Anxiety

You are just so sick of this anxiety.

Could someone please take it away?

You try so hard to get rid of it, but the harder you try, the worse it seems to get over time.

“Maybe if I just don’t think about it…” but then you do, and the anxiety comes roaring back.

“Maybe if I distract myself…” but then you realize you can’t keep running away forever.

“Maybe if I avoid x place, y person, or z thought,” but your world just keeps getting smaller and smaller.

Now, your anxiety makes you not only anxious, but a little depressed.

If you suffer from anxiety, you’re likely getting tired of the endless worry and “what-if” thoughts that keep replaying over and over in your head.

You try avoiding things that trigger your anxiety…but then you can’t go to the places or do the same fun things that others seem to do more readily.

You’re stuck living in your head with your anxious thoughts, instead of in your life, which you realize can be pretty good…and that’s enormously frustrating.

You’d like to not lose even one more day to your anxiety. You’d like to live in the present, real moment and appreciate your life.

How do you know if you need help for your anxiety?

Here are some signs:

• You feel nervous and on edge a lot
• You worry all the time
• You frequently dread what’s coming next
• You think your fears seem excessive or unreasonable
• Your relationships are impacted by your worries; you talk about them a lot, tiring others, or ask for reassurance a lot
• Your racing thoughts cause insomnia
• You are ashamed of your anxiety, feeling pressure to hide it and seem more confident
• You think you have more worries and fears than others in your life and wish you could have similar peace of mind
• You struggle with the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as muscle tension, sweating, difficulty breathing, and racing heart.
• You have to repeat certain behaviors or thoughts in your head to reduce the anxiety

Anxiety can take several forms, the most common of which is worry.

Believe it or not, you can learn to approach your worries differently, such that you spend a lot less time getting sucked into your scary thinking. Click here to learn more about our approach to treating excessive worry.

Another common form of anxiety is obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which is characterized by obsessive fearful thinking followed by rituals or compulsions—either thoughts or behaviors—that reduce the anxiety. You get stuck in endless thinking loops and ritualistic behaviors or…more thinking. Ouch. Read more about how we treat OCD here.

Panic attacks are also common.

These are characterized by strong physical symptoms of anxiety such as difficulty breathing, muscle tension, increased heart rate, and sweating, along with fears of something really bad happening, such as having a heart attack, fainting, or losing control. Next comes the fear of having another panic attack, which is known as anticipatory anxiety. Read more about our treatment of panic attacks here.

Social anxiety is incredibly common, causing us to feel anxious in social interactions, fearing embarrassment or judgement from others. We may view ourselves as being awkward or uninteresting and be afraid that we can’t hold up in conversation. Once we’ve survived a social encounter, we may endlessly review the conversation in our head, looking for ways in which we may have embarrassed ourselves. Learn more about how we can help you with social anxiety here.

Counseling for anxiety can help you

• Stop worrying about the future an all the bad things that “might” happen
• Break the cycle of avoidance and increase your participation in life; go new places and try new things
• Acknowledge scary thoughts without getting sucked into thinking about them more
• Learn to face your fears so that you’re no longer so scared
• Learn tools for coping with anxiety triggers
• Reengage in the present moment—what is actually happening in life—rather than what is going on in your head
• Have serenity and peace of mind

At Life Counseling Institute, we hereby promise we won’t just talk about how bad your anxiety feels. You’ve perhaps been there and done that. Our therapists are trained in counseling strategies that have been shown to actually work. We’ll give you the tools to make your anxiety better, so you can live the life you had in mind.