Anxiety can manifest itself in many ways. Maybe you’re having trouble sleeping, or you avoid social situations because of overwhelming fear. The underlying problem is the same—a lack of inner peace.
Unfortunately, many people with anxiety put off getting help because they believe they can handle it on their own. Or, perhaps, they’ve never gotten a proper diagnosis.
Maybe your symptoms come and go or they show up out of nowhere due to certain “triggers.” No matter how your anxiety arises, it likely causes an inner storm of emotions and fears that is not easy to calm.
But you don’t have to let anxiety continue to take over your life. Taking advantage of therapy with a skilled mental health professional can make a huge difference.
When Anxiety Takes Over
Anxiety has many definitions. Some refer to it as disproportioned stress or the inability to let go of excessive worry. Underneath all of these descriptions, though, anxiety is very basic: It’s fear.
Getting into the details of anxiety beyond that is personal because everyone experiences it differently. Many times, the fears fueling anxiety are things that don’t warrant being scared. But, to the person experiencing them, it often feels overwhelming.
Thus, you don’t have to fit into a particular definition or “box” to be diagnosed with anxiety. The fact often simply is that anxiety takes over your life and prevents you from living a healthy life. What can you do about it?
The Role of Therapy for a Healthier Inner Life
Therapy helps to ease the symptoms of anxiety in several ways. First, it offers you a safe and neutral space to better understand your symptoms and the potential cause of your anxiety. Knowing that you have that kind of space, as well as someone who can support you through exploring the issue, sets the perfect atmosphere for managing your symptoms.
Second, therapy helps you to identify your triggers. The more you understand about what could be causing your fear, the better. The more you talk about it, the less power it tends to have. Hence, when you come across those triggers, you’ll be able to face them with less fear until you can eventually conquer them completely.
Third, therapy provides specific treatment approaches, proven to help manage anxiety. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), for example, is a common treatment method to help you deal with anxiety. It works by teaching you to see negative patterns in the way you think and change them. While these negative patterns are quite common for someone who has anxiety, they are also debilitating to your inner peace.
For instance, you might predict the worst when it comes to going out with friends. Maybe you think you’ll say something “stupid” or everyone will laugh at you. If these fears show up every time you’re about to go out, CBT can help you to identify them and change your distorted thoughts into positive ones.
Hence, step-by-step, therapy can help you on the way to a healthier and calmer inner life.
Is Therapy Right for You?
It's true, anxiety can completely take over your mind—your life—in a flash. But you don’t have to let it get that far. Anxiety is a common mental health condition that many people deal with, and there are proven therapy methods that can successfully address it. In fact, seeking therapy is an essential first step to a healthy mental disposition.
So, don’t worry about what others might think of you. Going to therapy doesn’t mean you’re crazy or that you have a serious problem.
In fact, worrying about therapy is just another aspect of that anxiety shining through. The sooner you’re willing to stand up to your fears and confront your anxiety, the better. In doing so, you’ll start to chip away at its power and give it less control over how you live your life.
If you’re struggling with anxiety, contact me. I have years of experience in anxiety therapy with both adults and children. Together, we’ll work through identifying the underlying causes of your anxiety and your triggers so that you can eventually have more power than your fears and find inner peace once again.