Getting Help in Therapy For Anxiety

It's not unusual to experience stress during the normal course of our lives. Normal stress occurs in every day life and can actually help us to be more effective and productive at times. However, compared to mild stress, an anxiety disorder such as generalized anxiety, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias or post-traumatic stress disorder can cause us to feel significant and debilitating distress. Without help, these anxiety disorders can interfere with our relationships and our every day activities (see my articles: Self Help Tips For Coping With Anxiety and What is the Difference Between Fear and Anxiety?).

Getting Help in Therapy for Anxiety

Common Forms of Anxiety

The following list includes some of the most common forms of anxiety:

• Generalized anxiety disorder: Generalized anxiety disorder occurs when a person worries excessively and has a feeling of foreboding and dread that bad things are going to happen. He or she might be worrying excessively about issues like money, health, or his or her relationship. These worries are often not related to a particular circumstance in the present, and they are recurring and persistent. These worries are also intense enough to interfere with a person's relationships and daily activities. He or she might have problems concentrating or sleeping. Generalized anxiety might affect appetite. These persistent worries might interfere with a person's ability to communicate or relate to others because he or she is so consumed with anxiety.

• Panic disorder: People with panic disorder often feel a sudden feeling of dread. Their heart might start racing. They might also start sweating profusely. The actual panic might only last a few minutes, but the person with panic disorder often worries about when the next panic will occur. Often, people with panic disorder start to avoid the situations, places or people that they associate with their panic. Without treatment, the people, places and situations that they avoid can increase until, in severe cases, they are too afraid to go outside (see my article: Tips For Coping With Panic Disorder).

• Phobias: Phobias are irrational fears of various things: fear of heights, fear of animals, fear of being in enclosed places, fear of flying, and so on. Similar to people with panic disorder, people who suffer with phobias often try to avoid the situations and things that they fear. This is not always possible, so when they are forced to deal with their phobia, their phobic reaction often turns into panic (see my article: What Are Phobias?).

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): People who suffer with OCD engage in certain obsessive thoughts or compulsive activities. These obsessive thoughts and compulsive activities are unwanted, but the person with OCD feels compelled to do them when they feel anxious. For many people, these thoughts or activities become ritualized, so that they might have to do things in a certain order or a certain way or a certain number of times. OCD can also involve an excessive fear of germs or contamination, excessive checking (e.g., checking that the door is locked several times in a row or checking many times in a row that the gas is turned off, etc). OCD can also involve excessive hand washing.

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): People who experience overwhelming trauma, possibly due to a natural disaster, a crime, a combat situation, an accident or other emotionally overwhelming events, can develop PTSD. We often associate PTSD with soldiers in war. Originally, PTSD during combat was called "shell shock." However, we now know that PTSD can develop outside of combat situations. People who develop PTSD might not experience any symptoms for months or even years after the event. Anything that reminds them of the traumatic event might cause them to feel like they're reliving the original traumatic event. They might feel panic or intense fear whenever they are confronted with reminders. For instance, if someone gets into a severe car accident, after he recovers from the accident, he might be too afraid to drive again. Or, even if he is able to get behind the wheel again, he might experience feelings of terror and dread if he has to drive to the same place where the accident occurred. Without help, PTSD can be a severe and debilitating disorder that can seriously affect a person's life as he or she relives the incident emotionally and tries to avoid anything that brings up these feelings again (see my article: Postttraumatic Growth).

Getting Help for Anxiety Disorders:
Anxiety disorders are not the same as normal stress and every day anxiety. Left untreated, anxiety disorders often have serious adverse effects on people's lives. It's not unusual for a fear that begins about a particular situation or event to generalize to other areas, causing tremendous disruption to a person's life.

For instance, if a person has an untreated fear of being in an elevator because it is an enclosed space, this fear often generalizes to fear of being on a train or plane or in a small room. Since we now know more about the mind-body connection, we also know that untreated anxiety disorders can often lead to medical problems. We also know that some people with anxiety disorders turn to drinking excessively, abusing drugs, gambling, sexual addiction, and other addictions as a maladaptive way of coping.

How I Treat Anxiety Disorders:
As a licensed psychotherapist in New York City, I use a variety of psychotherapeutic treatment modalities to treat anxiety disorders, including psychodynamic psychotherapy, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), clinical hypnosis (also known as hypnotherapy), Somatic Experiencing, Ego States work (also known as Parts Work) and AEDP.

Each therapy is tailored to the needs of the individual client.

After the initial evaluation, I work collaboratively with the client to come up with the treatment plan that is best for him/her/them.

If you think you might be suffering with an anxiety, it's important to know that you're not alone and you can get help from a licensed mental health professional.

About Me

I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing therapist who has helped many clients to overcome anxiety disorders (see my article: What is a Trauma Therapist?).

I work with individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Overcoming Anticipatory Anxiety

In a prior article, How to Stop Worrying, I addressed a concern that many chronic worriers have.  In this article, I'm addressing a specific type of worrying, which is called anticipatory anxiety.

Overcoming Anticipatory Anxiety

Many people struggle with anticipatory anxiety, which is worrying about something in advance of it occurring.

The thing that you're worried about is something that may or may not occur at some point in the future.

Anticipatory anxiety isn't an anxiety disorder.  It's part of different types of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety, panic attacks, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other forms of anxiety.

What Are the Symptoms of Anticipatory Anxiety?
Symptoms can include:

• excessive worrying
• insomnia
• muscle aches
• nausea
• headaches
• hyperventilation
• feelings of dread
• overeating
• gastrointestinal problems
• panic attacks

When, Why and How Does Anticipatory Anxiety Occur?
Anticipatory anxiety can occur at any time and for many people it's a chronic condition.

Anticipatory anxiety can include worrying in advance of anything being wrong about money, job loss, problems in a relationship or any other event or situation that hasn't occurred yet.

The fact that it hasn't occurred yet is key--it is the anticipation that something bad will happen.  It's not necessarily based on anything objective that is going on now.

Anticipatory anxiety can occur based on your past, including early childhood experiences.

For instance, if you grew up in a home that was chaotic where your parents were constantly worried about real and imagined problems, you can grow up feeling that the world isn't a safe place and, generally, anything that can go wrong will go wrong in your life as an adult.  This can develop into generalized anxiety disorder.

Many people who suffer with anticipatory anxiety are unaware that they have become accustomed to this habitual way of worrying.  Their habit of worrying has become automatic.

If you had significant trauma that has resulted in your developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you might respond to many events or situations in your life as if they will result in catastrophe (see my article:  Are You Catastrophizing?)

There is no differentiation between traumatic events and normal non-traumatic life events.

How to Overcome Anticipatory Anxiety?
Here are some tips that might be helpful to you:

• Rather than allowing your thoughts to run away with you, make a conscious effort to step back from worrying and question whether the things you're worrying about are likely to happen.
• Ask yourself if you're okay now (as opposed to your worries about the future).
• Think about all the other times when you worried about something and things turned out well.
• Distract yourself from your worries by focusing on something else.
• Talk to a friend or loved one to get a better perspective.

Getting Help in Therapy
The tips outlined above work for some people.

Many other people, who try to deal with their anticipatory anxiety on their own find that they need the help of a professional mental health professional, especially if their problems are longstanding and ingrained.

A licensed psychotherapist can help you to get to the root of the problem that causes you to have anticipatory anxiety.

Rather than suffering on your own, with the help of a licensed therapist, you can overcome this problem so you can lead a more fulfilling life.

About Me
I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing therapist who works with individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website:  Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Adults Who Were Traumatized As Children Are Often Afraid to Experience Their Feelings - Part 2

In my prior blog article,  Adults Who Are Traumatized As Children Are Often Afraid to Feel All Their Feelings  - Part 1, I began a discussion about how difficult it can be for traumatized adults to allow themselves to feel all their feelings.  Today, I would like to continue this discussion and focus on some of the consequences for adults when they continue to suppress uncomfortable feelings.

Traumatized and Afraid of Emotions

Suppressing Uncomfortable Feelings Can Have Many Negative Consequences
As I mentioned in my prior article, traumatized children often have no choice but to suppress their feelings.  It's often an adaptive thing to do because allowing themselves to feel uncomfortable feelings related to the trauma would be too overwhelming for them in most cases.

But when these same people become adults, if they continue to suppress uncomfortable feelings, it isn't useful any more.  As adults, suppressing uncomfortable feelings can cause all kinds of other emotional, physical and interpersonal problems.

Suppressing Uncomfortable Feelings Can Lead to the Following Emotional, Medical, Marital, Family, Career and Interpersonal Problems:

Depression and Anxiety 
When you suppress uncomfortable feelings, it can lead to depressive and anxiety-related disorders.  Why does this happen?  Well, when you suppress your feelings, these feelings don't just go away.  They often intensify.  The more you try to push them down, the more intense they become.  It becomes a vicious cycle that for many people can lead to serious episodes of depression and anxiety.

Medical Problems
Medical problems like migraines, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart problems, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), insomnia, muscle aches, joint stiffness, and a compromised immune system are among the many physical problems that can result from suppressing feelings. 

Marital and Family Problems

Think of the employee at work who feels he must do everything possible to suppress his anger at his boss while he is at work.  Then, he comes home and he often loses his temper with his wife and children.  It's often not intentional--he just can't contain his feelings any more.  There can be misunderstandings between him and his wife or between him and his children because he's so distracted by his pent up feelings.

Career Problems

There can be so many ways that suppressed feelings can cause problems in a career.  It can cause poor communication with your boss or colleagues.  You also might not be picking up on social cues because all of your energy and focus is going into keeping your feelings down.  This can have disastrous consequences for your career.

Substance Abuse, Sex Addiction, Gambling and Other Impulsive and Addictive Behavior
Many people, who try to suppress feelings, turn to alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex and other forms of addictive behavior in an effort not to feel their feelings.  Aside from the physical problems that addictive behavior can create, addiction ruins lives for those who are addicted as well as their loved ones.  Without help, it usually leads to a downward spiral 

Problems with Feeling Inauthentic to Yourself and to Others
Suppressing feelings can also make you feel disconnected from the core of who you are as a person.  It can make you feel inauthentic to yourself as well as to others, especially if you're trying to "put on a happy face" to hide your true feelings.  This often doesn't work because others can sense that there's something amiss.

Developing the Capacity to Feel and Accept Your Feelings: Clinical Hypnosis and Somatic Experiencing
When you've spent a lifetime suppressing feelings that you're uncomfortable with, you need to learn how to develop the capacity to feel and accept your feelings.  I will address this in more detail in future blog posts but, for now, I'll close by saying that, I've found the combination of clinical hypnosis and Somatic Experiencing to be one of the most gentle and effective ways to develop this capacity.  

Clinical hypnosis and Somatic Experiencing allow the therapist and client to work with manageable segments of the problem in a way that's usually tolerable for the client.  In my experience, these two treatment modalities, which emphasize the body-mind connection, help the clients to deal with traumatic experiences and work through these issues so that clients learn to feel and accept all their feelings.

Getting Help in Therapy
If you have unresolved trauma, you owe it to yourself to get help from a licensed mental health professional who has expertise in trauma work.

About Me
I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing therapist who works with individual adults and couples.  

I have helped many clients to work through their trauma so they can lead more fulfilling lives.

To find out more about me, visit my website:  Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.