Anxiety
Full Disclaimer:
I do not diagnose or prescribe medication. I work with people who are experiencing depression-like and/or anxiety-like symptoms or people who have been assessed and diagnosed with a medical disorder who are seeking more support.
Anxiety
“Anxiety is about our future, and, because of this, it impedes our ability to live in the moment. In greater or lesser degree anxiety overwhelms the person’s awareness of existence, blots out the sense of time … attacks the center of one’s being.” ~ Rollo May
People who are faced with anxiety struggle to cope with their emotions when they’re faced with a triggering situation. This often results in attempts to avoid the situation. Instead of alleviating the anxiety, avoidance behavior can cause anxiety to increase.
How can counseling help Depression and/or Anxiety
The most commonly used form of therapy to combat depression and anxiety is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT teaches you how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors work together. A goal of CBT is to identify and change unhelpful patterns of thinking that are feeding the depressive and anxious thoughts and feelings. CBT can help identify problem behaviors and replace them with helpful strategies. The therapy is straightforward, structured, and is known to be a short-term, meaning, 8 to 10 sessions.
I follow a client-centered approach, meaning that after building a therapeutic relationship with my clients, we can then decide what form of counselling would be the most beneficial for them. I may recommend CBT to one client and work with them using that therapy, and I may recommend Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) to another client and work with them using that therapy.
I primarily draw from existential – humanistic therapy/counselling as a foundation of my counselling and coaching practice. Often people are facing a lack of; whether it be, connection, or purpose and meaning, or it be struggling with identity; not having a strong sense of self, or little to no boundaries, more often than not, people carry unresolved trauma. The list goes on and on, and often, these struggles are the reason why people feel depressed and/or anxious.
Simply meeting with a counselor on a weekly or biweekly basis can open up space to address and be supported in different areas of one’s life. Some ways include;
Provides Structure
Gives encouragement
Breaks isolation
Explores underlying causes
Explores the meaning of life,
