Anxiety Counseling and Relief: Tips from a Counselor

Every day, people struggle with anxiety. Anxiety is a normal human emotion and everyone feels anxious at times. However, when the feelings of anxiety become overwhelming or unmanageable, then it can be time to seek help from a counselor or mental health professional. In this blog post, we will discuss some common causes of anxiety as well as tips for managing your feelings of anxiety- even if you are not in therapy! The good news is that regardless if you are suffering anxiety symptoms like irrational fear, panic attacks, negative thoughts, muscle tension, feel anxious, have trouble in social situations, constant stress even during everyday life, or just feel like your fight or flight response is always on, there is a lot that can be done to help! At our counseling for anxiety clinic in Tampa, FL – we help patients suffering from anxiety and depression with holistic types of therapy and coping skills.

1. Understand the different types of anxiety

Anxiety is a complex emotion. There are many different types of anxiety including generalized, social, and performance anxiety. While there are a bunch of different types of anxiety disorder, the symptoms of anxiety are similar. In the end anxiety occurs when there is a discrepancy between how we perceive stress / our environment and how our brain responds.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD):

Generalized Anxiety disorder is a condition where constant worry chronically intrudes on a person’s life causing severe distress over time that interferes with daily functioning because it takes up much cognitive capacity and stresses relationships.

Social Anxiety Disorder:

Social phobia causes people extreme amounts of stress when they have an upcoming event like giving public presentations or attending parties

Performance Anxiety:

This form of anxiety can happen before any challenging task such a difficult conversation with a co-worker or loved one, before presenting to a group of peers, or before an important meeting.

While there are a lot of different names for the various sub-sets of anxiety disorders there is a commonality in how a professional counselor helps provide anxiety treatment for people with anxiety.

2. Identify your triggers and develop coping strategies

Anxiety is rooted in a person’s mind and can be triggered by any number of different events or situations. Some people experience anxiety when they are alone while others only experience it in social settings like parties, dates, even work-related events.

If you have experienced some triggers from the list below that might pertain to your specific case then recognize these as potential causes for future episodes of anxiety:

A) Events or Situations That Are Related To Your Anxiety Disorder (e.g., Giving presentations at meetings).

B) People Who May Trigger You (e.g., Coworkers who criticize your performance).

C) Places Where Thoughts Can Run Wild (i.e., The grocery store where you received a phone call with bad news).

3. Find a therapist or counselor to help you through your anxiety

As a counselor, I encourage you to look for professionals who can help not just give you tools for the symptoms of anxiety you’re experience but to find someone who’s goal is to dive to the root cause of why you’re feeling anxious. It means the counselor needs to explore your entire life to provide effective treatment for not just the mental but even physical symptoms you are experiencing.

It is possible that you are experiencing anxiety because of a traumatic event in your life. I encourage you to explore if there was any time when something happened which has caused an emotional response with the same intensity as what you’re feeling now.

If it’s not obvious by this point, then let me say it: You deserve help! Get motivated today and take action against your anxiety instead of letting it rule your life any longer.

4. Learn about mindfulness, acupuncture, deep breathing, meditation, yoga, and other relaxation techniques that can be helpful for managing stress in your life.

There are a few common counseling techniques that your therapist will use to for anxiety disorders – like cognitive behavioral therapy (cbt), mindfulness, and psychotherapy. When it comes to treating the Whole you, our team here at Hanson Complete Wellness uses a multi-disciplinary approach. One of the most common tools we refer out to when it comes to treat anxiety and ptsd (post traumatic stress disorder) is acupuncture. Acupuncture helps calm the symptoms of anxiety down by taking your nervous system out of fight or flight mode and helping you to reduce fear and anxiety. When used with counseling for anxiety this can really help increase your ability to function.

We also like to include other holistic approaches in your treatment plan like mindfulness, deep breathing techniques, and visualizations to reduce anxious thoughts and re-wire how your brain responds to stressors.

We’re here to help

There are many different types of anxiety and it can be difficult to know which type you have. It’s also important to understand the root cause or triggers for your anxiety in order to find relief. Finding a therapist who specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an excellent first step because they will help guide you through this process, identify what’s causing your symptoms, and give you practical steps on how to feel better. Integrating holistic techniques like mindfulness and acupuncture into your life should also help alleviate some of the physical tension that comes with having high stress levels every day.

If all these sound overwhelming – don’t worry! We’re here to partner alongside individuals suffering from anxiety by providing them with free 15 minutes consultations at our counseling clinic in Tampa, FL. Give us a call at 813-534-0311 or click the button below and we will reach out to you.