Anxiety

...as if ‘out of the blue’. Our consciousness of anxiety may feel like it has struck us as if out of nowhere, but it has usually been around just under the surface of our awareness for a long time. Like the frog in the pot of water that doesn’t notice the heat is building until it may be too late, anxiety may have begun to slowly develop a long time ago. Without attention, it keeps growing and growing until we can’t ignore it any more. By this point, anxiety and fear have become so pervasive that we are afraid even to do things that had come naturally and brought joy in our past. New activities and relationships are just too frightening to even consider, and so our lives can grind to a halt. Often depression will not be too far behind.

If this story sounds familiar there is good news. Unlike the frog who gets cooked in the pot, the very fact that you have noticed your anxiety means you can find the source of this feeling which seems so overwhelming. With support, you will find the courage to look at the sources, and it will feel like the fear and anxiety melt away.

Most people need someone with experience to gently accompany them into the hurts and fears of their past, and that’s where a therapist like myself comes in. The anxiety may be frozen fear from an early life experience, or it may have even been passed down through a number of generations. Time, patience, and a gentle curiosity will usually get to the source, freeing you from anxiety so you will have more enjoyment and experience more purpose in life.

Tools

The tools I would offer as I accompany you on this journey could include;

1. Effective talk therapy which assures you that someone understands what you are feeling. Talking also helps us begin to understand, to the best of our ability, the roots of the anxiety. Observation is 98% of the healing process.
2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which helps you develop a full list of the gifts, skills and values that you already possess, though may not be able to fully appreciate or access because of your anxious brain.
3. The Genogram, which provides an overview of the dynamics of your family of origin and the key relationships which were part of your early psychological development.
4. An introduction to mindfulness meditation, a calming and focusing practice that centres your attention on following your breath to the core of your being.
5. The energy-psychology of Emotional Freedom Techniques which frees up frozen emotions from past trauma.