Does Anxiety, Worry, or Fear Drain You?

Is anxiety keeping you from living life well?
Are there times when you feel jumpy, easily irritated, or angered?
Do you find it difficult to be in social situations?
Are you afraid of leaving your house at times?
Is it hard to get things done due to worry of having an anxiety or panic attack?

Perhaps there are be times when you have difficulty falling asleep or have nightmares. Also, you may be experiencing flashbacks from bad things that happened to you or you witnessed.

Life has its moments of stress, frustration, tension, and grief. When it overwhelms you, it’s time to get some help. Living with anxiety or experiencing sudden panic episodes can be scary, draining, and frustrating. It can bind you from doing other things or from enjoying life and the people you love in it. Anxiety is signaling your mind and body that something in the present or from your past may be unresolved.

Anxiety is a Very Common Issue Addressed in Therapy

If you find yourself answering “yes” to a few of the above questions, you are certainly not alone in this. It is considered the most common point of interest (disorder) and distress that people seek and go to counseling. Consider data from the National Comorbidity Study Replication (NCS-R). Further, it recognized an estimated 31.1% of adults (18 and older) in the U.S. will have some form of an anxiety disorder in their lifetimes. This means that close to 1 in 3 people will be faced with an intense amount of anxiety symptoms. This amount of intense stress may become crucial or even necessary to seek out treatment for anxiety.

There may also be other physical symptoms not to be ignored (for you to get help from a medical professional as well). You may be feeling high amounts of distress, ongoing worry, multiple fears, and the causes of it are hidden from you leaving you feeling confused and even more unsettled. Meeting with a counselor can help clarify the root of your anxiety and discover skills and tools to cope with it. Counseling can also offer you effective ways to overcome and alleviate your mental and emotional pain.

Gain Compassion with Anxiety Therapy

With Pathways Counseling Services, we believe in bringing care for the soul, hope, compassion, empathy, health (mental, emotional, spiritual), clarity of mind, unconditional regard, and acceptance. In counseling our clients, we help to restore their dignity, inner well-being, strength, courage, and motivation for a fulfilling and satisfying life. There may be some questions you have about how all this works, what it is you are experiencing, where to start. Let’s take a look at these questions and find some next steps.

What is Anxiety?

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, there are a wide variety of anxiety disorders. They differ by the objects or
situations that induce them, but share common features of excessive anxiety and related behavioral disturbances. They can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, school work, social interactions, and relationships. They have labels that help better define the specifics of these disturbances (also known as disorders).

Types of Anxiety Known As Disorders

These include: Panic Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Agoraphobia (fear of being out in open spaces), Specific phobia (such as fear of public speaking, fear of heights, flying, spiders, dogs, etc). Also, there is Social Anxiety Disorder (social phobia) and Separation Anxiety Disorder (identified in children). PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) are not currently categorized as anxiety disorders. They are specifically defined more as trauma and stress-related disorders.

How Do I Know I Need Anxiety Therapy?

At first, it feels like an unusually hectic or very challenging day or week. Then it grows and grows with a busier schedule or an increase in unexpected event or events. You recognize changes in your routine, drama and stress increasing from family and friends. Even the worry of a loved ones’ health, how their care with be managed, and then more things pile up. Pretty soon you are a bit more anxious, feeling a bit out of control. Making everyday decisions, and struggles with having meaningful relationships without anxiety becomes more and more difficult. These changes let you know anxiety therapy can be helpful.

Many times life has a tendency to fly by or go faster than we would like. Yet when it becomes counterproductive, you get physical symptoms along with the anxiety. For example, it disrupts your eating, sleeping, along with fatigue and possible sickness. Your interactions with others may become difficult or awkward. These are signs to tell you it’s time for some assistance. This is where anxiety therapy assists you in examining the various activities and relationships that intensify your anxiety. Then, we begin to develop a plan with goals to help you live life well.

Will I Ever Have Peace Again?

Many of our clients have asked us this very question. As you begin to address the signs, symptoms, causes, (or triggers), along with learning new ways of coping and reducing the stress, you will look to finding more peace within. Though “storms” may arise, and things out of your control (or in your control) crop up again, you will have better ways of getting through them.

Where Do I Start?

By being here and reading this page, you are starting the process. You are becoming more aware of reducing your distress in your life. Also, as mentioned above, by recognizing the “what” and the “how” about anxiety, you are much closer to relief. The need for anxiety therapy, gaining therapeutic “tools”, and a supportive plan, increases hope for better control. Further, learning to listen to what your mind, body, and emotions are telling you, you will gain a better sense of self, improved decisions with new skills to overcome.

Here at Pathways Counseling Services, we have helped many of our clients successfully navigate and manage their anxiety. This also includes those experiencing panic. We look to identify the source of their anxiety. With changing certain habits, resolving past trauma, resolving childhood issues, challenging distorted and negative beliefs, they can regain a sense of balance, confidence, and feel more in control of their lives.

It’s time for a change

It’s time to give us a call or email us and start to take back your life from anxiety, from fear, from shame, from doubt. We are here for you…together to help you toward hope, peace, and satisfaction in your life.

Reach out for more information on meeting with either of our counselors.

You may contact our office at 520-292-9750 or complete the contact form below.