Anxiety Therapy
Is Anxiety Negatively Impacting How You Think And Feel?
Has anxiety become the lens through which you see the world?
Are you bombarded by intrusive thoughts, catastrophizing about the future, or ruminating over past decisions?
Do you often worry about what others think about you, causing you to feel uncomfortable in social situations and insecure in your relationships?
Not only is anxiety influenced by being stuck in the past, but it is also fueled by anticipation and uncertainty about the future. Rather than feeling grounded in the present moment, perhaps you battle with a negative inner voice that laments past mistakes and predicts worst-case scenarios.
Perhaps You’ve Always Been Anxious
Your anxious tendencies may have started at an early age and carried into adulthood. As long as you can remember, you may have been a people pleaser, never feeling at ease unless you’re making those around you happy. Or you might be a perfectionist who isn’t satisfied until you get everything just right. Otherwise, your mind continues to spin relentlessly, leading to frayed nerves and emotional exhaustion.
The way you exhibit anxiety could be more physical, manifesting as headaches, a nervous stomach, racing heartbeat, muscle tension, sweaty palms, and disruptions to sleep and diet. Certain phobias may cause you to avoid situations that bring fear or discomfort, such as being in crowds or flying on airplanes.
If you have been struggling with anxiety for a while, you probably crave a state of mind where you have more control over how you think and respond to the world around you. Learning ways to better cope with stress, make decisions, and hold healthy boundaries could help you build resilience and feel more joyful. The good news is anxiety therapy offers you a clear path forward.
Modern Culture Is Rife With Anxiety
The cumulative impact anxiety has on our mental health is astounding. "Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults—19.1 percent of the population—age 18 and older every year. Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only 36.9 percent of those suffering receive treatment." [1]
Today’s fast-paced lifestyle can be overwhelming for many of us. The pressure to succeed, coupled with trying to balance the obligations of work and home, can prove to be too much to handle at times. What’s more, we live in a culture that promotes instant gratification and shorter attention spans. Through scrolling and clicking online, we’ve become more conditioned to rapidly jumping from one thing to the next. Our minds never get to slow down, process, and find peace. It’s no wonder one in five of us suffer from anxiety.
Without Professional Help, Overcoming Anxiety Can Be Challenging
Making long-lasting changes on our own can be difficult because we often lack the necessary perspective to objectively determine why we are struggling and what adjustments could benefit us. We may turn to friends for help, but as well-meaning as they may be, they’re not experts. And without committing to therapy, staying accountable and engaged in the healing process can be hard.
Because anxiety is a complex and multi-dimensional issue involving many factors—psychological, physical, emotional, social, and neurological concerns—working with a therapist with expertise is crucial. An objective counselor who understands the nuances of anxiety will ensure you receive the right kind of treatment to get results, whether it’s therapy for severe social anxiety, panic attacks, or people-pleasing.
Therapy Provides The Tools You Need To Manage Anxiety
When anxiety is left unchecked, day-to-day life is fraught with intrusive thoughts, physical tension, and a pervasive sense of unease. Fortunately, getting your symptoms under control can be achieved more quickly and effectively when you combine traditional talk therapy with the benefits of neurofeedback therapy for anxiety.
Therapy is a safe space where you can feel truly heard, validated, and seen. As a therapist who specializes in treating anxiety, I offer unbiased support in which we explore what your core issues are and then identify what the next steps will be to overcome them. Entering into a therapeutic partnership with a counselor allows fresh insights and awareness about your anxiety that is difficult to determine alone. When you commit to counseling, you will expand your awareness of how anxiety impacts you and how to take better care of yourself.
What To Expect In Sessions
Wherever you may be along your journey of self-exploration, I will meet you where you are. That could mean starting with addressing your most persistent symptoms or exploring the underlying root causes of your anxiety. Typically, in therapy we will eventually reflect on your past because understanding how your anxiety developed can help put it in perspective, allowing you to gain self-acceptance and make positive transformations.
After addressing your current symptoms so you feel more relaxed and stable, the long-term goal will be to have more balance and control over your anxiety. Psychoeducation will help you understand the role the nervous system plays in how you react to stress. Once you learn effective methods to keep your brain and body regulated, while also understanding its root causes, anxiety won't control you anymore. You will be better equipped to handle stressors as they come.
The Modalities I Incorporate Into Anxiety Counseling
A benefit of incorporating neurofeedback therapy into anxiety treatment is that it can help balance your brainwaves and regulate your nervous system so that your body and mind are more responsive to talk therapy. In addition to neurofeedback, we might incorporate somatic emotional regulation techniques for treating anxiety, including breathwork, bilateral tapping, and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).
Somatic practices can be effective remedies for anxiety by connecting thoughts and feelings with physical sensations within the body, as well as encouraging neuroplasticity to rewire your brain. Tapping techniques like EFT utilize the same meridian points as acupuncture to help ground you and bring you back to the present moment. If specific fears or negative core beliefs arise, bilateral tapping—crossing your arms while tapping to integrate both hemispheres of the brain—can help process the emotions surrounding them.
Overcoming anxiety is possible. I have seen firsthand how incorporating neurofeedback into anxiety therapy can help reduce symptoms successfully. It may take time and a commitment to putting your needs first, but the results are long-standing. Therapy allows you to develop the resilience to handle whatever life throws at you with more ease and grace, instilling confidence that you are stronger than you think.
But Maybe You’re Not Sure If Anxiety Therapy Is Right For You…
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When we combine psychotherapy with neurofeedback therapy for treating anxiety disorders, we can expect to see some positive results take place within the first four to six sessions. If we don't see the desired changes within the first or second session, we will change the protocol until we find the one that works for you. Thereafter, we will continue to review your progress and make adjustments as needed.
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Like any changes you make, it takes time to gradually build up momentum toward lasting change. To be effective, receiving neurofeedback therapy for anxiety at least weekly is advised, while some clients will require sessions twice a week. Although it’s hard to predict how many sessions you will need overall, most clients require 30-50. I understand it is a time and financial commitment, but results are often permanent if you stick with the process. You will leave with a more balanced brain and nervous system.
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There are different views about the necessity of using a brain map—known as a qEEG—to accurately target areas of imbalance in neurofeedback therapy. While some practitioners find them necessary, others have cultivated tried and true protocols for different concerns without the need for a QEEG. I am open to either and happy to discuss your options with you. If you have financial limitations but want to get started with neurofeedback therapy for anxiety, we can proceed without a brain map to see what results we get.
Getting Anxiety In Check Will Open Up The World To You
Let’s find solutions together. To find out more about anxiety therapy with Nurture Neuro, call 928-607-3762 or visit my contact page to schedule a free 15-minute call.
