Anxiety and Depression Counseling
Expand your perspective.
Has Anxiety Disrupted Your Life?
We are living in a time where Anxiety is felt on a regular basis. Our culture can serve as a breeding ground of anxiety as many of us experience feelings of stress and overwhelm. Anything from social media, news stories, natural disasters, toxic family/friends, unhealthy relationships and especially the impact of CoVid-19 can contributed to our increased worry, fear and altered moods. Maybe you can relate to the following:
Have you been feeling blue or on-edge and realize that these feelings have made it difficult to attend to life or engage with others in a meaningful way?
Do you find that you either are consumed by worry and can’t stop the negative thoughts or feel so inadequate and hopeless you don’t see any point in trying to engage with your life?
You know that you need to take care of yourself, but – as hard as you try – you find you aren’t sleeping well or eating right or spending time with the people in your life.
Do you feel powerless to change anything significant?
While feeling blue or on-edge are simplistic descriptions of the more complex psychological states of depression and anxiety, either one or the other (or both) has brought you to this page. So, while you are here, let’s explore these two states, discuss why it is important to do so, and how you can work towards greater clarity, more energy, and a richer life.
On the outside, you have it all together. On the inside, you aren’t sure how you are making it through each day or you feel like a fake. You can mask your Anxiety. Actually, you know you are faking it, because either you want to just go home and hide under the covers or you want to break everything in sight – and no one else knows that! That authentic and meaningful life you desire seems very out of reach.
Lots of us have been hijacked by Anxiety or Depression.
If it seems as though others around you are often irritated or down, you are probably right. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, over 18% of the U.S. adult population suffers from an anxiety disorder.
Depression is the second most prevalent disorder, with an estimate of almost 7% of the adult population experiencing the symptoms of major depressive disorder. Thus, both anxiety and depression are quite common in the US, and they are likely to affect each of us either directly or via someone we are connected to.
And, these statistics include only the conditions that are diagnosable and that have been reported. Not included are the individuals who suffer in silence, don’t seek treatment, or experience negative (but not diagnosable) symptoms and the costs associated with those symptoms.
There is a bright side. Working with a compassionate and skilled counselor, you can address the hijacking and begin to reengage with life.
Build Resilience. Create a Plan of Action.
Resilience is the factor that distinguishes those who can work easily through the tough situations in life and those who struggle more. We can’t necessarily change the genetic factors that impact our mental health, but resilience is something you can develop or improve. As your Counselor, I empower and guide you.
I help you develop or increase your resilience and, thus, reduce anxiety and depression. With therapy, our goals may include the following:
Gaining awareness of anxiety and depression triggers;
Increasing your understanding of how anxiety and depression manifests in your psychological, emotional, and physical state;
Developing a self-care plan to both help you manage anxiety and depression and to prevent or shorten relapses;
Providing customized, practical intervention exercises/tools/apps that work with your lifestyle;
Integrating positive wiring to reframe negative or worst-case scenario mindsets;
Integrating mindfulness techniques;
Helping you to increase the amount of self-compassion and kindness you show yourself;
Developing and improving the quality of your relationships and connections to others.