Anxiety is normal; it’s part of life for all of us. But sometimes it can get in the way of us performing well, feeling good, and enjoying life. If you’re experiencing anxiety, a therapist will work with you to help manage it so that it doesn’t control your life. As with all good relationships, the first step is communicating what’s going on and sharing with them what you’d like to accomplish. A therapist will provide support for this journey, guiding you through exploring thoughts and feelings, setting goals, and creating a plan to help you address those goals.
What is Anxiety
Anxiety is when you’re in a state of worry, fear, or unease about something that hasn’t happened yet. Anxiety can be connected to real concerns, but it can also manifest when there isn’t an actual threat present. It’s easy for this to turn into rumination (constantly worrying about the possible future outcome) and spiral into a darker place. Having a good support system to help you through the process is one of the most effective ways to combat anxiety and feel better. When we’re anxious, our brain thinks there’s a threat—it doesn’t distinguish between a true threat and something benign. This can lead us to become consumed with worry about these thoughts and feelings.
Symptoms include:
-Tightening in the chest or stomach
-Shortness of breath
-Dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea
-Upset stomach, diarrhea, frequent urination
-Feeling sick to their stomach
-Headache or scalp pain
Here are some common examples of things that can cause anxiety:
-Public speaking
-Death of a loved one
-Financial pressures
-Moving to a new area
-Socializing with people you don’t know well
How Can Therapy Help?
Identifying that there’s something you can do about the situation and getting proactive about finding solutions that will help you feel better is important. This has benefits for your mental health, as well as other aspects of your physical health. Learning how to recognize the feelings that cause you discomfort and learning how to manage them is a crucial part of living well.
Therapists will work with you to help recognize unhealthy patterns and teach you healthier ways of coping. They can provide support for this journey, guiding you through exploring thoughts and feelings, setting goals, and creating a plan to help you address those goals. Therapists also teach people how to identify and manage the feelings that cause them discomfort, both physically and emotionally. When you feel anxious or afraid, your brain thinks there’s a threat—it doesn’t distinguish between a true threat and something benign.
The sooner you notice your anxiety coming on, the easier it will be to manage. The first step to controlling your anxiety is identifying when it’s happening. Generally, there is a trigger that leads you to become anxious. Once you identify the things that make your anxiety worse, it becomes easier to avoid those triggers.
Therapy can give you coping mechanisms that will make anxiety less powerful over time. It can help you understand how anxiety impacts your feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and body. This helps you recognize the signs of anxiety so you can feel more in control of your symptoms.
It’s important to remember that you’re not alone! There are people out there who understand what you’re going through and have been trained to help you manage your feelings associated with anxiety more effectively. Therapists help ease feelings of anxiousness through a variety of methods including talk therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy. With therapeutic intervention, people can learn to manage their anxiety and stay healthy.
Julie Cohen LMFT is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist with an online psychotherapy practice in California. If you would like to schedule an appointment please call 818-212-0813 or email info@juliecohenmft.com
