Caroline Shepherd, LMSW
- 4 min
Anxiety Treatment Can Revolution Your Healing
Do you have difficulty focusing throughout the day due to uncontrollable worrying?
Do you find it difficult to fall asleep at night because you are replaying events in your head?
Or do you feel paralyzed by the number of things you need to complete today, this week, or even this year?
Even if most things seem to work out around you, it might always feel like the worst possible thing will go wrong. You may feel disconnected from your friends and family, and maybe even yourself. It may be difficult to concentrate on the things that you need to get done, or even to find happiness in the positive things happening because you are preoccupied with worry.
Help is Available
What you are experiencing can feel very isolating and lonely, but know that you are not alone. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), “Anxiety Disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults (19.1% of the population) age 18 and older every year… [and] anxiety disorders affect 31.9% of adolescents between 13 and 18 years old.”
Anxiety Affects Our Entire Life & Body
You may begin noticing difficulty in focusing on your work or personal life. Routines that once were a breeze may now feel like mount everest. You may find it difficult to fall asleep, feeling restless throughout the day, and waking multiple times throughout the night. Many people also experience increased perspiration (sweating), racing thoughts, difficulty concentrating, digestive issues, and headaches.
Relationships May be Harder
It may begin to feel easier to stay home and avoid confrontation with other people, or triggers that may be present in relationships or the general public. Our friends and family may be very well meaning when they tell us to “not be anxious,” but the reality is that if we could wish away our anxiety, it would have worked already.
Social media plays an interesting role in our lives, with seeing everyone's highlight reels and the depiction that their life is perfect. This can increase our feelings of isolation and desire to disconnect from others. We may feel alienated, or embarrassed, by what we are experiencing and not want to burden others.
You may experience anxiety directly related to relationships. Maybe you worry about how others perceive you, or that you will lose them if they know “who you really are.” These thoughts can be incredibly overwhelming and ostracizing.
Stress or Anxiety?
Many people believe that their anxiety is normal - everyone “get’s nervous or anxious” afterall, right? Fortunately, it’s not quite that simple. Stress is a normal part of life that we cannot avoid and will experience for the rest of our lives, though our body and mind learns how to regulate normal stress. Normal stress may have similar symptoms to anxiety, but anxiety is persistent and we most likely won’t be able to regulate or alleviate it on our own. Eventually, we learn certain skills and certain ways of thinking that can help us to regulate our emotions and bring us back into our window of tolerance.
Finding Happiness and Fulfillment through Anxiety Treatment
Keeping up with your work, household tasks, and relationships may feel like the greatest stress right now. You may feel that adding in another item to your list is the last thing you need. But what could be more beneficial than taking space to explore what you are experiencing? A space where you can learn skills to manage your anxious thoughts and physiological responses. Through counseling, we can learn to cope and manage your anxiety together.
What to Anticipate in Anxiety Treatment
We will start with your expectations of therapy. What are your goals and hopes for our time together? We will identify the problem together, what the root cause is that is contributing to the anxiety that you are experiencing, and through counseling, we will identify what goals are needed in order to help alleviate symptoms of anxiety. As Therapists, we can help you learn skills to cope with anxiety and panic in the moment, as well as skills to cope ahead before anxiety happens.
Is Anxiety Treatment Worth It?
For over the past five years, Grace Therapy & Wellness has helped hundreds of individuals in the Austin community through therapy and skills training in order to cope with and alleviate their anxiety. We have witnessed or experienced first hand the healing benefits of anxiety therapy and how transformative it can be for your life and activities to have a safe space and gentle guidance from a counselor to walk you through healing from anxiety.
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How Exactly Do You Treat Anxiety?
All of our Therapists hold a Masters in Social Work and a license in Social Work. We have all been trained in evidence based approaches to anxiety treatment that have been proven most effective in alleviating symptoms of your anxiety. Many of our Therapists have received advanced trainings in treatment modalities, such as, DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and More.
We believe that you are the expert in your experience, as well as the expert in your own healing. Our Therapists operate from a relational and person-centered approach. We will partner with you to understand what forms of treatment will best fit your healing.
Common Concerns You and Others May Have
Will you keep our sessions private?
Yes! All of us are bound by confidentiality to our licensure board, as well as by HIPAA. We do not communicate with anyone outside of your treatment without a signed release of information from you. Confidentiality is only ever breached under extraordinary circumstances (e.g. imminent danger to self or others).
Will taking medication or seeing a psychiatrist be required to treat my anxiety?
At Grace Therapy & Wellness, we believe that mental health treatment is a holistic practice and this is exhibited in our approach to anxiety treatment. Many individuals are able to manage their anxiety with therapy alone. We also believe that every person is the expert of their experience and what they are needing. Together, we can explore your anxiety and what you are needing for this season of your life and provide respective referrals to additional resources if needed.
My anxiety is SO bad, how are you going to help me?
Every person has a unique experience and just as unique needs. We are trained in many different modalities of treatment, which means we can tailor our approach to match your unique needs. We have seen the success of treatment for even the most severe cases of anxiety.
You CAN Experience Joy and Fulfillment Again
Take the next step in your healing
If you think our services may be right for you, take the next step and reach out to us today to schedule an initial appointment. We offer local in-person counseling in Austin, TX and online for the state of Texas.