anxiety treatment

Living with Anxiety

If you’re a human, you’ve undoubtedly experienced anxiety at some point in your life. Anxiety is part of the full range of our emotional experience, and we need it to survive. Though different people experience it to varying degrees of intensity or frequency, no one actually likes the experience of anxiety. Anxiety is by its very nature uncomfortable; we feel keyed-up or on edge, our heart races, our stomach drops, and our thoughts generally race with catastrophic, doomsday scenarios. Chronic anxiety sufferers may suffer panic symptoms, insomnia, and unintended weight loss due to their brains being “stuck” in survival mode. In this blog post, I’ll discuss how to identify helpful vs. unhelpful anxiety, and teach you a mindfulness technique to cope with the unhelpful kind in a more skillful and paradoxically effective way.   As mentioned above, sometimes anxiety can be helpful, signaling us that there’s some meaningful action we need to...

Unraveling the Mind: Intrusive Thoughts, Rumination, and Obsessions

Have you ever found your mind wandering into a maze of thoughts, unable to escape its grasp? Let's dive into the world of rumination, obsessive thoughts, and those pesky, uninvited guests - intrusive thoughts. We'll unravel what these terms really mean, and how they're all interconnected.   Intrusive Thoughts: Imagine standing on a cliff, and suddenly your brain whispers, "What if you jump?" Intrusive thoughts are like the uninvited weirdos at the mental party. They're bizarre, inappropriate, and downright scary thoughts that pop into your head out of nowhere. The kicker is, you can't control them. They're like a jack-in-the-box of the mind, waiting to surprise you. But here's the thing: intrusive thoughts are normal. Yep, you heard me right. They're a common quirk of our brains.   Rumination: Rumination is the act of overthinking and going over and over a particular thought or situation, often with a negative twist. It's that replay button...

Navigating the Holidays with Anxiety

When you picture the holidays, what do you picture? Do you think about gentle snowfall on a quiet morning? Or gathering with friends and family to exchange gifts? How about holiday traditions you have with others, like baking, religious rituals, or movie marathons?   Or - are the holidays more anxiety-inducing for you? Do you picture tight budgeting to buy presents? Do you think about crowds as you brave stores to buy gifts for others? Or do you think about hosting your family who inevitably will fight with each other during their stay?   If your picture of the holidays sounds closer to the latter than the former, you’re not alone. In fact, 69% of Americans feel stressed out during the holidays. Almost half of Americans - 45% - report they’d rather skip the holidays altogether.   For those with anxiety, navigating the holidays can feel even more stressful. Anxious thoughts can be stirred up by...

Making Friends While Anxious

Let’s face it: making friends is hard for most people. 45% of American adults reported they continually struggle to make friends. Young adults, from ages 18 to 34, were the highest category for reporting making friends was difficult for them. Though there are less studies, making friends can be difficult for children and teenagers, too, with pressures like fitting in to peer groups and the influence of social media just being two barriers to friend-making.   Making friends with no mental health concerns is hard. Making friends with anxiety is even harder. Aside from the traditional struggles everyone faces, those with anxiety may experience: Intense worrying about social situations Isolation from avoidance of social situations Missing responsibilities, such as work or school, from avoidance Physical symptoms such as racing heart, lack of concentration, nausea, and more   Anxiety can make it even harder than normal to make friends due to intense distress over the...