Skip to content
Home » Anxiety » Page 13

Anxiety

Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, often accompanied by nervous behaviour like pacing, somatic complaints, and rumination. It typically involves feelings of apprehension about future events, marked by “what-if” worries. While it can present with physical symptoms such as muscle tension, heart palpitations, sweating, dizziness, and shortness of breath, and emotional symptoms like restlessness or a sense of impending doom, anxiety is a natural and essential human experience. It serves a vital function by helping us to look ahead, organise ourselves, and gather the energy needed to get things done.

The main strategies for helping to relieve anxiety often involve changing one’s relationship with it rather than trying to eliminate it completely:

  • Mindfulness and Acceptance: This approach encourages facing anxiety, rather than avoiding or controlling it, by paying attention to the present moment without judgment. Techniques include deep, belly breathing to instantly calm the brain and body, observing thoughts without getting caught in their content, and willingness to experience anxious feelings as they are.
  • Lifestyle Adjustments: Regular physical exercise can significantly reduce anxiety by improving blood flow and balancing hormones. Ensuring adequate sleep is also crucial, as lack of it can exacerbate anxiety. A balanced diet, avoiding stimulants like caffeine and refined sugars, and focusing on complex carbohydrates, can also promote calmer moods.
  • Cognitive Strategies: This involves challenging anxious thoughts by questioning their validity and reframing negative interpretations of situations. Identifying specific triggers that provoke anxiety is a key step. Sometimes, simply writing down worries can help to gain clarity and reduce their power.
  • Behavioural Exposure: Gradually facing feared situations or internal sensations teaches the brain that these are not dangerous, which can reduce the anxiety response over time. This builds confidence and tolerance for discomfort.
  • Havening Techniques: These involve applying gentle self-touch (to the arms, face, or hands) while recalling a distressing memory or feeling. This touch, combined with distractions like counting or humming, can help to reduce distress and build resilience.

What to Expect When Working with a Therapist for Anxiety

Working with a therapist for anxiety involves a collaborative and progressive process, tailored to the individual. Therapy begins with building rapport, understanding the client’s experiences and setting goals. Sessions progress with a focus on past strategies, introducing new tools and techniques such as mindfulness, defusion, and values-based living. Coaching may be offered when the client is ready to implement these skills into real-life situations. Therapists use a range of methods including questioning, imagery work, and homework to help clients reach their preferred future, with the client ultimately deciding when therapy should end.

When it is wise to turn to a Anxiety Specialist

Anxiety specialists use a range of therapeutic approaches to help individuals manage their anxiety, reduce suffering, and improve their overall well-being. Techniques such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, NLP, mindfulness, and self-compassion can be used to help people deal with a variety of conditions that involve anxiety. If anxiety is significantly impacting your life and you feel that you would like to explore the tools and techniques used by anxiety specialists, then it may be worth seeking their support.

Social Anxiety: Understanding and Managing It

Social anxiety is an intense and often debilitating fear of being judged or evaluated negatively in social situations. It is more than shyness and can have a significant impact on a person’s life. Individuals with social anxiety experience various physical, mental, and emotional symptoms leading to avoidance of social interactions. However, there are effective strategies that you can use to manage social anxiety, including breathing exercises, challenging negative thoughts, exposure and acceptance techniques, and self-compassion. If self-help methods prove insufficient, working with an anxiety coach can offer personalised support, accountability, and guidance to improve their condition and achieve a more fulfilling life.

Applying Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Anxiety

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a unique approach to anxiety, primarily focused on enhancing a client’s quality of life and meaning by moving towards values, rather than symptom reduction or control. Key components include acceptance of unpleasant emotions and thoughts, defusion from thoughts, and mindfulness, all to encourage clients to take action aligned with their chosen values. ACT uses experiential exercises to change the client’s relationship with anxiety, encouraging a willingness to experience a full range of emotions. Ultimately, ACT aims to help clients live a more fulfilling and meaningful life.

The Rise of Life Coaching for Anxiety

People are increasingly turning to life coaches for help with anxiety because it provides a forward-looking, action-oriented, and empowering alternative to therapy and counselling. Coaching focuses on client strengths, practical solutions, and achieving positive life goals, making it appealing for those who want a more active and effective way to manage their anxiety. Coaching takes a transdiagnostic approach that can be applied to a wide range of anxiety issues and helps clients to live a rich and meaningful life, rather than just focusing on symptom reduction.

Anxiety coaching: why it is becoming so popular

Anxiety coaching is a forward-looking and action-oriented approach that helps clients take control of their anxiety by using their own resources and strengths. It differs from therapy and counselling by emphasising practical solutions, empowerment, and working towards positive life goals, instead of only trying to reduce symptoms. This is why it is becoming a popular choice for people looking for an active and immediately effective way of dealing with anxiety.

Understanding Your “Nervous Mind”: what helps calm your mind

When you feel like your mind is “nervous,” it often means that certain parts of your brain are overactive or misinterpreting signals. It’s helpful to understand the roles of these key areas: The Amygdala: This is like your brain’s alarm system. It’s designed to respond to threats and can trigger a fight, flight, or freeze… Read More »Understanding Your “Nervous Mind”: what helps calm your mind

What to Expect From Anxiety Counselling and Why People Are Seeking Alternatives

Anxiety counselling typically involves a detailed look at your symptoms, a deep dive into your past patterns, and the teaching of new skills such as mindfulness and defusion techniques. It will likely involve some discomfort as you learn to sit with uncomfortable thoughts and sensations. The process aims to help you identify your values and take action towards a more meaningful life, even when you experience anxiety. However, people may choose coaching or Havening because of a preference for a more forward-focused, solution oriented approach that avoids a medical model. Coaching offers clients practical tools to increase performance and reach work goals, while Havening is a self-help technique that offers a content-free way of overcoming difficulties. Both coaching and Havening can offer a shorter term, client led approach that appeals to those who want a different experience to traditional anxiety counselling.

The Role of a Social Anxiety Coach

Benefits of Working with a Social Anxiety Coach A social anxiety coach offers a distinct approach compared to traditional therapies, focusing on practical, present and future-oriented solutions rather than delving into the past. Here are some specific benefits that an anxious person is likely to experience: Focus on Strengths and Solutions: Unlike traditional therapies that… Read More »The Role of a Social Anxiety Coach

The Six Stages of Change for Overcoming Anxiety

The journey of change, particularly when managing anxiety, is not linear; it often involves moving back and forth between these stages. A coach provides essential support by offering personalised guidance, practical strategies, and encouragement at each stage. By recognising which stage you’re in, you can create a more effective path to positive, healthy habits, and greater well-being.

Using NLP to overcomes aniety

How Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) can help you overcome anxiety. It’s a powerful approach that focuses on understanding how your mind works and using that knowledge to create positive change. Here’s how NLP can assist you: Understanding Anxiety as a Learned Response: NLP views anxiety not as a flaw, but as something your mind has learned… Read More »Using NLP to overcomes aniety

What havening technique are used for

Havening Techniques are a psychosensory therapy that uses touch to promote healing and well-being. They are based on neuroscience and aim to alleviate stress, anxiety, and trauma by altering the way the brain processes information. Here’s a breakdown of what Havening Techniques are and what they’re used for: The Core Principle: Havening works by using… Read More »What havening technique are used for

Developing anxiety reducing habits.

A coach can assist in developing reduced anxiety habits by providing tools, techniques, and strategies to help individuals understand and manage their anxiety. Coaches can help clients become more proactive, rather than reactive, in dealing with their anxiety. Here’s how a coach might facilitate the reduction of anxiety habits: Understanding Anxiety: Coaches help clients understand… Read More »Developing anxiety reducing habits.

How the Havening Techniques could benefit you.

Havening Techniques are a psychosensory treatment that uses touch to eliminate unwanted feelings from distressing memories and events, and promote  personal growth. The method is consistent with current neuroscience. Havening is a gentle, rapid technique that is easy to learn, can be self-applied, and has essentially no side effects. What are Havening Techniques used for?… Read More »How the Havening Techniques could benefit you.