Anxiety treatment

Giving you the hope to cope with anxiety in Calgary, AB or wherever you are.

Don't allow anxiety to take control of your life. Take charge and empower yourself with effective skills, tools, and strategies that anyone can learn.

Do you experience anxiety related to health issues that you don’t fully comprehend?

Are you anxious about social situations where you believe others might judge you?

Do you get anxious when taking tests or experiencing unexplained anxiety?

What if you feel anxious at work around colleagues without a clear reason?

You may find that you relate to one or more of these examples.

You’re not alone. Many experience something similar.

However, anxiety is unique to each person. A person isn’t unintelligent for being impacted by anxiety. If that were the case, smart people could overcome anxiety without issues. Experiencing anxiety does not mean that someone is psychotic or “crazy,” a word that gets slung around far too much in movies, culture, and personal conversations.

Most people who experience anxiety do not want to face any negative outcomes or consequences. They don’t ask to have anxiety brought upon them and would gladly return the anxiety to the hotel’s front desk and check out, so to speak if they had the chance.

Anxiety affects a person’s relationship with their body due to the physiological effects, such as tinging, clammy hands, and shaking. Anxiety can affect relationships with others as I may want to isolate myself from family and friends due to being self-conscious about the anxiety. Anxiety can also affect workplace performance, creative pursuits, and participation in sports activities.

There are different types of anxiety. Health anxiety often denotes a person having difficulty with perceived or actual medical concerns to the point that excessive anxiety manifests. There’s also agoraphobia, which means a person will avoid somewhere where they feel they cannot escape, leaving would be difficult, or help for the person would be unattainable.

Phobias are irrational fears about a particular thing or person, often rooted in childhood trauma. Generalized anxiety is when someone has anxiety about a wide range of things and experiences without any clear, pinpointed trigger. Social anxiety is more about difficulties in social interactions with others without feeling as if there is criticism, judgement, and an inability to have meaningful relationships due to the anxiety. These aren’t all the anxiety types, but a brief review of a few that people experience.

It's important to note that not everyone who experiences anxiety will necessarily have symptoms or signs of a panic attack. However, anxiety can be a part of a panic attack. Also, just because someone experiences panic does not mean that they need to be diagnosed with panic disorder. Panic attacks can feel like they come out of nowhere. There are cognitions (what we think), physiological (what’s happening internally in our body) and behavioural cues (what we are doing) for panic.

Understanding what anxiety is and isn't can guide effective treatment.

To summarize, anxiety is not 1) Imaginary, 2) Trauma, 3) Laziness, 4) Being passive-aggressive with someone in a relationship, 5) Lack of intelligence, and 6) Merely withdrawal from mood or mind-altering substances, although this could be the case and needs to be considered.

What anxiety is: 1) Treatable. 2) Not invincible 3) Physiological and psychological - a body sensation and a thought process. 4) A common experience, and 5) Learning opportunity.

Anxiety is not just a feeling, but a feedback loop between the body's alarm system and anxious thoughts, according to Russell Kennedy, MD, author of Anxiety Rx: A New Prescription for Anxiety Relief from the Doctor Who Created It (1).To deal with anxiety effectively, one needs to break this connection between the two systems so anxiety does not negatively impact their lifestyle.

When undergoing therapy to treat anxiety, the treatment process may involve addressing one or more of the following areas.

Discussing different therapy approaches to anxiety, whether that be CBT, DBT-informed, EMDR, ART, mindfulness, or a combination. Please see the therapies section for information on the specifics of these approaches.
Understanding the root causes of the anxiety, whether that be existential (e.g., lack of meaning and purpose), related to addiction, relationship challenges, workplace challenges, self-defeating core beliefs (e.g., perfectionism, fear of failure), expectations of the self, and spiritual obstacles.
Gaining further understanding of the triggers for the anxiety.
Understanding the neuroscience behind anxiety, such as with the amygdala in the brain.
Discuss any co-occurring disorders that manifest along with the anxiety, such as OCD, depression, trauma, addiction, and so forth.
Inspecting different coping strategies: bottom-up (somatic - working with sensations and body) and top-down (cognitive - thoughts that are not serving me).
Creating a self-care schedule can help you develop a structured and consistent routine for taking care of yourself.
Recognizing and applying personal strengths to aid in treatment interventions.
Creating a treatment plan with clear and objective goals during the intake process is important.

What benefits can you expect from receiving anxiety treatment?

Give increased confidence
Learn coping skills for anxiety
Improve relationships
Build on spirituality
Understand sense of self more
Improve work performance
Improve the quality of sleep
Improve self-esteem
Build on personal strengths
Help with educational pursuits
Help remove or diminish self-doubt

Anxiety often makes people feel helpless and unable to cope with their worries. However, it's possible to learn about anxiety and effective ways to manage it. Support is available, and tools and strategies can be acquired to deal with anxiety positively. By learning how to manage anxiety, life can become more fulfilling and less disrupted by overwhelming worries.

Take the first step towards managing anxiety. Book a consultation today and let's work together to help you regain control of your life.

References:

1. Kennedy, R. (2020). Anxiety Rx: A New Prescription for Anxiety Relief from the Doctor Who Created It. Awaken Village Press.

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