Anxiety

Our lives are ever-changing, and sometimes the stress…

… of those changes is too much to deal with.

Stress comes in many forms from different directions.

Financial obligations are a major stressor. Maybe you’re sitting with a stack of bills in front of you with no idea of how you’ll stay afloat.

Some are taking care of family members older and younger. They feel like if one doesn’t need something, then the other does. How is it even possible for you to take time for yourself in all of that? You feel stretched so much you think you might snap.

Students have so much on their plates. Do you go to school in person? Online? Is there a mix? How do you manage school, with work, with family? It may feel like all it’ll take is one rainy day for all your spinning plates to fall.

Maybe stress has built up over time…

… only to be worsened as it has gone untreated.

An unexpected illness or hospital stay can pile on the stress – concerned if we’ll get better, how long we’ll feel unwell, or what tests the doctors will want to run next.

Maybe situations have prevented us from being there to support a sick family member.

Do you constantly have to fight through traffic to get to the office? All the while wishing you could work online because you’re worried about the driving skills, or lack thereof, of the car next to you.

Perhaps you were a thriving business owner but had to adjust and change your operations, and now it’s affecting your livelihood. I can relate. I once lost almost 70% of my business.

Stress can build and compound, going beyond what someone may feel on an average day.

But diagnosable, clinical anxiety is different…

It can completely cripple your ability to live a normal life.

For example, one person may look at moving across the country for school or a new job as the opportunity of a lifetime. Another may be overrun with intense fear and anxiety about what may or may not happen. That fear might keep her from taking advantage of an incredible opportunity.

As another example, I had a client who was worried about his family’s safety. Nothing had ever happened, but he always found himself nervous about the possibilities of something bad happening. This caused him constantly to lose sleep, which made him irritable to the point of disrupting his relationships with family and friends.

Yet another client had intense anxiety at work. Her career field was very demanding, and she was constantly worried about the people above her AND those she managed. The stress got to where she had physical symptoms, like pain in her jaw (from constantly clinching) and sharp pains in her stomach and chest.

Are you having physical pains as a result of chronic stress?

Do you constantly feel on-edge, just waiting for something to happen?

Are your muscles constantly tense, making it hard to relax?

Do you suspect that you’re passing over good things in your life because of anxiety?

If these things are keeping you from living a normal life, it might be time to see professional help.

I know it’s difficult living with anxiety, but therapy can help.

During therapy, we’ll use Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help discover the source of your concerns.

CBT is an industry-standard and with good reason given its in-depth research and use in practice. The process begins simply by helping me understand your primary concerns. This alone may seem like a stressful task because often we don’t want to speak about the things that cause us anxiety.

I understand. But many times, stressors in our lives can’t be avoided.

In that case, how do you learn to cope with them? We’ll look at the things stressing you out the most and work to understand why they cause your anxiety to skyrocket. Remember, stress can build and compound, going beyond what someone may feel on an average day. Here it’s caused you almost completely to stop functioning in critically important areas of your life. We’ll explore how you arrived at that point and explore what it was like before.

We’ll also look at any patterns, behaviors, or perspectives that have caused you to stress out at the simple mention of a task. We’ll confront them, and you’ll learn to cope. If anything can be changed or altered, we’ll think through that. Sometimes, a mindset change will be the most we can do right now, and that’s ok.

I use CBT with clients who struggle with anxiety because I have seen the changes myself. Clients who come to my practice describe panic attacks and physical symptoms that have severely interfered with their lives. This is because stress, while important and natural, is harmful when experienced for an extended time. Clients feel tired, overwhelmed, irritable, and more due to stress. Clients who have felt this way coming to my practice walked away feeling so much lighter with a renewed ability to cope with their experience.

As some of my friends say, “life gets lifey.”

It certainly does. We feel like life is on fast forward while we are struggling to keep up.

I’m here and ready to help you work through your stressors and concerns. I encourage you to call me: (215) 874-7162.

You can improve your life and your ability to cope. You deserve to move beyond just barely keeping up. I offer a free 20-minute consultation to ask fundamental questions about your situation to see if we’re a good fit to work together. From there, we move on to the next stage. It’s easy, and there is no pressure.