Anxiety Therapy
Anxiety is one of the most overwhelming emotions a human being can experience. If you have anxiety you probably read that with a big ol, “DUH! We’ve been trying to tell you!” I hear you loud and clear and I agree!
Anxiety has largely been misunderstood by the world, leading to responses from friends and family that include statements such as, “Just think positive! Stop worrying! Be grateful! Relax! Stop being so negative!”
These statements listed above are not intentionally careless or hurtful but nonetheless, their message does not help and leads to further stigma of anxiety. If you experience frequent anxiety that disrupts the flow of your life, you probably also beat yourself up and wonder why you can’t just stop. Nobody chooses to be anxious, but it does take a conscious choice to start fighting it.
Example Anxiety Scenarios
I stress about every school assignment, even if I know I will have plenty of time to work on it. Sometimes my anxiety is so bad that I can’t even focus in class, which leads to more anxiety!
I’m in a relationship and constantly check to make sure my boyfriend is ok or not mad at me. If I don’t hear from him for a few hours I start to think maybe something bad happened to him.
I’m scared to speak my mind because when I do I feel like nobody listens and then I pull away even more. I defer to what my friends want to do and get upset when they don’t offer me the same courtesy. I feel like I’m always there for everyone else.
My stomach hurts so much that I have diagnosed myself with IBS and I often throw up if I’m feeling really anxious. I feel really jittery and have to stay busy to avoid these feelings. I can’t give myself too much downtime or else my anxiety gets really bad.
Treatment for anxiety
Treatment includes identifying the thoughts that run wild in your mind. The anxious brain has a hard time distinguishing helpful thoughts from unhelpful thoughts and the issue starts when you claim and believe every thought that comes into your head. “What if…” “You should…” “Why can’t you just…” “Why would you even think that?!” We all have a million thoughts a day and if we tried to grab and figure out where each one came from and why we would go crazy. Intrusive Thoughts are thoughts that we have no control over coming into our brain (hint: this is actually ALL thoughts!). A common example of an intrusive thought is one that comes up when we are driving: “Wow, if I just yanked to the left I could flip this car in an instant 😳.” This doesn’t mean you want to do this, nor does it mean you might accidentally lose control and do it- it’s just a thought. We can observe it and let it pass right on by without the time spent dissecting if this means you have truly gone crazy and need to drive straight to the psych ward.
Diving Deeper
While the anxious thoughts themselves don’t often need to be investigated, we can dig deeper into the fears behind those thoughts in therapy. In my San Marcos, Tx counseling office, people often disclose these kinds of thoughts and then we work together to educate and identify about when to take them seriously. It’s possible you have anxiety about your relationships because you have had significant relationship issues in the past . When we dive into those past issues it can often bring healing through understanding, acknowledgement, and acceptance, which in turn alleviates current anxiety symptoms.
What Now?
If this information resonated with you, I can help! I offer counseling for anxiety in college students here in San Marcos, Tx. With my training in cognitive behavioral therapy I am acutely equipped to help you walk through your anxiety and help you come out stronger on the other side. Despite what anxiety may be telling you, there IS hope and this CAN be helped! Like the picture above says, we can do hard things. Treating anxiety is not comfortable, but it IS doable and life can be so much better on the other end.