Anxiety Treatment In Portland, OR And Washington State
“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow,”
– Mary Anne Radmacher
Approximately 1/3 of all people experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their life. While some people can remember having anxiety for as long as they can remember, others only find themselves having serious difficulties with anxiety after a specific stressful situation or an embarrassing incident that triggers it. Regardless of the type and severity of anxiety, it is very treatable. Psychotherapy is an evidence-based treatment for anxiety disorders.
There are different types of anxiety disorders, although, for the most part, they are usually more similar than they are different from each other. Some common experiences of people who struggle with anxiety disorders include;
Excessive worry, ruminating thoughts, difficulty with uncertainty, anxious thoughts that start with “What if…”, muscle tension, sleeping too little or too much, efforts to cope through avoidance, anticipatory anxiety, difficulty with concentration, focus, and decision-making, chronic headaches, excessive sweating, increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, nausea, diarrhea, jumpiness, irritability, and isolation. Sounds like fun, right? Wrong!
How you choose to respond to anxiety strongly influences whether or not you will go on to develop or worsen an anxiety disorder, or, if you choose to respond in ways that decrease your anxiety.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the gold standard treatment for anxiety disorders. CBT includes learning to identify unhelpful thinking and behavioral patterns and offers accessible strategies to help you learn to cope with anxiety and neutralize anxiety triggers.
In a nutshell, treatment focuses on making anxiety smaller and your life bigger. During the treatment process, I will work with you to identify and replace anxious thought patterns, find more helpful ways to think, and notice that changing the way you think about something changes the way you feel and act as a result. CBT also offers practical tools and strategies you can use to look more objectively at situations and feel more confident and able to make decisions, maintain boundaries, and cope with life stressors.
As we work to learn new, more skillful coping, I will help you identify ways to take care of yourself, nurture your body and mind, and work on strategies to build new habits that you can continue to use in the future to support your well-being.