Anxiety comes in many forms. Some are mild whereas others are more extreme.
Anxiety can be a physical feeling – you feel uneasy, unsure, you might experience sweaty palms, feeling unsettled, you may even feel it in the back of your throat or the pit of your stomach.
There are times when feeling anxious is ‘normal’, such as when you’re going for a job interview and may find you have some of the above symptoms. In these types of situations the anxiety is very short lived and these feelings do not tend to reoccur when you’re in other situations.
If you experience anxiety more regularly and it is affecting your day to day life, then it becomes an issue for you and/or those around you. Many people are affected by anxiety, varying in ages, ethnicities and gender. There are two treatments available for people suffering from anxiety: one is medication which can be prescribed by your GP, and the second is anxiety therapy.
When you work with us; we use a method widely known as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). This approach looks into the way you think before, during and after the situations where your anxiety is present. It may also be necessary to look at ways for you to cope with stressful situations, to enable you once the therapy process is finished to be able to deal with situations on your own.
Here are ways you can help yourself with regards to your anxiety:
1. Learn about your anxiety – understanding your anxiety allows you to take control of what’s happening
2. If you have unhelpful thoughts surrounding your anxiety, challenge them. Don’t accept these thoughts as facts, they’re not. Choose a time of a day – when you get these unhelpful thoughts, tell yourself you’re only allowed to have these thoughts at the time you’ve chosen. Take control of your thoughts. You can use this technique with stress and worry too.
3. Learn some simple breathing exercises to reduce your heartbeat. When anxiety happens your heartbeat speeds up – calming this can reduce the anxiety and or any stress/worries
– Help you to co-manage your life
– Define your common anxieties
– Help you to manage and understand the problem
– Help you to manage your life better
– Establishing and becoming aware of your triggers
– Coping with your fears in the short term whilst dealing with your fears in the long-term
Understanding the root cause of your issue can help to develop a new perspective towards the future. There are many techniques which can help to break the cycle of anxiety, I work with you to establish which techniques will work best for you.