Anxiety & Stress Therapy
Are you ready to feel less stress and anxiety in your life? Let’s work together.
Anxiety & Stress Treatment
Because anxiety and stress can take many forms, each anxiety disorder has its own treatment method and presents with its own unique symptoms. While there is overwhelming research showing that evidence based CBT is the most effective treatment in both anxiety and stress therapy, my approach includes Schema Therapy and Clinical hypnosis as need to address both conscious and unconscious conditioning.
While anxiety can make you feel fear and panic at times, even when there is no real threat, other symptoms of anxiety disorder can also include: * Insomnia * Cold hands and feet * Excessive sweating, especially in hands and feet * Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath * Dry mouth, * Tensing up * Dizziness or nausea * Tingling in your limbs * Ruminating thinking * Safety Behaviors. Anxiety may exist due to heightened stress or an external trigger or it can be related to an anxiety disorder.
Take The Anxiety Quiz
Anxiety & Stress Treatment
Anxiety and Stress treatment vary depending on the specific disorder and symptoms. While there is overwhelming research showing that evidence-based CBT is the most effective treatment in both anxiety and stress therapy, my approach may sometimes include the emotional equivalent: Schema Therapy and Clinical hypnosis as needed to address both conscious and unconscious conditioning.
Anxiety disorders manifest in various ways, such as: fear, panic, hair pulling, insomnia, cold extremities, excessive sweating, breathing difficulties, dry mouth, muscle tension, dizziness, nausea, tingling sensations, repetitive thinking, and an need for a reliance on safety behaviors. These symptoms may stem from heightened stress, external triggers, or an underlying anxiety disorder.
Anxiety disorders can include symptoms such as: trypophobia, Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD), fear of missing out, panic, emetophobia (Fear of throwing up), panic attacks, social anxiety phobias, compulsive skin picking, Irrational fears, Intrusive thoughts, phobia of talking in public and compulsive disorder symptoms, to name a few.
After your first session with me you will have a clear picture of the type of anxiety or anxious thinking that you are experiencing and a start to your treatment plan which you can put into effect immediately.
Please see more about why CBT ( Both emotional and cognitive) is still the most effective treatment with these disorders to date in the video here by the renowned Dr. David Burns on anxiety.
What Causes Stress?
Stress happens your brain detects a threat, it produces stress hormones and these stress hormones create what we call a stress response. An absolute stressor is a real threat to your survival. We don’t have a lot of absolute stressors these days because we’re in a very wealthy, educated, and healthy society. Yet the World Health Organization predicts depression related to chronic stress will be the second cause of invalidity after cardiovascular disorders which are related to stress as well. We do in fact have a problem. Anxiety and Stress Therapy can provide immediate relief after even just a couple of sessions.
This is where scientists have discovered that we’re suffering not because we’re surrounded by absolute stressors, but by relative stressors. Scientists have found that there are four characteristics of a situation that will induce this physiological stress response. NUTS: Novelty, Unpredictability, Threatening to the ego, and Sense of low control.
How To Manage Stress
Each time your brain is exposed to one or more of these four characteristics, you will produce a stress response. This is the starting pointing therapy: to make sense of the stressor. The next step is to change your thinking and reaction to it. Just like the frog that will slow boil to death in a pot of boiling water because it doesn’t sense the water heating up, so do we create this response when we are unaware of our own pot of boiling water and how we are turning up the temperature in different ways.
Learning how to manage stress is essential and can be facilitated with rapid techniques with long lasting effects. If you are ready to feel less stress and anxiety in your life, I look forward to learning from you. For anxiety and stress therapy adjunct tools online, download MindShift® CBT as a daily, supplemental support here.
“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest taken between two deep breaths.”
Addictions
If you struggle with addiction in any form (substances, shopping, debt, food, relationships ect), I know it can be difficult to find a therapist who is willing to help you with your anxiety or stress if you are in recovery or even if you have maintained your sobriety for years. It is my experience that addictions are often the result of untreated anxiety or emotional pain and my process works with both simultaneously with a person centred, individual approach.
If you feel you are in need of a treatment facility, please use this resource as an immediate guide.
Social Anxiety / Social Phobia
Excessive anxiety and stress about negative evaluations from others. This can be a fear of public speaking, anxiety and discomfort in casual conversations or at social functions, or a general fear that others might be looking at you.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Having recurring, intrusive thoughts that are anxiety-provoking or disturbing, and hard to control. It is sometimes accompanied by behaviors attempting to neutralize the stressful thoughts, such as repeating behaviors, hoarding, and ritualistic behavior.
This is a screening measure to help you determine whether you might have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) that needs professional attention. This screening tool is not designed to make a diagnosis of OCD but to be shared with your primary care physician or mental health professional to inform further conversations about diagnosis and treatment.
Panic Attacks And Social Anxiety
Panic Attacks, which are sometimes referred to as anxiety attacks, are excessive anxiety responses that can include rapid heart rate, sweating, dizziness, hyperventilation, feelings of losing control, and other extreme manifestations of anxiety. Although panic attacks and anxiety attacks themselves are not harmful, people often develop excessive fears about panic symptoms (Panic Disorder), which can lead to problems such as avoidance of important responsibilities, anxiety about leaving the house (Agoraphobia), and increased panic attacks. Social Anxiety is excessive anxiety and stress about negative evaluations from others. This can be a fear of public speaking, anxiety and discomfort in casual conversations or at social functions, or a general fear that others might be looking at you.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
An anxiety reaction to a past trauma that involves frequent intrusive memories or flashbacks of the trauma, avoidance of things that remind the person of the trauma, and an increased proneness to negative emotion.
Phobia
An excessive and irrational fear of specific things or places, triggering intense distress when in contact with the feared object.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Persistent anxiety and worries about a number of different things that are difficult to control, and lead to a generally elevated state of anxiety and stress much of the time. This can manifest as increased stress about work, relationships, money, and others’ judgments.
Cognitive Behavioral Treatments for Anxiety Disorders are generally very effective, with up to 70-80% of people experiencing a significant reduction in anxiety symptoms after 8 to 20 sessions. Although CBT anxiety treatments vary by the specific problem, they usually contain some variation of the techniques below.
CBT Treatment For Anxiety And Stress May Include:
Physical relaxation techniques
Thought Reframe Exercises
Assessment and re-evaluation of problematic ways of thinking
Mindfulness techniques
Hypnosis
Gradual exposure to feared stimuli until there is a reduction in fear
Acceptance strategies
Problem solving strategies