ANXIETY
Anxiety treatment begins with recognizing not all anxiety is bad, but anxiety is only a physiological defense reaction from your body. However, sometimes this reaction can be extreme, too frequent and damaging to our lives. It’s at this point that treatment starts to become necessary. You may have anxiety if you experience:
Irritability
Fatigue and lack of energy
Difficulty with concentration and attention
Muscle aches and pains
Poor sleep (especially frequent night-time awakenings)
Excessive worrying about future events
The Science Part…
Anxiety is born when our brain doesn’t have enough information to accurately predict the future. With that, comes uncertainty, and uncertainty=anxiety.
With more uncertainty and less information our minds start spinning faster and faster until we fall into a dangerous anxiety or worry loop. When one is stuck within this loop it causes the feeling that we’re spiraling out of control and on the verge of a panic attack! At this point, our prefrontal cortex is inhibited, and we are left to the mercy of our reptilian brain, and we start to experience irritability, anger, restlessness and sleep disturbances. Thus, anxiety is born!
Anxiety Myths
I can “will” or “think” myself out of anxiety.
I can use distractions to manage my anxiety.
I am genetically predisposed to anxiety so I will always have anxiety.
The Treatment Part…
To manage anxiety, we need a bottom-up approach. This means focusing on calming the body, addressing physical sensations, fostering safety and altering the brains response to anxiety.
We will follow this process together by:
Examining your daily triggers and their relation to your symptoms
Identifying your unique anxiety loops and how to change them
Techniques for relaxation and worry control using mindfulness, curiosity and defusion
Discovering the distraction modalities you have learned to cope and clarifying IF they are helpful or harmful
Tap into your reward system to develop healthier habits
Discuss medication options if needed