Anxiety

 

Anxiety can be absolutely crippling, holding you back from pursuing what’s important to you. Whether it be relationships, career goals, leisure, or other aspects of life, anxiety can stop you from being yourself and achieving your dreams. Even when you reach your goals, it can rob you of the joy of success.

 

Some people are anxious about specific, clear things, such as being in places that are hard to escape from, having panic attacks, social situations (particularly being anxious about embarrassing yourself or being judged by other people), having “bad” thoughts, forgetting things, or other experiences. For other people the anxiety is always there; you worry about lots of things most of the time, and just wish you could stop worrying.

 

Anxiety can improve dramatically with the help of a psychologist. Through treatment, you’ll be able to better understand your anxiety and what are the main triggers for you personally. You’ll explore any negative thinking patterns, and develop thinking patterns that are more helpful and reduce your anxiety. Through discussing new strategies to cope, and taking positive actions towards achieving your goals, you’ll work towards overcoming anxiety and developing new confidence.

 

 

What does anxiety treatment look like?

 

The first step will be for your psychologist to understand about your anxiety, so they can get to know you and how the anxiety affects you in your life. This also gives you time to get to know your psychologist to make sure their style and personality suits you.

 

You’ll then work out with your psychologist a plan for steps you can take to start mastering your anxiety. This often includes exploring and evaluating the thoughts you have about the fearful situations and triggers. Understanding the beliefs you hold about the anxiety and its triggers allows you to develop more useful and supportive thinking patterns. Treatment could also involve a step by step process to help you gradually face the situations you’re afraid of, with support and at a pace that’s right for you. This helps you not only manage the anxiety, but overcome it.

 

This style of treatment is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which is the most effective treatment for anxiety, and suits most people. The different parts of treatment work together to help you develop strong coping abilities. Most people find they start feeling less anxious and more confident in just a few sessions.

 

Our psychologists also draw from other therapies to tailor and strengthen treatment for you personally. These include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Narrative Therapy, and Mindfulness. Each of these also has strong evidence for helping people overcome anxiety.

 

ACT works on helping you respond to situations in new ways, in accordance with your personal values. Narrative Therapy helps you discover and think through the stories the anxiety has created about your life, and develop new stories for your life. Mindfulness helps you respond differently to your experiences of anxiety and fear, so that it no longer rules you. Your psychologist will talk with you to help decide which treatment would suit you best.

 

 

I struggle with depression too. Will this treatment work for me?

 

Lots of people experiencing anxiety also struggle with depression. Our anxiety psychologists all help people suffering from depression as well as anxiety, and will work with you to make sure that both the depression and anxiety improve and you feel better.

 

 

If you have any other questions about treatment, please see our FAQs page for more information.

 

 

Unfortunately we are not currently taking new clients. For other treatment options for anxiety, please click here.