Anxiety Therapy
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is maddening. You worry all of the time, you can’t seem to make your mind stop going with thoughts and visions of scary things…it’s exhausting!!
You feel afraid in situations that are not threatening (sometimes you know this and sometimes you don’t).
Anxiety interferes with your day-to-day life, anxious people tend to avoid trying new things, going places that feel scary, driving, traveling, etc. You might also have sleep difficulties, chronic muscle tension, and frequently feel on edge or irritable.
I know anxiety well, inside and out, which is why I attract the clients I do. I remember my first anxiety attacks happening as a young child at school. I would create elaborate stories in my mind, what we call “catastrophizing” in the counseling world. I had visions of something happening to my mom when I was at school and became terrified that she would forget to pick me up. I had chronic, severe stomach aches that had no physical basis.
Anxiety followed me into adolescence and my teen years showing up as feeling really uncomfortable in social situations which resulted in turning to alcohol to fit in and numb my discomfort.
For a long time I managed to ignore it, but then I became a mom and it became very real.
I worried all of the time about my kids’ health.
I obsessed about the foods they ate, the toys they played with, and choking hazards.
I couldn’t sleep, didn’t eat much, and moved a million miles an hour. I survived on coffee during the day and wine at night to help me wind down.
But, even though I was stressing about everything, I still never felt like I was good enough. I still felt like I fell short as a mom.
Anxiety and beating yourself up go hand in hand.
Anxiety is what I primarily treat in my Longmont practice. 99% of my clients suffer from anxiety, in a variety of different forms including OCD, perinatal/postpartum anxiety, trauma, panic, phobias, and often times all of the self-loathing (and shame) that go along with it.
It’s not surprising that most of my clients experience anxiety as it is the most common mental health disorder in the US.
According the National Alliance on Mental Health, 40 million adults suffer from an anxiety disorder.
The American Psychology Association defines anxiety as: “an emotion characterized by apprehension and somatic symptoms of tension in which an individual anticipates impending danger, catastrophe, or misfortune. The body often mobilizes itself to meet the perceived threat: Muscles become tense, breathing is faster, and the heart beats more rapidly. Anxiety may be distinguished from fear both conceptually and physiologically, although the two terms are often used interchangeably. Anxiety is considered a future-oriented, long-acting response broadly focused on a diffuse threat, whereas fear is an appropriate, present-oriented, and short-lived response to a clearly identifiable and specific threat.”
Anxiety is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (a big book that therapists and doctors use to diagnose clients) describes anxiety as excessive worry and apprehensive expectations. The anxiety and worry are associated with three or more of the following six symptoms with at least some symptoms present for more days than not for the past 6 months:
restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge
easily fatigued
difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
irritability
muscle tension
sleep disturbance such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, or restless and unsatisfying sleep.
What causes Anxiety
There are so many things that cause anxiety. Here are few more common reasons:
1-Traumatic events: These can be little t’s (small seemly insignificant events that have an impact on your nervous system like a complicated relationship with a parent, listening to the news, getting stung by a bee, etc) or Big T’s (ACEs: adverse childhood events like childhood abuse/neglect, or car accidents and experiencing or witnessing violence, etc). However, some people will experience a “Big T” and be ok and then something happens and then trauma hits. Trauma is in the eye of the experiencer. Every nervous system is different along with it’s history and genetics. All of these things contribute to how you react to the events of your life. So many little things can happen in your life causing an imprint on your nervous system that signals anxiety, things you may never even assume.
2-Food Allergies: Yep. Foods you are sensitive or allergic to can cause anxiety and panic. This can cause elevated heart rate, shortness of breath, tightness in your throat, or numbness and tingling. When you eat foods your body doesn’t like, your body responds like it is in danger and releases stress hormones causing you to sense feel anxiety.
3-Low Blood Sugar: When your blood sugar drops, your body wants to bring it back into balance by asking the liver to make glucose, it asks by sending epinephrine (a stress hormone) to the liver. Epinephrine causes a racing heart, sweaty palms, irritability, nausea, shaking, or sweating.
4-A Vata imbalance, which according to Ayurveda, is the culprit behind anxiety. Excessive vata settles in the nervous system causing you to experience this unpleasant uneasiness. Vata is one of the three doshas in Ayurveda. The other two doshas are Pitta and Kapha. The doshas are the three energies that make up who you are. You need all of the doshas, but one is often out of balance which creates mental, emotional, and physical symptoms. In the case of a vata imbalance, anxiety is one of the results.
5-Imbalances in the body: like thyroid dysfuction, hormonal imbalance, viruses, diabetes, and irritable bowel syndrome. Mineral deficiencies in the body also cause anxiety things like low zinc, iron, magnesium, B and D vitamin along with others. So, it is always a good idea to have a comprehensive blood panel done when experiencing chronic anxiety.
6-Stress and Lifestyle: Things like overwork, exhaustion, lack of boundaries, and too much stimulation (aka screens) cause anxiety. But one thing I see often are clients who live out of alignment with who they are and want they want in their life. I wrote a blog post on in it you can find here. But sometimes we don’t always know the cause, it isn’t always apparent, regardless, you can learn to feel you are ok, no matter what.
I offer a free 20-minute phone to talk about what you need and how I can help you. Feel free to text or call 720-273-3492 or click the link below.
How I treat Anxiety
The diagnosis is not as important to me as your symptoms and how anxiety shows up in your mind and body. I use a number of tools to help you feel regulated, resilient, and rested. I use mindfulness-based compassionate talk therapy combined with Brainspotting and Ayurveda to treat anxiety.
Brainspotting for anxiety (and for really everything) always follows the clients’ lead. However, I do have a specific protocol for intrusive thoughts (thoughts that are scary, repetitive, and sometimes out of the blue) that helps my clients break up with their intrusive thoughts cycle.
I also use Ayurvedic interventions. When you are anxious, you likely have a vata imbalance so there are very specific recommendations I make to pacify vata and create balance in your body, mind, and spirit.
Supportive and compassionate talk therapy are a part of everything I do. Using mindfulness based cognitive behavioral techniques can help you understand how your thoughts and behaviors unconsciously perpetuate anxiety and how you can soothe yourself as well.
Making changes can be scary
I know it can feel really scary to reach out to someone. Telling someone your darkest fears and deepest secrets sounds might sound like the hardest thing you can ever do. But, it is the first step to feeling better, to releasing anxiety’s grip on your life.
Your brain will resist change out of it’s natural drive to stay safe and survive….even when your current state feels awful. So you might have thoughts like, “This isn’t going to help me,” “I have tried therapy before and it didn’t work,” “I can figure this out on my own,” or “I don’t have the time.” None of these things are true, you can be helped, if you could do it on your own you would have already, and you can always find the time. It is just your brain trying to keep you the same.
My deep understanding of anxiety combined with Brainspotting and Ayurveda to get to the root of things can definitely help you to feel calmer, happy, and content.
But, yes, it takes courage, openness, and the willingness to be uncomfortable. There is a part of you who is willing to take the leap, because here you are reading! Let’s get started!!
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