Maybe you’ve heard it all before. “Just relax!” “Why are you always freaking out?” Well-meaning friends and family think they are helping by telling you to just calm down and quit making a big deal about everything. They don’t understand that you can’t help it and if you could relax, you would! Anxiety is a terrible experience to live with, and life doesn’t have to be this way. Maybe you have trouble leaving your house, or you are bogged down by rituals of ridding yourself of germs or checking the locks, or the thought of being in social situations makes you want to shrink away and disappear, or maybe you just can’t turn off your mind long enough to get a break. Maybe there are times when you are so overwhelmed by your fears and emotions that you feel like your panic is physically painful and exhausting. Whatever the case may be, the time to treat your anxiety is always NOW. In our work together, you will find an empathic and nonjudgmental therapist who will help you pinpoint the underlying causes of your suffering and how to start feeling better.
- Learn how to interfere with your anxiety cycle using physiological techniques
- Make any helpful changes in sleep, diet, and physical activity
- Examine what beliefs and thoughts are rational, and which may be looked at through another lens
- Identify what has been getting in the way of you and the life you would like to be living.
Medication
Medication is not for everyone and as a psychologist, it is not my first line of defense. However, for many, medication is like being given a lifejacket when you are drowning. It saves you from sinking and lets you breath so you can begin to learn how to swim on your own. If you are drowning, it will be hard for you to learn the skills to “swim” in therapy. I do not prescribe medication, but I work with you to find a prescriber, whether it is your primary care doctor or a psychiatrist, and I will collaborate with that person.
For more on medication, see Medication Myths.
