Anxiety, Phobias and Obsessive Compulsivity.
Anxiety
Counselling for anxiety covers a wide range of issues and symptoms. In general, we can describe the experience of anxiety as a kind of fear and that is marked by feelings of worry, unease, and dread. When people suffer from anxiety, they often have racing thoughts, difficulty sleeping, difficulty focusing, and are constantly worrying. Along with these patterns can come physical feelings like tension in different parts of the body, headaches, stomach problems such as nausea and diarrhea.
In addition to the general symptoms of anxiety described above, people who are anxious may also have panic attacks. They may have obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviour. People who are highly anxious may have addictions, and use alcohol, drugs, or even food as a way of trying to reduce their feelings of anxiety.
Ultimately, people who have high anxiety often end up feeling depressed. As they run out of inner resources to deal with anxiety, or an event happens that overwhelms their coping strategies, they can start to feel depressed as the mind, emotions and body shut down. Treatments for anxiety and depression often go hand in hand, but it is best to address anxiety issues before depression takes over.
As a counsellor who treats anxiety issues, I can help you work on strategies for reducing anxiety. This often starts with changing anxiety-producing thought patterns and learning relaxation and meditation techniques. It also involves developing new patterns for coping with situations that cause stress and anxiety. Sometimes people who are anxious have developed patterns that stem from emotional wounds that began at an earlier time in their lives. In these cases, therapy involves healing the wounds that started the patterns. This is deeper work that includes releasing painful emotions that are locked up underneath the anxiety. And finally, if you want to find contentment and inner peace, I can help you access the source of spiritual peace that has meaning to your personal journey.
Phobias
A phobia is a distinct fear of an object or a situation that causes a person to avoid that object or situation. Common phobias are the fear of heights, the fear of flying in an airplane, and fears of certain animals like snakes, spiders, or mice. But there are all kinds of phobias that people can develop in their lives, like the fear of crowds, or of going to school, or even of sunlight.
Some people can have a phobia all their lives, or a phobia can start spontaneously. Sometimes we can trace a phobia back to the day or period when it started. People often come in for counselling for a phobia when it is beginning to interfere with the normal functioning of their life.
Phobias can be reduced or eliminated through the use of cognitive behavioural therapy. This involves a gradual, systematic process of becoming more used to the cause of the fear. There are several ways to do this. Sometimes I will use relaxation techniques with a client to help them become less fearful, and sometimes I will accompany them as they slowly face the thing they fear. Part of the therapy will involve talking about the emotion that is associated with the feared thing, if there is any.
Counselling for a phobia is a straightforward process, and the results can be remarkable. You don't have to suffer with your fear for the rest of your life.
Obsessive Thinking and Compulsive Behavior (OCD)
When worry gets to an extreme level, it can become so intense that the same thought repeats over and over again. People who suffer from OCD are typically terrified that some harm will come to them or to those who they love. We all have those thoughts to some degree, but people with OCD lock into the worry and can’t let it go. The things they are worried about feel so real that they must do something about it.
The stereotypical manifestation of OCD is in the person who leaves their house and believes they left the stove on. They go back to check the stove, see that it has not been left on, and leaves their house again, only to feel like the stove has been left on again. Someone who is suffering like this can go through the ritual over and over again before they convince themselves that the stove has, in fact, been turned off. In a sense, someone with OCD can become “addicted” to the action, or compulsion, that seems to make him or her feel less anxious (like checking the stove over and over).
Some people have obsessive thoughts without compulsive actions. For example, they can have a fear of contracting a terminal illness, of being contaminated by germs, or being poisoned by chemicals. Some people are obsessed with pictures being perfectly level, or objects lining up properly. Some can have sexual or aggressive thoughts that are obsessive (but are never acted on). Some people can have obsessive thoughts about being gay, even if they have no feelings of attraction to the same gender.
An event or a memory or an emotional experience may initially trigger OCD. Over time, however, it tends to worsen. The obsessive thoughts, and the compulsive behavior that comes with them, tend to get “hard wired” into the brain. The more someone has this experience, the more likely it is to happen again. When a person tries to resist the compulsion, they will feel the tension mounting inside. If they act on it, they get some relief, but this makes it more likely for the cycle to happen again.
One can imagine OCD as a malfunction in the wiring of the brain. As such, treatment involves rewiring the brain, so it works properly again. Studies in brain plasticity have shown that the brain has the power to grow and change no matter what age or stage of life you are at. To help you overcome OCD I will take you through several steps where you will learn to refocus your mind from worrying thoughts to pleasurable ones. I will also help you redirect your obsessive tendencies from destructive patterns to productive ones.
Other issues I work with include:
