ‘fixer’ – don’t do things for them, that enables their anxiety to stay in place, rather support them through hard tasks
- Pressing – don’t goad them into situations they are not ready for, this only increases their anxiety
What are panic attacks?
In essence, a panic attack is something that happens unexpectedly and involves intense feelings and body sensations. Physically it can entail symptoms such as: increased heart rate, sweating, shaking, shortness of breath, hot flashes, chest pain, dizziness, or detachment from reality. Understandably, it is often confused with a heart attack as the symptoms are very similar.
Emotionally and cognitively, it includes symptoms of: intense fear and dread, thoughts of death or heart attack, confusion and feeling like you’re losing your mind or going crazy.
They typically only last a few minutes, although it feels much longer. The best approach is to try and remain calm. The harder you fight it, the harder it comes. Letting it come and go speeds it up, so that you can get back to yourself quicker.
How to Start Therapy for Anxiety Today
Blue Horizon Counseling is excited to provide support for anxious people. We treat anxiety both in person and virtually across Texas. Anxiety can be a heavy burden, impacting all areas of your life and relationships. The good news is that there is help. Several therapists are on staff to meet your individual needs and preferences, offering a variety of different kinds of therapy. Follow these steps to get started today:
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Contact Us
Have your first session
Address your Stressors
Once we’ve verified your insurance benefits, you will schedule your first appointment, the intake. This is where you’ll get to know your therapist and set therapy goals.
As you continue to meet with your therapist, and develop a relationship, you will start to notice progress towards your goals. Life will feel more manageable, and you can plan for a better future.
BHC approach to treating Anxiety
We use several different treatments to treat anxiety. Which one is the best fit for you?
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
CBT is perhaps the most widely known type of intervention and one that most graduate schools teach their new therapists. It uses a model that says after an event happens (a friend doesn’t text back), you have a thought about it (they hate me, or they are busy), which produces a feeling (rejection or indifference) and then a behavior (isolation, or going on with your day). Your thought influences your feelings and behaviors. By changing your thoughts, you change your feelings and behaviors.
Learn more Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
These therapists offer CBT: Barbara, Heather R, Lee Ann and Madeline
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
EMDR has been around since the late 1980’s. It takes advantage of natural brain processes to ‘thaw’ memories that have been ‘frozen’ in time. These memories lay the foundation to current struggles (depression, anxiety, PTSD). Once the memory is processed, it no longer influences how we think and feel about ourselves and the world.
Learn more about Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.
These therapists offer EMDR: Barbara, Heather, Lee Ann and Madeline
Family Systems Therapy
Family systems therapy sees each member of the family as one peice of the larger family. This approach will focus on relationship patterns, roles in the system and how communication occurs (or doesn’t). The family is ‘the problem’, rather than one person.
By healing the family, or the system, you also heal the individuals. We can visualize this as a ripple in a pond. One individual’s struggle (with mental health, sobriety, or work issues) creates waves that affect the whole family (the pond). When the surrounding water learns to absorb the impact differently, the disruptive ripple loses its power.
Learn more about Family Systems Therapy.
These therapists offer Family Systems Therapy: Madeline
Holistic/Integrative Approach
In an era where personalized care is increasingly valued, integrative therapy has emerged as a flexible, client-centered approach to mental health treatment. Unlike traditional models that adhere strictly to one theoretical framework, integrative therapy blends elements from various schools of thought to tailor interventions to the unique needs of each individual. This holistic approach not only acknowledges the complexity of human experience but also maximizes therapeutic effectiveness by drawing from a broader range of techniques and philosophies.
Learn more about Integrative therapies.
These therapists offer Integrative therapies: Barbara
BHC approach to medication
Medication can be a very useful addition to the therapy provided by your therapist. We are open to discussing medication options with you. It is important to note that we will never require medication, or try to persuade you in either direction (to use or not to); however, we will share observations and insights from our own experiences and observations.
We do not have anyone on staff that is able to prescribe medication, however, we can help you find someone that can.
