a prevalent psychological health concern, impacts millions of individuals worldwide. Questions To Ask A Therapist About Anxiety … As a Licensed Scientific Social Worker (LCSW), I have witnessed the effect of anxiety on many lives. In this post, I will share an in-depth exploration of stress and anxiety through the lens of a recent treatment session with a patient, highlighting signs, treatment methods, and my personal journey as a therapist with my own experiences of anxiety In addition, we will talk about a term paper by Harvard University that sheds light on the diverse nature of anxiety.|Anxiety, a common psychological health concern, impacts millions of people worldwide. As a Certified Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), I have actually witnessed the impact of stress and anxiety on countless lives.}
discussion on strengths-based biopsychosocial techniques to addressing anxiety and while those are fantastic you know I thought perhaps we should look at you understand what’s a few of the current research study so I went into PubMed which is I don’t know it’s play ground for me it’s where you discover a great deal of the journal articles and you can sort and I arranged by posts that were done and meta-analyses that were done within the past five years so that offers us a concept about present research study I mean there’s a lot of things that is still the same like a few of the medications that were known to work 10 years earlier are still known to be you know good first-line treatments but there are also some newbies that we’ll speak about and there are likewise some modifications that we’re going to discuss so we’re going to check out some common causes for stress and anxiety signs in order to treat it we truly need to and obviously this does play into the biopsychosocial element we truly require to understand kind of what triggers it due to the fact that anxiety that’s caused by for example someone having a racing heart might be various than anxiety that’s triggered for somebody who has abandonment problems so we’re gon na treat the two things in a different way so we want to look at some of the common causes we’re gon na look at some common triggers for stress and anxiety you know what are a few of these typical styles that we see in practice and I will ask you to share a few of the themes that you see that underlie a lot or underline of your clients anxiety and recognize current finest practices for stress and anxiety management including counseling interventions medications physical interventions and supportive treatments so we care because anxiety.
can be debilitating and a lot of our customers have stress and anxiety a lot of our customers have stress and anxiety comorbid with depression and they’re taking a look 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 lot of times individuals who are have both problems really want to sleep however they can’t so I want to help clients understand that also often stress and anxiety when people are anxious for long enough the body starts kind of hanging on to the cortisol the body in fact recognizes at a specific 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 already said this is hopeless this is you’re you’re helpless to alter the circumstance so then individuals start feeling helpless and helpless which is sort of the definition if you will of anxiety low-grade persistent tension and stress and anxiety emerged energy and people’s ability to focus so if we’re going to help them become their uber selves we require to help them determine how to resolve anxiety not just generalized frustrating debilitating anxiety but also panic social anxiety and those small stress and anxiety sets off that come along that may not satisfy the limit for a medical diagnosis anxiety is a major trigger for addiction regression if you have a client who is self
medicated prior to or had a dependency for some reason anxiety is a significant trigger increased physical pain when stress and anxiety increases individuals tend to tense their muscles when they tense their muscles they tend to feel more pain I imply consider when you’re stressed you tend to have more discomfort like in your neck in your back and things that already harmed may harm more why since serotonin which is one of our major anti-anxiety neurotransmitters is also among our major pain modulators so when serotonin levels are too low because anxiety is high then our pain perception is going to be more severe and individuals can have sleep problems if you’re stressed out your body believes there’s a danger you’re not going to be able to enter into that deep relaxing sleep you may have you may sleep you may sleep a lot but it’s most likely not quality sleep which indicates your neurotransmitters might leave whack your hormones make it out of whack and your body is going to start viewing your itself in a persistent state of stress when we’re exhausted the body understands that we might be the weakest link in the herd so it continues to secrete cortisol to keep keep you on alert a little bit so you may once again you might be resting sort of like when you have a new infant at home those very first number of months that my kids were house from the medical facility I slept but I didn’t sleep well I suggest the smallest little noise and I was awake and I was browsing and you understand I felt it I felt exhausted and a great deal of brand-new moms and dads do so sets off for stress and anxiety desertion and rejection and we’re going to talk about ways we might want to handle these things but some of the underlying styles that I have actually seen in a lot of customers and when I do the research what a lot of what themes that come out consist of low self-esteem
if someone has low self-esteem they’re looking to be externally verified often they’re looking for someone else to tell them you’re adorable you’re all right so that can cause stress and anxiety about not having people to tell them you’re fine which makes their relationships rare and can make them dysfunctional cognitive distortions and unreasonable ideas may lead individuals to think that if I’m not best for instance I am not adorable so we’re going to look at some irrational thoughts and cognitive distortions unhealthy social supports and relationships when you’re in a relationship it takes two to tango and even if your customer is reasonably psychologically and physically healthy if they remain in an inefficient relationship they can fear abandonment and rejection if that other individual is constantly stating if you do not do X I’m going to leave you or if that other individual is always cheating on them or whatever so relationships can trigger abandonment stress and anxiety and inefficient social abilities can result in relationship chaos and social exile if our clients remain in relationships even if they’re not totally inefficient if our customers are unable to request what they require and set appropriate boundaries and manage conflict successfully due to the fact that dispute occurs in every relationship then they might begin to argue more which may cause fearing might cause relationships ending in the past and them going well every relationship I enter into ends which indicates I should not be adorable so they begin fearing desertion and rejection so these are 4 areas that we can take a look at another assessing customers another concern is the unknown and loss of control a lot of times unfavorable 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 catastrophe negative others when customers hang out or when people hang out with unfavorable individuals it type of endures you after a while you observe that people who are tend to be more unfavorable pessimistic conspiracy minded tend to socialize with people who are likewise unfavorable downhearted and conspiracy minded so if you’re hanging out with someone who tends to be anxious then the stress and anxiety can be palpable and it can sort of permeate physical problems can lead individuals to be nervous since they do not know what’s triggering it like I said earlier in some cases if your heart begins to race if you don’t understand what’s triggering it you can start thinking I’m having a cardiac arrest or I’m gon na pass away when people have panic attacks for example they really think they’re having a cardiac arrest and
it’s I have actually had them they are extremely very unpleasant experiences but when individuals start having physical complaints and it can be you understand they have a strange rash that they can’t get to go away or it whatever however when they do not know what it is and they can’t manage it they can’t make it disappear they begin thinking of all the worst-case circumstances and going online and getting on WebMD which normally offers you all the worst-case situations um so physical grievances are essential we require to normalize the fact that no one’s pain-free all the time and you know the truth that you might have a discomfort or a pains or a swelling or a bump or you understand a cough more than likely you understand when we look at possibility the likelihood of it being something considerable is pretty little now do you wish to get it took a look at probably however you know the probability that is anything to be stressed over is is relatively little and a sense of powerlessness can set off worry of the unknown and loss of control for someone who doesn’t feel like they have any company in their life if they have an external locus of control or if they felt victimized all of their life then they might fear not being in control they might be holding on and saying alright this is the one area of my life I can manage when I grew up you understand I grew up in a really disorderly 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 hang on with white knuckles and if I can’t control everything then that frightens me death and loss are other triggers for anxiety and it can be pets or people and animals are essential I don’t wish to lessen animals since you understand they are little parts of a lot of our households so ensuring we examine 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’s in decent health we took her to the vet and the veterinarian stated yeah she’s got a little heart murmur however that’s anticipated for a 14 year old canine and however when she goes out if she does not 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 know
I’m fine with that I’m I have a more difficult time handling my daughter’s psychological turmoil when that takes place and since she’s grown up with this canine so you understand those are the kinds of things that we want to speak about with our clients what things are weighing on you that you may not even be considering because I understand in the back of my mind there’s always that fret about one of our donkeys and her dog tasks and promotions can trigger anxiety if individuals are afraid they’re gon na lose their task if they’re always afraid that you know they’re gon na stroll in and get a pink slip or get fired you know we want to help them take a look at how reasonable is that are you doing what you need to do in order to attain and keep your job and often it’s not easy to address I indicate the very first idea that a great deal of us have is well you understand if you’re doing the best thing so just do it however there are those employers out there and I have actually had some truly incredible bosses a lot of them and I’ve had two really horrendous bosses and those two bosses I might never I never ever seemed like I was able to do anything right therefore going to those tasks there was constantly this stress and anxiety about what I’m what am I going to get in trouble for today so you wish to talk with individuals about does your task cause stress and anxiety what can you do to moderate that anxiety the very same thing with promotions individuals might get nervous about whether they’re going to get promoted security and security you know when you lose safety and security you can feel really distressed so if there’s a burglary at your home next door or a shooting down the road or you begin enjoying the news you can feel unsecure and really hazardous actually quickly so we wish to assist people find out how safe and safe and secure are you actually and a lot of it returns 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 begin to get distressed you know they have this dream that they’re going to be a physician or I just ended up the presentation on helping high school trainees transition to college and a lot of high school students for instance start college with these large eyes and wants to conserve the world and they wish to be physicians and engineers and this and that and they enter into it and they realize that it’s a lot harder than they thought or they recognize that you understand what I actually don’t like this however I’ve already committed to it so what do I do or I want to assist individuals however 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 because I wasn’t going to pass calculus and that caused a great deal of anxiety it was like alright what am I gon na do now you understand what career should I select so helping individuals find out do you have dreams that have maybe sort of crashed and burned and you need to discover brand-new ones you understand alright that one we’ve got to accept it find out that it’s not going to be and what can you do now individuals
might likewise have dreams about relationships they enter into relationships and they see themselves with this individual permanently and after that this relationship ends and or starts to get rocky and they’re like but that’s my dream what occurs if my that’s got to occur since it’s my dream I do not understand how to work if that goes away we wish to assist individuals have the ability to rewrite their narrative and then sickness spiders and other phobias kind of shares death a lot of times when people get ill they start getting anxious that oh my gosh what if this is terminal oh my gosh what if this is you know incurable if I get bit by a spider it’s gon na eliminate me and which is rare you know there are very few spiders that are really that dangerous very same thing with snakes reviewing bridges I have actually shown you all that is not one of my illogical fears you know I am just terrified that you know something’s going to occur and I’m going to get pushed off the side of the bridge which is totally irrational however we need to assist people take a look at those and recognize the ideas that they’re informing themself about those phobias and handle that anxiety failure is another trigger for stress and anxiety specifically in this culture our culture American culture in in big part puts a high premium on success and perfectionism so when people understand that they’re not perfect they might start to get nervous since they seem like if I’m not perfect then I’m a failure you know 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 issues that you know we typically see in counseling sessions so what do we do you understand somebody comes in and it like I can’t live by doing this doc anxiety depression and substance conditions in addition to a range of physical conditions are often comorbid so this is the first thing we need to understand we require to understand that we’re very rarely handling an extremely easy medical diagnosis you know when somebody is available in we require to determine you understand if they come in and they’re presenting with anxiety all right let’s speak about that and
Comprehending Stress And Anxiety: A Client’s Experience:
In my recent session with Emma (name changed for personal privacy), a 32-year-old female, I had the chance to dig into the detailed layers of stress and anxiety. These signs were interfering with her day-to-day life, relationships, and total wellness.
Emma’s Treatment Plan:
To attend to Emma’s anxiety, we developed an extensive treatment plan customized to her distinct needs. Here are some crucial elements of her plan:
Psychoeducation: Educating Emma about stress and anxiety and its physiological and mental manifestations assisted her gain a much deeper understanding of her signs. This understanding empowered her to acknowledge and verify her experiences.
Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment (CBT): CBT is an evidence-based method that concentrates on determining and challenging unreasonable thoughts and beliefs. Emma learned to reframe unfavorable thoughts and develop a more well balanced viewpoint, slowly lowering anxiety-triggering cognitions.
Relaxation Methods: Incorporating relaxation strategies such as deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, and mindfulness meditation helped Emma regulate her tension reaction and promote a sense of calm.
Direct exposure Therapy: As Emma expressed avoidance habits related to specific triggers, we gradually exposed her to those situations in a regulated manner. This direct exposure enabled her to challenge her fears and establish durability versus anxiety-provoking stimuli.
Self-Care and Lifestyle Adjustments: Emma acknowledged the significance of self-care practices in handling her anxiety. She prioritized regular workout, healthy consuming, 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. My individual journey has provided me with special insights and empathy when working with clients facing comparable difficulties. Having experienced stress and anxiety firsthand, I have the ability to associate with my clients’ worries, concerns, and the effect stress and anxiety can have on different elements of life.
Harvard’s Research study on Stress and anxiety:
A seminal research paper titled “Understanding the Intricacy of Anxiety: Insights from a Longitudinal Study” by Harvard University provides valuable insights into the complexity of anxiety disorders. The study followed a cohort of individuals over a period of 10 years and examined different factors contributing to the development, upkeep, and treatment of stress and anxiety.
The paper highlighted that stress and anxiety conditions emerge from a combination of genetic, ecological, and psychological elements. It highlighted the importance of early intervention, evidence-based therapies, and holistic methods in handling stress and anxiety successfully. The findings further highlighted the significance of a therapeutic alliance and individualized treatment strategies in resolving stress and anxiety. Questions To Ask A Therapist About Anxiety
Conclusion:
Anxiety is a diverse and deeply personal experience that impacts individuals in profound methods. Through healing interventions like psychoeducation, CBT, relaxation techniques, exposure therapy, and self-care practices, individuals like Emma can get control over their anxiety and lead fulfilling lives.