Benefiting from Anxiety Counselling

Anxiety is a common human experience. While some level of anxiety is normal and can even be helpful in certain situations, it can become overwhelming and significantly impact a person’s life when it is constant, excessive, or leads to avoidance. For those struggling with anxiety that feels uncontrollable or is interfering with daily living, seeking professional support, often in the form of anxiety counselling, can be a crucial step towards managing these challenges and reclaiming a meaningful life.

Anxiety counselling involves working with a trained professional who understands the nature of anxiety and its effects. These practitioners come equipped with knowledge and a “box of tools” based on established psychological principles to help individuals address their specific difficulties. The core purpose of anxiety counselling is not necessarily to eliminate anxiety entirely, but rather to help individuals change their relationship with anxiety and learn more flexible and effective ways of responding to it.

Why Might Anxiety Counselling Be Beneficial?

Seeking anxiety counselling can offer numerous benefits, particularly when anxiety feels entrenched or difficult to manage alone:

• Gaining a Clearer Understanding of Anxiety: Counsellors can help explain what anxiety is, how it functions, and what makes it become problematic. This includes understanding that anxiety is often a natural process that has gone awry or a typical human quality that has become excessive. They can also help individuals differentiate between normal anxiety and more pervasive anxiety disorders.
• Identifying and Challenging Unhelpful Patterns: A significant focus in anxiety counselling is often on identifying and addressing unworkable coping strategies, especially avoidance. Avoidance can temporarily reduce discomfort but ultimately feeds and perpetuates anxiety. Counsellors help individuals recognise these patterns and understand their long-term costs. They can also help challenge negative self-talk and problematic thought patterns that contribute to anxiety.
• Learning New Skills and Strategies: Counselling provides a space to learn and practice evidence-based techniques for managing anxiety. This can include:
  • Mindfulness: Learning to observe internal experiences like thoughts and feelings without judgment. This helps individuals make contact with anxiety rather than avoiding it.
  • Acceptance: Developing a willingness to experience difficult thoughts, feelings, and sensations without trying to control or eliminate them.
  • Exposure: Gradually and intentionally facing feared situations or internal experiences in a supported way. This process helps individuals learn that they can tolerate anxiety and that feared outcomes may not materialise, reducing avoidance.
  • Assertiveness: Developing skills to communicate needs and set boundaries effectively. Learning to say “no” can be important for managing workload and stress.
  • Problem-Solving: Developing structured approaches to address external stressors and uncertainties.
  • Cognitive Restructuring: Identifying and modifying unhelpful thinking styles.
• Clarifying Values and Committing to Action: A key element in some approaches is helping individuals identify what truly matters to them in life (their values). Counselling supports clients in taking “committed action” towards these values, even when anxiety is present. This shifts the focus from simply reducing symptoms to building a richer, more meaningful life. Taking action towards values, even through small steps, can lead to reductions in distress over time.
• Providing Guidance and Support: Counsellors act as guides, helping individuals navigate the often-uncomfortable process of facing anxiety. They can help structure the therapeutic process and provide encouragement when things get difficult. They offer a non-judgmental space to explore challenges and can provide feedback.
• Breaking the Cycle of Struggle: Many people with anxiety get stuck in a cycle of fighting against their internal experiences, which often makes things worse. Counselling helps individuals see the futility of this struggle and learn alternative ways of relating to their thoughts and feelings.
• Addressing Underlying Issues: While some approaches may not focus extensively on the past, skilled practitioners can help individuals explore the roots of their difficulties and understand how past experiences might contribute to current anxiety. This can involve understanding how the brain has been “trained” towards avoidance or how past events might make present situations feel unsafe.
• Encouraging Self-Compassion and Self-Care: Effective counselling incorporates elements of self-compassion and learning to be present with difficult emotions. It also underscores the importance of self-care, which is vital for managing stress and anxiety.

Ultimately, the decision to seek anxiety counselling is a personal one. It requires courage and a willingness to engage with discomfort. However, for many, working with a skilled practitioner provides the necessary structure, tools, understanding, and support to learn how to relate to anxiety differently and move towards a life less constrained by fear and worry. It’s like finding a “physiotherapist for your mind”, helping to build the skills needed to navigate life’s complexities more comfortably. It is also important to find an anxiety counsellor with relevant experience and whom you feel a connection with.

Summary:

Anxiety counselling provides individuals with professional support to understand, manage, and navigate the challenges of excessive worry and fear. Counsellors help clients identify unhelpful coping patterns like avoidance, teach evidence-based skills such as mindfulness, acceptance, and exposure, and assist in clarifying personal values to guide action. This support empowers individuals to change their relationship with anxiety, reduce its impact, and work towards living a more meaningful life, even when anxiety is present.