Anxiety Treatment
Fear-Based Thinking Jeopardizes Your Mental Health
When a sense of security has been compromised by self-doubt, your career, relationships, and mental health suffer. As you struggle with feelings of inadequacy, you may lose the drive and confidence to assert your needs and propel your life forward.
Anxiety can manifest in your personal life as you develop feelings of shame or uncertainty that impact your ability to maintain self-assurance and foster healthy connections. And in your professional life, you may find that anxiety has contributed to concerns about your performance or created a self-critical narrative that you aren’t worthy of accomplishments, otherwise known as imposter syndrome.
In general, you may feel as though your fears have taken control of your decisions—hijacking your sense of calm and rationale in times of distress.
Common Symptoms Of Anxiety
Fear-based thinking is a predominant sign of anxiety, but other symptoms can make life exhausting and uncomfortable. In some cases, your worry may become so excessive or extreme that you experience panic attacks. These usually include heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and sweating.
Other physical symptoms of generalized anxiety include muscle tension, changes in appetite, nausea, and an inability to sleep. Over time, these disruptions to your routine can exacerbate stress and rob you of your energy.
In addition, anxiety can have a critical impact on your self-perception. When you don’t feel confident or secure, you can suffer from extreme self-consciousness, convincing yourself that you do not fit in or belong. This can lead to poor boundary-setting or codependency issues in partnerships, resulting in behaviors that indicate neediness or over-sensitivity.
If you could just relax, you’d be better able to enjoy what your life, career, and relationships have to offer. Fortunately, anxiety treatment gives you a chance to learn how to manage symptoms as you develop self-compassion and awareness.
Accumulating Stressors Lay The Foundation For Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety has always been a widespread mental health disorder. However, most adults have experienced unprecedented fear, worry, and stress on a global scale since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. In Australia, for instance, researchers found that the existing rate of anxiety disorders increased by a record 76 million cases in 2020.
Of course, circumstantial stressors greatly contribute to symptoms of anxiety. But there is evidence to support that work-related pressure is a major underlying cause of chronic stress, worry, and imposter syndrome. For example, frontline healthcare workers and tech industry populations—both prevalent in our area—tend to experience higher degrees of burnout and exhaustion.
In addition, biological factors and significant life transitions, including loss, can be responsible for the onset or worsening of an anxiety disorder. For those of us genetically predisposed toward anxiety or who experienced childhood trauma, instances of acute stress and uncertainty can trigger symptoms.
We Are Tricked Into Believing That We Have To Manage Our Fears Alone
Unfortunately, some of us may avoid seeking treatment for anxiety due to shame or embarrassment. Perhaps we have received the message that our stress is unfounded or that it’s our responsibility to “pull it together.” And if we have battled lifelong chronic symptoms, we may convince ourselves that anxiety is simply a part of who we are—something that can’t be treated or helped with therapy.
But counseling can give you the insight to make significant changes in your behaviors and outlook. By committing to anxiety treatment at Bay Area Mental Health, you can collaborate with an expert who will help you reduce your stress.
Anxiety Is Manageable With Treatment
Not only can anxiety produce feelings of embarrassment, but it can also cloud our vision and keep us from fully understanding the source of our worries. That’s why the therapists at Bay Area Mental Health facilitate a nonjudgmental atmosphere where anxiety symptoms and solutions can be explored openly.
As your clinician understands more about your history and experience of anxiety, they will help you develop skills for mindfulness and self-soothing. And once your nervous system is better regulated, you can begin the work of digging deeper to understand the traumatic and developmental factors that contribute to your daily challenges.
We view the counseling process as an opportunity to collaborate and customize an anxiety treatment plan that works for you. So whether we’re discussing your day-to-day experiences or core issues, you’ll be given tools and strategies to enhance your coping mechanisms, communication skills, and emotion regulation.
Our treatment approach integrates a wide range of therapeutic modalities that will help you manage symptoms and target anxiety at its root. In addition to understanding the impact of your early relationships and experiences, we may use behavioral methods like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to help you adjust your stress response, as well as body-based techniques that can promote a sense of calm. And if your anxiety disorder has become so severe that other treatments have not been effective, we offer Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) to clients who qualify.
With the skills you learn in therapy, you’ll likely improve your relationships, work ethic, and overall outlook on life. By moving away from self-blame into the territory of self-care, you will be able to relax and develop more compassion for yourself.
In anxiety treatment at Bay Area Mental Health, a new experience of the world awaits you.
Perhaps You’re Considering Therapy For Anxiety, But You Still Have Concerns…
Can’t I just take medication for my anxiety?
Our clinicians believe the first line of defense in anxiety treatment is counseling. If your symptoms don’t improve with the skills-building and behavioral interventions involved in psychotherapy, we can discuss other options.
If you and your clinician decide that anxiety medication should be incorporated into your treatment plan, then we will pair medical intervention alongside talk therapy, as that is the most effective standard of care.
If I go to therapy for my anxiety, it means I am weak or crazy.
Going to therapy is not a signal that you’re weak or crazy. It takes courage to reach out for help, demonstrating that you’re committed to strengthening your skills and relationships. You wouldn’t skip the doctor during a serious illness or after sustaining an injury—taking care of your mental health is no different.
Our therapists are compassionate specialists who understand the effect that an anxiety disorder can have on your life. They are prepared to offer you customized tools and solutions so that you can feel better and more self-assured.
Counseling is only for people who have serious problems—not typical symptoms of anxiety.
When our vision gets clouded by anxiety, it can be hard to see our challenges clearly. If we struggle with chronic fear and worry, it’s difficult to gauge the severity of our symptoms and the impact they have on our daily lives. As a result, we may not seek treatment for anxiety until our symptoms have escalated to the point of being unbearable.
By going to therapy at the first signs of the problem, you are taking proactive measures to ensure that you have the coping strategies and distress tolerance skills needed to curb symptoms of anxiety before they become extreme.
You No Longer Have To Be Controlled By Fear And Panic
If daily fears and worries bombard your thoughts, anxiety treatment at Bay Area Mental Health can help you relax and feel more confident.
For more information or to schedule a free, 15-minute consultation with one of our anxiety disorder specialists, please reach out via our contact page.
Recent Posts on Anxiety
