Anxiety

Relief from Overwhelming Anxious Thoughts & Feelings 

An estimated 6.8 million people in the U.S. struggle with anxiety disorders, according to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America. For these people, things that might not cause worries, fears, or second thoughts for most lead to severe anxiety responses. If you’re one of the nearly 7 million people in the U.S. struggling with anxiety, there are skills and strategies that you can learn by working with a therapist. Keep reading to learn a bit more about anxiety and the benefits of therapy to help alleviate the negative effects of disordered anxiety. 

 

When Is Anxiety Disordered? 

Anxiety is something that most people will experience. Like all of our body’s emotional responses, anxiety is healthy and natural. It helps to keep us safe from potential sources of danger, and it can even drive us to make change or achieve goals. When anxiety is doing its job within our minds and bodies, it can actually be a benefit. Unfortunately, anxiety levels can also be disordered. When this happens, anxiety stops benefiting us and starts to limit what we’re able to do. So, what does it mean for anxiety to be disordered? Symptoms that anxiety levels have become disordered include: 

• Worrying all the time or experiencing levels of worry that seem disproportionate for the situation

• Nervousness or fear, especially when disproportionate to the situation 

• Catastrophizing or having a perpetual fear of impending doom 

• Hypervigilance or feeling on edge 

• Physical responses like trembling, shaking, increased heart rate, sweating, and rapid breathing

• Difficulty concentrating due to distraction caused by worries 

• Changes in lifestyle like eating more or less, sleeping more or less, or withdrawing from loved ones

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How Does Therapy Help with Anxiety? 

In the past, therapy focused a lot on how your history informs your present. It was all about diving deep into underlying causes and past issues that lead to increased feelings of anxiety. While this may be an important aspect of your process, the first priority of therapy is to help you develop good coping strategies to address anxiety right now. You’ll learn ways to recognize the warning signs of increasing anxiety and add resources to your toolbox in order to better manage potentially overwhelming experiences with anxiety as they arise. If underlying sources of anxiety come up naturally or you feel the need to dig into them as part of your therapy sessions, you can absolutely do so safely and comfortably with your therapist. 

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What Should I Expect from Therapy Sessions? 

You’ll start out the therapy process at Mosaic Clinical Services with one or more intake sessions where you’ll talk with a therapist about your experiences with anxiety. Together, you’ll create a plan to move forward with your ongoing therapy sessions. During each session, you’ll discuss any negative experiences you had with anxiety since your last appointment. Then, you’ll discuss your responses and experiences during these anxious situations, including what you would like to see change in future situations. From there, your therapist will assign homework. These are your assignments to take what you’re learning in therapy sessions out into the world and apply them to your real life. There’s no such thing as passing or failing these homework assignments. These homework assignments should be helping you reach your goals, and most importantly, these at-home tasks should further enlighten your needs and help you feel more confident as you move forward and continue making progress, during each therapy session.

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How do I Get Started with Mosaic Clinical Services?

If you’re ready to schedule a session or you want to learn more, please contact our team. One of us will be happy to speak with you about available counseling services and help you determine what your next steps should be.