Anxiety is one of the most common reasons people seek therapy.
The experience of anxiety is complex and multi-faceted. Anxiety can make it hard to organize your thoughts or communicate the way you want to. It can cause physical symptoms like chronic pain because of muscle tension, nausea, or heart palpitations. It can leave you feeling emotionally dysregulated, tearful, and overwhelmed.
Anxiety can disrupt your relationships through fears of abandonment, over-analyzing and second-guessing interactions, and avoiding hard conversations. Anxiety can make you feel stagnant, unable to move forward in life, stuck in negative thought spirals, or disconnected from yourself and everyone else.
Anxiety may even be at the root of depression symptoms. In this vicious cycle, intense anxiety can lead to the feelings of burnout, emotional exhaustion, helplessness, and hopelessness we usually associate with depression.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is often rooted in a sense of future threat: worrying about what might happen, feeling unable to cope, and living in a heightened state of nervous system arousal. It’s as though your brain and body are stuck in a state of fight-or-flight in reaction to imagined future threats.
Anxiety can be a component of other diagnoses, such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or it can co-occur with problems like depression, burnout, or low self-esteem. Whether your anxiety exists on its own or in conjunction with other mental health issues may impact what therapy looks like—but no matter what kind of anxiety you’re facing, peace is possible.
Common anxiety symptoms I treat include racing thoughts, a fixation on worst-case scenario outcomes (also called “catastrophizing”), avoidance of situations that cause anxiety, relationship difficulties, emotional dysregulation, rumination or constant worry, physical tension, and burnout. Additional symptoms like depression, compulsive or repetitive thoughts, and specific phobias may also be present with your anxiety; we can incorporate treatment of these symptoms into your treatment plan if necessary.
I offer a unique approach to treating anxiety.
I have a wide range of training, from cutting-edge modern techniques like Brainspotting to rich classic modalities like Psychoanalytic Therapy and Jungian Depth Work. I bring all of these skills to my work with anxiety, in addition to approaches like psychoeducation and cognitive-behavioral therapy to help you understand the connections between your mind and body and your thoughts and feelings.
Anxiety therapy doesn’t stop at helping you cope with anxiety when it comes up in your daily life. We’ll also explore the attachment wounds, early experiences, personality structures, and schemas or automatic beliefs that are buried at the roots of your anxiety. Anxiety is a normal part of life—but that doesn’t mean you have to live your life caught in its grip. I’ll tailor my comprehensive, whole-person approach to treating anxiety to your unique goals, needs, and desired pace.
What are the results of therapy for anxiety?
The outcome you’re wanting most right now might be just to feel better—to get your life back, to experience peace and quiet inside your own head, to feel calm and grounded in your daily life. And this is a key result of therapy for anxiety. But anxiety therapy offers even more.
Imagine:
- What if you lived with the self-assurance that challenges in your relationships or your job would lead to growth instead of mental collapse?
- What if you could reflect on your own decisions or others’ feedback or criticism without guilt, fear, or self-condemnation?
- What if you could say “no” when you really want to, without second-guessing or apologizing, and prioritize your own needs with confidence?
- What if you knew you had the resilience to handle whatever life throws at you?
- What if you could stride into situations that used to send you fleeing, knowing you had the tools to navigate and overcome anxiety-provoking issues
- What if you could understand yourself with depth and tenderness, and lead a happier, more intentional life?
Therapy for anxiety can offer you all this and more. If you’ve been living in a dark cloud of anxiety for too long, reach out to schedule a consultation.
Stop living with “What if I can’t do this?” Start believing, “I can take care of myself.”
Online Therapy for Anxiety Across Ontario
Anxiety doesn’t have to control your life. You can reclaim peace and release the fear. Schedule a consultation today.
I offer virtual therapy for anxiety to individual across Ontario, including Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Toronto, Ottawa, and beyond.
Reach out today to begin your journey.
