Help with Anxiety
Anxious feelings are a common and at times necessary response to stress, a perceived threat, or reaction to a significant approaching issue which requires decision. With an increasing number of people in society suffering from loneliness and isolation, seeing the lives of others on social media, and feeling inadequate – judging their own lives, by comparison, as empty and meaningless – struggling with work, relationships, and change, it’s no wonder that anxiety and depression are on the rise.
Overcoming anxiety
I have helped many patients understand and overcome anxiety using techniques that serve to reveal and resolve the underlying cause.
Getting to the underlying causes
I can help you reach an understanding of where these feelings come from – this is the first step in gaining control of your emotions.
Understand the reasons and mechanism by which these feelings manifest
Anxiety is a process that plays out in you. The symptoms you feel are a product of that process. Identifying the nature of your anxiety and how it affects you, will give us the understanding to treat the condition at its source.
Learn techniques to recognise cues and forecast an approaching anxiety attack
I’ll show you how you can forecast a panic or anxiety attack – identify the types of behaviour that promote these feelings, why it happens and what steps you need to take when you feel an attack coming on.
Develop methods to ameliorate these feelings before they escalate
We’ll work to develop techniques to control panic and anxiety in your life, as well as methods to control your feelings and move to a relaxed state in situations that would normally upset you.
Recommendations for lifestyle changes
Treatment will also examine your work and lifestyle and recommend worthwhile changes – and how to successfully integrate these changes for a happy life, free from negative feelings and anxiety.
Getting to the crux
Through professional support and a close, harmonious relationship built on respect and mutual trust, we will explore the origins of the anxious feelings you have and come to an understanding of their triggers and how to work with them.
Many mental health disorders have their origins in childhood, or an early experience. Once we understand the function of the anxiety, we can then examine the processes that cause the feelings to manifest.
Treatment varies but depending on the underlying causes, progression is an individual process. More sessions may be required for issues that relate to family dynamics, belief systems, coping mechanisms and repatterning of behaviour for those suffering from addiction and trauma.
Sleepless nights and panic attacks
We will look at your sleeping patterns and also examine your lifestyle, to identify the factors contributing to poor sleep quality. Meditation and breathing techniques may be prescribed. However even though they are commonly used they too are not for everyone.
In my experience, as people become more aware of the triggers for certain behaviour, the more control they have and the better they sleep.
With panic attacks, understanding danger cues will help us be prepared to better forecast panic and stem the attack before it occurs. To reach this point may also involve processing past traumas that manifest in the present causing flight, fight or freeze states.
Understanding the nature of your anxiety within a safe therapeutic environment guided by an experienced psychotherapist, is the best way to reach an understanding and take control.