How Do You Fix Anxiety?

12/6/2024

If there was any question I wish I had a perfect answer for, this one is it. Anxiety can be such an uncomfortable feeling, can’t it? The day-to-day experience of stress or worry that can temporarily put us in a flustered state is hard enough. The pit in our stomach can make doing whatever we’re about to do feel impossible. Anxiety disorders themselves can be debilitating, with spiraling thoughts that don’t stop coming and the physical sensations that feel almost permanent. As a counselor, this is the disorder I want to help people get relief from ASAP because of how truly awful it can feel. 

We know that the gold standard treatment for anxiety disorders is to talk with a counselor who can help you identify the source of the anxiety. You then take steps to address whatever situation is causing your body’s fear response to go off while learning how to tolerate and move through the anxious feelings. While we may want to eliminate anxiety completely, we can't. 

You see anxiety plays a significant role in keeping us alive. If we didn’t experience anxiety, you and I would just walk across the street without looking both ways. We’d get into all sorts of trouble because the part of our brain that clues us into danger would be offline. Counseling helps us face what we’re worried about to ensure we’re looking at it from all angles. 

We don’t hide from our anxiety. We examine it and get curious. We figure out if we need to DO SOMETHING about the things we’re worried about and, if so, we take action. I look to the principles found in a type of therapy called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy which teaches that anxiety is a part of life and while we can’t remove it, we can change our relationship to it. We can accept it and accept the truth of the difficult situations we find ourselves in while choosing actions that align with our values- what’s most important to us. When we do this, we become empowered and teach ourselves that we have agency and are not helpless. Often a result of this is a reduction in anxiety symptoms as our brains learn that we can do hard things even when there’s a threat.

One caveat- if anxiety symptoms are so overwhelming that they’re getting in the way of being able to rest and even do the work in therapy, medication can be extremely helpful. I’m happy to provide referrals to trusted providers if clients are interested in medication, and often we see the fastest results when medication is paired with therapy. Relief and support are available, so reach out whenever you’re ready!

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