Anxiety Therapy

Have You Been Feeling More Anxious Lately?

• Does untreated anxiety keep you from enjoying life to the fullest?
• Do panic attacks frequently come out of nowhere, depleting you both physically and emotionally?
• Despite your achievements, do you suffer from imposter syndrome and lingering self-doubt?

Anxiety can be a burden you feel compelled to carry with you. If you attribute your anxious tendencies to success, perhaps you believe it’s a necessary evil responsible for driving you to accomplish great things. 

Without it, you might not have gotten to where you are. Still, you may wish you could feel more comfortable in your own skin and enjoy the fruits of your labor instead of constant “What if” thinking creeping into your head.

You Might Always Be Waiting For The Other Shoe To Drop

Even when everything is going well, perhaps you can’t help but worry about what lies ahead. Whether you’re anxious about challenges at work, your primary relationship, health, or mortality itself, ruminating on worst-case scenarios could deprive you of the joy and satisfaction you deserve. After achieving so much, maybe you’ve lost purpose and this contributes to feelings of doubt and uncertainty.

Sometimes, when a panic attack hits, it can feel like a heart attack. And sure, once it passes, you feel better and go on with your day. But all the while you worry about when the next one will strike. You might wonder why these attacks keep happening or feel guilty since everything in your life is seemingly “okay.”

The good news is that therapy can help reveal what causes anxiety and offer effective strategies to manage it. With treatment, you can overcome anxiety attacks and get life back on track.

A Significant Amount Of Americans Live With Anxiety

These days, almost one in five American adults live with anxiety. In fact, anxiety disorders are the most common mental health condition in the United States, affecting 40 million adults—or 19.1 percent—of the population every year. Although anxiety disorders are highly treatable, only 36.9 percent of those suffering receive treatment.

Even when we experience success, we often don’t trust ourselves, either second guessing the choices we’ve made, or wondering if what we’ve done is “good enough”. That’s often because we haven’t reconciled how we think of ourselves with who we’ve actually become. 

If we haven’t acknowledged and integrated our shadow self—the unconscious parts of our personality that include repressed weaknesses and instincts—we often feel unworthy of our accomplishments. But rather than garner sympathy from others, we’re often made to feel like we’re lucky to be successful and should just get over it.

We Have Trouble Admitting The Problem To Ourselves

Oftentimes, we’re ashamed to acknowledge that we’re struggling with anxiety. After all, who wants to admit they’re crippled with self-doubt or having panic attacks? 

Talking about our fears isn’t easy. But when we keep them bottled up inside, we suffer in silence, and nothing changes. 

If you’re living with anxiety that’s impacting all aspects of your life, counseling can help. Working with a therapist, you can gain a greater understanding of how anxiety affects you, both positively and negatively. With greater awareness, you can learn how to keep it in check.

Therapy Provides Tangible Strategies To Manage Anxiety And Alleviate Imposter Syndrome

Here’s the thing you may have already figured out about imposter syndrome—success doesn’t cure it. Sure, your fear of failure may have fueled you to overcompensate and prove everyone wrong by achieving success. But even after making it big, those underlying insecurities don’t automatically go away. Until you address where your fear and self-doubt are coming from, no amount of success will relieve your anxiety.

As your counselor, I am here to help you examine previous experiences and current circumstances to determine what contributes to anxiety. In addition to being a licensed therapist who can address your anxiety symptoms, I am also a coach who can help you navigate your career, relationships, and lifestyle. Once we better understand your goals and values, we can formulate a roadmap to ensure you’re living in alignment with them.

What To Expect In Sessions

In our first sessions together, we’ll do a deep dive into your history to discover patterns. I will incorporate personality testing to better understand your strengths and weaknesses and include a personalized book list to supplement therapy in between in-person or online visits. The treatment plan we create collaboratively will be tailored to your preferences and priorities, focusing on effective strategies to change the patterns that keep you stuck or process unresolved trauma that causes self-doubt or people-pleasing behavior.   

From there, we’ll target smaller, weekly goals to reduce anxiety. For example, if you’re struggling to achieve goals, we will uncover why you may be sabotaging yourself. Part of long-lasting transformation is ensuring your environment reflects who you are and fosters your talents and interests. If appropriate, we might focus on changing careers or relocating if your current circumstances aren’t a good fit for you. 

Anxiety Counseling Will Be Customized To Suit Your Needs 

Incorporating various modalities into anxiety treatment ensures you will receive the right therapy at the right time. For example, we might utilize components of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to learn new ways to think about yourself and your environment, or Jungian therapy to address your self-saboteur. 

We may also draw from other behavioral-based methods that support shifting away from actions that keep anxiety in place. If health is a concern, we will use somatic therapy and prioritize physical wellness and fitness to reduce anxiety. I aim for you to leave therapy with a toolbox to address whatever unique issues may arise.

When we delve into who you are at your core rather than trying to be someone you’re not, you’ll feel relief right away. As you focus on living authentically, any sense of being an imposter recedes. Once you stop comparing yourself to others and tap into your inner resilience, you become a more grounded, happier version of yourself no longer caught up in a never-ending cycle of anxiety.

But Maybe You’re Not Sure If Anxiety Therapy Is Right For You…

Will seeing a therapist about my anxiety really be helpful?

Understandably, you may worry that therapy won’t be effective in managing anxiety, or even worse, it means something is “wrong” with you. Evolutionary psychology has taught me that being part of a community is important to us all, helping us feel more grounded and less alone. 

From my perspective, we’re on this journey together to help one another. Remaining open to anxiety therapy allows you to connect on a deeper emotional level, not only with me as your therapist but also with yourself. My wish for every client is to leave therapy feeling stronger and capable of finding their place in the world.

I don’t have time for anxiety therapy.

You may think that once you start therapy, you’ll have to attend sessions once a week for some indefinite period. However, I trust you’ll know how often you should attend anxiety counseling—we can set a schedule that best suits your needs. 

Some clients come weekly, bi-weekly, quarterly, or less. If you’re busy but want more consistency, I offer hybrid options that combine both in-person and online sessions.

How much experience do you have as an anxiety counselor?

Having had a practice for over 20 years, I’ve worked with countless clients and know what my strengths are and don’t work outside of my wheelhouse. Psychology is endlessly fascinating to me and I love keeping up to date on the latest research and interventions. I understand what you’re going through and can help you navigate life’s challenges with more confidence and self-assurance. 

Discover Your Strengths And Leave Anxiety At The Door

I’m eager to help you feel more confident and joyful. To find out more about anxiety therapy with me, either in person in Pacific Beach or online, please contact me.