Skip to content
Home » Anxiety » Page 7

Anxiety

How to Calm Your Anxious Mind

When you feel nervous, anxious, or worried, it’s important not to fight those feelings. Instead, focus on what you can do to calm your anxious mind, such as using mindful breathing, practicing mindfulness, challenging negative thoughts, and accepting your feelings. These techniques can help you to manage the intensity of anxious feelings, and to move forward in a more positive way.

Deciding When to Seek Help from an Anxiety Specialist

Seeking help from an anxiety specialist is advisable when anxiety significantly interferes with your daily life, causes intense and prolonged distress, leads to avoidance behaviours, or prevents you from living in alignment with your values. If self-help strategies are not providing sufficient relief, or if you are using negative coping mechanisms, professional help can be beneficial. An anxiety specialist can assist in managing your symptoms and guide you towards a more fulfilling life.

Overthinking: Consequences, Connections, and Change

Overthinking can lead to significant negative consequences, often stemming from automatic negative thoughts and habits. This response explores how overthinking impacts individuals, its connection to negative thought patterns, and self-help strategies from NLP, solution-focused therapy, Havening, and acceptance and commitment therapy to lessen its impact and change the habit. Finally, guidance is provided on when to seek professional help.

Escaping the Worry Trap

The worry trap is a cycle fueled by the confusion of worry with productive thinking, attempts to control the uncontrollable, and avoidance of negative feelings. Escaping it involves accepting anxious thoughts rather than fighting them, practicing mindfulness, and focusing on actions aligned with values. By understanding these mechanisms, individuals can take steps to reduce their worries and lead more fulfilling lives.

A New Direction in Anxiety Treatment: ACT’s Innovative Approach

ACT offers a different perspective on anxiety treatment, moving away from the idea that anxiety is a problem to be solved and toward embracing it as a natural human experience. By focusing on acceptance, defusion, mindfulness, values, and committed action, ACT empowers individuals to live full, rich, and meaningful lives, regardless of their anxiety levels. While traditional methods like CBT and psychotherapy have their place, ACT may be preferable for those seeking a treatment that addresses the underlying processes of anxiety and fosters long-term well-being through acceptance and value-driven action. If you are looking for a new approach to anxiety that is more about living well than feeling good, ACT may be worth considering.

Seeking Confidentiality and Control: Why Senior Managers and Professionals Choose Private Anxiety Treatment

Senior managers and professionals often choose private anxiety treatment due to a need for confidentiality, control, and discretion. They may have specific workplace-related stressors, or preference for particular therapeutic approaches. Private therapy can provide a safe space, develop coping skills, and foster increased self-awareness, ultimately helping these individuals to manage their anxiety effectively and maintain high performance in their careers. It allows them to address their unique challenges without the fear of negative consequences within their professional lives.

Finding Relief: How Counselling Can Help with Anxiety

Counselling offers a supportive and structured approach to managing anxiety by addressing its underlying causes and equipping individuals with effective coping strategies. Unlike medication, which primarily targets the symptoms of anxiety, counselling aims to address the root issues and help individuals develop a healthier relationship with their anxious feelings. How Counselling Approaches Anxiety Counselling uses… Read More »Finding Relief: How Counselling Can Help with Anxiety

How does ACT differ from traditional CBT in treating anxiety?

ACT and traditional CBT offer different routes to address anxiety. While CBT targets the content of thoughts and aims to reduce symptoms, ACT focuses on the process of thinking and feeling, aiming to increase psychological flexibility and committed action through acceptance, defusion and mindfulness. ACT provides a more holistic approach that goes beyond symptom management and helps individuals lead richer, more meaningful lives aligned with their values. A client might consider ACT if they feel that traditional CBT is too focused on symptom reduction and is looking for a more comprehensive and value-based therapy that helps them accept their anxiety and move forward in their lives despite their anxieties.

The two distinct pathways in the brain that generate anxiety

There are two main pathways in the brain that can generate anxiety: the cortex pathway and the amygdala pathway. Both pathways can cause the amygdala to create an anxiety response, but they operate differently and can be targeted with different techniques. The Cortex Pathway: This pathway involves the thinking part of the brain and is… Read More »The two distinct pathways in the brain that generate anxiety

How does the amygdala contribute to anxiety responses?

The amygdala is a crucial component of the brain’s anxiety response system. It quickly detects threats, initiates the fight-or-flight response, forms emotional memories, and influences other brain regions. The amygdala’s influence is particularly evident when anxiety feels out of proportion to the situation, or when anxiety arises with no clear trigger.

Benefits of Talking Therapies and Other Approaches for Managing Anxiety

Seeking support for anxiety through talking therapies can be a useful method to help reduce distress, understand the roots of anxiety and develop healthier coping mechanisms. These therapies work by allowing people to talk with a professional who has experience in understanding and resolving these types of issues. Other techniques like mindfulness, acceptance and boundary setting can help with managing anxiety. Medication can also help to relieve symptoms, but doesn’t address the root causes of anxiety. The most important factor in managing anxiety is a person’s own willingness to engage with therapy or other helpful techniques.

Counselling and Modern Approaches to Managing Anxiety, Including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming

While traditional counselling can provide a base for managing anxiety, more modern approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and mindfulness-based approaches, offer different perspectives, practical tools and a new approach to managing and reducing anxiety. These methods focus on accepting difficult thoughts and feelings, living in alignment with one’s values and using specific techniques to make new changes and choices. These approaches are often chosen for their focus on present and future experiences, an emphasis on personal values and their empowering, practical tools.

The Interplay of Trauma and Anxiety: Brain Mechanisms, Healing Pathways, and Professional Guidance

Trauma significantly affects anxiety, altering brain function and leading to avoidant behaviours and heightened emotional reactivity. Addressing past traumas can lead to reduced anxiety and a richer more meaningful life. Self-help techniques like mindfulness, acceptance and conscious breathing can help, and there are several effective approaches that can be used by a professional. Choosing the right approach is a very personal journey that is best explored with the support of a qualified professional, and it is important to pay attention to key indicators when it’s time to seek that support. The aim is not to erase difficult feelings or thoughts but to transform one’s relationship to them.

Strategies to Prevent Uncertainty From Escalating Into Anxiety: A Guide to Managing Uncomfortable Feelings

When uncertainty starts to feel overwhelming, it’s important to act before it develops into anxiety. By using techniques such as focusing on your breath, being mindful of the present, accepting your feelings, taking action towards your values, evaluating your thoughts, and diverting your attention to positive things you can reduce the likelihood of that uncomfortable feeling turning into something more difficult to manage.