a prevalent mental health concern, impacts countless individuals worldwide. What Can A Therapist Do For Anxiety … As a Certified Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), I have seen the effect of anxiety on countless lives. In this short article, I will share an extensive expedition of anxiety through the lens of a recent therapy session with a patient, highlighting symptoms, treatment strategies, and my personal journey as a therapist with my own experiences of stress and anxiety In addition, we will discuss a term paper by Harvard University that sheds light on the diverse nature of anxiety.|Stress and anxiety, a widespread psychological health concern, affects millions of individuals worldwide. As a Certified Clinical Social Employee (LCSW), I have actually seen the effect of stress and anxiety on countless lives.}
presentation on strengths-based biopsychosocial techniques to resolving stress and anxiety and while those are wonderful you understand I believed maybe we should look at you know what’s some of the existing research so I went into PubMed which is I don’t understand it’s playground for me it’s where you discover a lot of the journal short articles and you can arrange and I sorted by articles that were done and meta-analyses that were done within the past 5 years so that provides us an idea about existing research I suggest there’s a great deal of stuff that is still the same like a few of the medications that were known to work 10 years back are still known to be you understand good first-line treatments but there are also some beginners that we’ll discuss and there are also some modifications that we’re going to talk about so we’re going to explore some common causes for stress and anxiety symptoms in order to treat it we really need to and naturally this does play into the biopsychosocial aspect we truly need to comprehend type of what causes it since stress and anxiety that’s triggered by for example somebody having a racing heart may be various than stress and anxiety that’s caused for somebody who has desertion concerns so we’re gon na deal with the two things differently so we wish to look at a few of the typical causes we’re gon na take a look at some typical triggers for stress and anxiety you know what are a few of these common styles that we see in practice and I will ask you to share some of the styles that you see that underlie a lot or highlight of your customers stress and anxiety and identify existing finest practices for anxiety management including therapy interventions medications physical interventions and helpful treatments so we care due to the fact that anxiety.
can be debilitating and a lot of our clients have anxiety a great deal of our customers have anxiety comorbid with anxiety and they’re looking at us going how can I feel nervous and stressed out and like I can’t sit still and depressed at the same time you understand when you’re depressed you’re supposed to wish to sleep well a great deal of times individuals who are have both concerns actually want to sleep but they can’t so I want to help customers comprehend that likewise sometimes anxiety when individuals are anxious for enough time the body starts type of holding on to the cortisol the body in fact acknowledges at a particular point this is a losing battle I’m not going to put energy into this any longer so it begins with drawing a few of its excitatory neurotransmitter so to speak and individuals will begin to feel depressed basically the brain has actually currently stated this is hopeless this is you’re you’re powerless to change the circumstance so then people start feeling helpless and helpless which is sort of the definition if you will of depression low-grade chronic stress and stress and anxiety developed energy and individuals’s ability to focus so if we’re going to help them become their uber selves we require to help them determine how to deal with anxiety not just generalized overwhelming debilitating stress and anxiety however likewise panic social anxiety and those small stress and anxiety activates that occurred that might not fulfill the threshold for a medical diagnosis stress and anxiety is a significant trigger for addiction regression if you have a client who is self
medicated before or had an addiction for some reason anxiety is a significant trigger increased physical pain when anxiety increases individuals tend to tense their muscles when they tense their muscles they tend to feel more discomfort I mean consider when you’re stressed you tend to have more pain like in your neck in your back and things that already harmed may harm more why due to the fact that serotonin which is among our significant anti-anxiety neurotransmitters is likewise among our major pain modulators so when serotonin levels are too low because stress and anxiety is high then our pain perception is going to be more acute and individuals can have sleep issues if you’re stressed your body believes there’s a hazard you’re not going to have the ability to enter that deep peaceful sleep you might have you might sleep you might sleep a lot however it’s probably not quality sleep which implies your neurotransmitters may get out of whack your hormones make it out of whack and your body is going to begin viewing your itself in a relentless state of tension when we’re exhausted the body knows that we may be the weakest link in the herd so it continues to produce cortisol to keep keep you on alert a little bit so you might once again you may be resting sort of like when you have a new infant in the house those very first number of months that my children were home from the hospital I slept but I didn’t sleep well I indicate the slightest little sound and I was awake and I was browsing and you understand I felt it I felt tired and a great deal of brand-new parents do so activates for stress and anxiety desertion and rejection and we’re going to talk about methods we might wish to handle these things but a few of the underlying themes that I’ve seen in a lot of customers and when I do the research study what a lot of what themes that come out consist of low self-esteem
if somebody has low self-esteem they’re looking to be externally verified usually they’re looking for someone else to tell them you’re adorable you’re fine so that can result in anxiety about not having people to tell them you’re alright which makes their relationships rare and can make them dysfunctional irrational thoughts and cognitive distortions may lead people to think that if I’m not ideal for instance I am not adorable so we’re going to take a look at some illogical thoughts and cognitive distortions unhealthy social supports and relationships when you’re in a relationship it takes 2 to tango and even if your customer is relatively mentally and physically healthy if they are in a dysfunctional relationship they can fear desertion and rejection if that other person is constantly saying if you don’t do X I’m going to leave you or if that other individual is constantly cheating on them or whatever so relationships can trigger desertion anxiety and inadequate social abilities can cause relationship chaos and social exile if our customers remain in relationships even if they’re not entirely inefficient if our customers are not able to ask for what they need and set appropriate borders and manage dispute efficiently because conflict takes place in every relationship then they might begin to argue more which might lead to fearing may result in relationships ending in the past and them going well every relationship I enter ends which implies I must not be lovable so they start fearing abandonment and rejection so these are 4 locations that we can look at another examining clients another problem is the unknown and loss of control a great deal of times negative self-talk and cognitive distortions can contribute to that if I don’t have control of whatever then it’s all going to be a disaster unfavorable others when customers hang out or when people socialize with negative people it kind of wears on you after a while you discover that individuals who are tend to be more unfavorable cynical conspiracy minded tend to socialize with people who are likewise negative downhearted and conspiracy minded so if you’re hanging out with someone who tends to be distressed then the anxiety can be palpable and it can sort of penetrate physical problems can lead individuals to be anxious due to the fact that they don’t understand what’s triggering it like I stated earlier in some cases if your heart starts to race if you do not know what’s triggering it you can begin believing I’m having a cardiovascular disease or I’m gon na die when individuals have panic attacks for instance they truly believe they’re having a cardiac arrest and
it’s I have actually had them they are really extremely unpleasant experiences however when individuals begin having physical complaints and it can be you know they have a weird rash that they can’t get to go away or it whatever but when they don’t know what it is and they can’t manage it they can’t make it go away they begin thinking about all the worst-case scenarios and going on the internet and getting on WebMD which normally offers you all the worst-case circumstances um so physical problems are very important we require to normalize the truth that nobody’s pain-free all the time and you know the fact that you may have a pain or a pains or a swelling or a bump or you understand a cough more than likely you know when we look at probability the likelihood of it being something significant is quite small now do you wish to get it checked out most likely however you understand the likelihood that is anything to be worried about is is relatively small and a sense of powerlessness can set off worry of the unknown and loss of control for someone who doesn’t seem like they have any company in their life if they have an external locus of control or if they felt taken advantage of all of their life then they may fear not being in control they may be holding on and stating alright this is the one area of my life I can manage when I matured you know I matured in a very chaotic environment I had no control I was bounced around in the foster system yadda yadda yadda now that I’m an adult you know I can control these things and I am going to hold on with white knuckles and if I can’t manage whatever then that horrifies me death and loss are other triggers for anxiety and it can be individuals or family pets and animals are essential I do not want to minimize animals because you understand they are little parts of a lot of our households so making sure we inspect that my child’s pet dog for example is it’s getting old she’s growing older she’s 14 now I believe and you know she remains in good health we took her to the vet and the veterinarian said yeah she’s got a little heart whispering but that’s expected for a 14 year old pet dog and but when she goes out if she doesn’t come back when I call her I have this rush of anxiety for a second oh my gosh I hope this wasn’t the day so anxiety around losing people and you understand if she when she crosses the bridge she will and and you understand
I’m alright with that I’m I have a harder time dealing with my daughter’s psychological chaos when that takes place and because she’s grown up with this pet dog so you know those are the types of things that we wish to talk about with our customers what things are weighing on you that you might not even be considering since I understand in the back of my mind there’s always that fret about one of our donkeys and her canine jobs and promotions can set off stress and anxiety if people hesitate they’re gon na lose their task if they’re always scared that you understand they’re gon na stroll in and get a pink slip or get fired you know we want to help them look at how practical is that are you doing what you need to do in order to attain and keep your job and sometimes it’s difficult to answer I imply the first idea that a great deal of us have is well you know if you’re doing the best thing so simply do it but there are those employers out there and I’ve had some really remarkable bosses a great deal of them and I have actually had two actually horrendous employers and those 2 employers I might never I never seemed like I had the ability to do anything ideal and so going to those jobs there was constantly this stress and anxiety about what I’m what am I going to get in trouble for today so you want to talk with individuals about does your job cause stress and anxiety what can you do to moderate that anxiety the exact same thing with promotions people might get nervous about whether they’re going to get promoted security and security you understand when you lose safety and security you can feel really nervous so if there’s a burglary at your home next door or a shooting down the road or you start watching the news you can feel unsecure and very hazardous really rapidly so we wish to assist people determine how safe and secure are you actually and a lot of it goes back to actually taking a look at facts when individuals lose their dreams and hopes or fear that they’re going to lose their dreams and hopes they can start to get nervous you understand they have this dream that they’re going to be a medical professional or I simply completed the discussion on assisting high school trainees shift to college and a lot of high school students for instance start college with these broad eyes and wants to save the world and they want to be doctors and engineers and this and that and they enter into it and they understand that it’s a lot harder than they believed or they understand that you know what I actually don’t like this however I have actually already devoted to it so what do I do or I wish to help people but I can’t I can’t cut it doing this you know for me I determined in my 2nd year that I wasn’t going to medical school since I wasn’t going to pass calculus which triggered a great deal of anxiety it resembled fine what am I gon na do now you know what career ought to I choose so helping individuals find out do you have dreams that have maybe kind of crashed and burned and you need to find brand-new ones you know all right that a person we’ve got to accept it find out that it’s not going to be and what can you do now people
might also have dreams about relationships they get into relationships and they see themselves with this individual permanently and after that this relationship ends and or begins to get rocky and they resemble but that’s my dream what occurs if my that’s got to happen because it’s my dream I do not understand how to operate if that goes away we want to help people be able to rewrite their story and after that sickness spiders and other phobias type of shares death a lot of times when people get sick they begin getting distressed that oh my gosh what if this is terminal oh my gosh what if this is you understand incurable if I get bit by a spider it’s gon na kill me and which is unusual you know there are extremely couple of spiders that are really that dangerous very same thing with snakes reviewing bridges I’ve shared with you all that is not one of my illogical worries you know I am simply frightened that you know something’s going to take place and I’m going to get pushed off the side of the bridge which is completely unreasonable but we need to assist people look at those and recognize the thoughts that they’re telling themself about those fears and deal with that stress and anxiety failure is another trigger for stress and anxiety particularly in this culture our culture American culture in in large part puts a high premium on success and perfectionism so when people recognize that they’re not best they may start to get anxious since they feel like if I’m not best then I’m a failure you understand those cognitive distortions of all-or-nothing thinking and they begin with that unfavorable self-talk you understand you can’t do anything right so those are some of the concerns that you understand we frequently see in counseling sessions so what do we do you understand somebody can be found in and it like I can’t live by doing this doc anxiety depression and substance disorders along with a variety of physical disorders are frequently comorbid so this is the first thing we require to recognize we require to understand that we’re very rarely handling an extremely simple medical diagnosis you know when somebody is available in we need to find out you understand if they are available in and they’re presenting with anxiety all right let’s speak about that and
Understanding Stress And Anxiety: A Client’s Experience:
In my recent session with Emma (name altered for privacy), a 32-year-old woman, I had the opportunity to dig into the detailed layers of anxiety. These signs were interfering with her daily life, relationships, and overall wellness.
Emma’s Treatment Plan:
To resolve Emma’s stress and anxiety, we established a thorough treatment strategy tailored to her distinct needs. Here are some key elements of her plan:
Psychoeducation: Educating Emma about stress and anxiety and its mental and physiological symptoms helped her gain a much deeper understanding of her symptoms. This knowledge empowered her to recognize and confirm her experiences.
Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment (CBT): CBT is an evidence-based technique that focuses on recognizing and challenging illogical thoughts and beliefs. Emma found out to reframe unfavorable ideas and establish a more well balanced point of view, slowly lowering anxiety-triggering cognitions.
Relaxation Techniques: Integrating relaxation methods such as deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, and mindfulness meditation assisted Emma regulate her tension reaction and promote a sense of calm.
Direct exposure Treatment: As Emma expressed avoidance behaviors related to certain triggers, we gradually exposed her to those circumstances in a controlled way. This exposure allowed her to face her fears and establish resilience versus anxiety-provoking stimuli.
Self-Care and Way Of Life Adjustments: Emma recognized the value of self-care practices in handling her anxiety. She focused on routine exercise, healthy eating, quality sleep, and engaging in activities she delighted in to promote general well-being.
My Journey as a Therapist:
My choice to become a therapist was deeply affected by my own struggles with stress and anxiety. When working with clients facing similar challenges, my individual journey has offered me with special insights and empathy. Having experienced stress and anxiety firsthand, I am able to relate to my clients’ worries, concerns, and the effect anxiety can have on different aspects of life.
Harvard’s Research on Stress and anxiety:
A critical research paper entitled “Comprehending the Complexity of Anxiety: Insights from a Longitudinal Research Study” by Harvard University provides important insights into the intricacy of anxiety disorders. The research study followed a cohort of people over a period of ten years and analyzed various aspects adding to the development, upkeep, and treatment of stress and anxiety.
The paper highlighted that stress and anxiety conditions arise from a combination of hereditary, environmental, and psychological aspects. It highlighted the value of early intervention, evidence-based treatments, and holistic methods in managing anxiety efficiently. The findings further highlighted the significance of a therapeutic alliance and customized treatment strategies in addressing anxiety. What Can A Therapist Do For Anxiety
Conclusion:
Anxiety is a deeply individual and multifaceted experience that impacts individuals in profound methods. Through healing interventions like psychoeducation, CBT, relaxation strategies, direct exposure therapy, and self-care practices, individuals like Emma can gain control over their anxiety and lead fulfilling lives.