Anxiety Treatment
Living with Anxiety
Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress and can occur in a variety of different situations. When we experience anxiety, we may feel muscle tightness, sweating, increased heart rate, fear and/or apprehension, and thoughts of doubt. But for many individuals, they experience anxiety that impairs everyday functioning. They may experience persistent and intense worry, endless doubt, distressing thoughts, and fear.
You might find yourself feeling overwhelmed and trapped in anxiety, unable to enjoy your life. Anxiety can feel like walking through a dense and dark forest, there feels like there is no way out and more and more trees seem to appear. Once one distressing thought or doubt appear, many more start to pop up and soon you may feel defeated. You might find yourself feeling isolated, I want you to know that you are not alone and we will walk together on this journey towards confidence, balance, and fulfillment in your life.
Signs & Symptoms
Irritability or restlessness
Feeling tense or jumpy
Hypervigilance
Feelings of dread
Racing heart
Sweating
Insomnia
Fatigue
Upset stomach
Panic
Constant worry
Low mood or depression
Rumination
Shortness of breath
Trouble focusing
our work together
Our work together will center around getting to know your anxiety and your unique experience, with the goal of overcoming your anxiety and empowering you towards healing. A few of the topics we explore are:
Identifying cognitive distortions
We will work together to identify cognitive distortions that your anxiety has perpetuated. Cognitive distortions are biased thoughts that create negative patterns in the way we think. Anxiety has a way of steering an individuals thoughts towards fear and doubt that we often do not notice.
Psychoeducation about Anxiety
When we first begin working together, we will spend time learning more about anxiety and the different ways in which our brains work to protect us. Often when we learn how anxiety operates, it can be easier for us to identify how and when anxiety shows up.
Understanding and identifying thoughts
Our work together will focus on identifying anxious thoughts and understanding when these thoughts are coming up. Some of these thoughts may stem from childhood or from an experience you had that solidified a fear.
Challenging anxiety
Anxiety can often keep us living our lives by a specific set of rules that are deemed necessary by anxiety to protect us. Our goal is to challenge anxiety and step out of our comfort zones to embrace uncertainty.
How will therapy reduce my anxiety?
Therapy decreases anxiety by shifting and restructuring distorted thoughts that increase anxiety.
Through therapy, we will identify behavior patterns that prolong anxiety.
We will target problematic behavior patterns to increase tolerance of anxiety and discomfort.
Through continual practice of interrupting behavior patterns, challenging thoughts, and restructuring your response to thoughts, you are teaching your brain new ways to respond to perceived danger and stimuli.
let’s work together
Interested in working together? Fill out the form below to set up a free 15 to 20-minute video consultation, to see if I am the right fit for you. Once you have submitted the form, I will get back to you within one to two business days.
alexandra@aigtherapy.com
(206)580-3236
Seattle, WA
