Anxiety is one of the most common reasons people come to counselling and psychotherapy. Whilst we all experience anxiety in life, if the levels are continuously high, then you will need to take this seriously.
High levels can damage your health and can affect many areas of your life – work, relationships, sexual relationships, friendships, sleeping patterns, self esteem and your physical health.
Serious levels of anxiety show up in the form of:
01/ panic attacks
02/ phobias
03/ compulsions
04/ obsessive thinking
05/ debilitating worry
06/ avoidance of people/situations
07/ stomach ulcers
08/ eating disorders
09/ drug and alcohol issues
Anxiety often accompanies depression. It can also be a sign of post-traumatic stress. It may be that you are worrying about a specific issue i.e your sexual orientation; or lack of direction in life, that needs addressing for example.
Psychotherapy is a confidential space to learn about the underlying causes of your anxieties, and understand how you may be triggering them. You will learn concepts to aid this understanding and use some of these to help you make the changes you wish to make. These are part of the coping mechanisms you will gain which will increase your ability to problem solve and take care of yourself.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is one of the most widely-used therapy approaches for anxiety disorders. Research has shown it to be effective in the treatment of panic disorder, phobias, social anxiety disorder, and generalised anxiety disorder, among many other conditions.
Cognitive Therapy addresses negative patterns and explores how these affect the way we perceive ourselves, others and life. As the name suggests, this involves two main components - cognitions and behaviours.Cognitive therapy examines how negative thoughts contribute to anxiety.
The belief is that it is our thoughts, not external events, that affect the way we feel and behave.
Behavioural therapy examines how you behave and react in situations that affect your thoughts and feelings ie your behaviour may be triggering anxiety.
A central aspect to therapy is the relationship you have with your therapist, and through this relationship itself, you will gain insights about yourself that will be useful, interesting and compassionate. Building a trusting relationship with your therapist plays a major role in facilitating you, the client, to make the changes you wish to make. The relationship is central to the Psychodynamic Therapies.
Nell Thompson has many years of experience working with clients who come with anxiety issues. Each person is unique and the integrated approach of Transactional Analysis (CBT and Psychodynamic Therapy and Person Centred Therapy) means that the work can be individually tailored to enable you to make the changes you wish to make.
Anxiety can be reduced and in many cases resolved.
