Rachel is actively treating and has treated countless clients with anxiety challenges all over the world via traditional face to face therapy as well as over the internet with Skype and telephone sessions. Therapy is usually short term lasting no longer the 4 to 6 months.
We specialize in evidence-based, cognitive-behavioral treatments (CBTs) for anxiety and its disorders, such as:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Panic Disorder (PD) with or without Agoraphobia
- Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
- Generalized Social Phobia (GSP)
- Anxiety, Stress & Worry
You may have had experiences with anxiety symptoms for a while, or you may have had a sudden onset of uncomfortable symptoms. You probably have all ready tried a few ways to alleviate your symptoms and yet anxiety continues to present itself. Many people suffer from anxiety and I have had much success helping clients in this area.
Anxiety can show up in many ways and interferes in one’s enjoyment of life. For some anxiety shows up as an inability to fall asleep or relax. For others anxiety might show up as a fear, panic, obsessions and/or compulsions, or distressing dreams. There may be an avoidance or fear of a specific situation, social performance, leaving home, or being around others in general. Anxiety can cause some to isolate themselves.
Sometimes anxiety shows itself in physical symptoms such as rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, shortness of breath, stomach upset, sweating, chills, dizziness, tingling, or chest pain. One might think they are going crazy or have a fear of dying.
Participating in CBT counseling is a positive step in dealing with your symptoms. As uncomfortable as you probably feel, your symptoms are attempting to bring attention to an area of your life. One positive thing that anxiety often causes is the desire or motivation to find a way to alleviate the symptoms. Within this desire to rid oneself of the uncomfortable symptoms is the opportunity for change to happen. I can help you explore what is creating your anxiety symptoms and together we can discover what is trying to emerge so that you can find your calm place within.
Keywords of treatment would be Exposure and Response Prevention. It is about exposing a person to their feared experience, without performing the rituals they would normally do to prevent their feared consequence from occurring. This is a specific form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It also involves looking at the person’s avoidance behaviors and having them get out of their comfort zone.
Treatment for anxiety, can provide the key to get your life back on track.
Symptoms of Anxiety:
- Feelings of panic, fear and uneasiness
- Uncontrollable, obsessive thoughts
- Repeated thoughts or flashbacks of traumatic experiences
- Nightmares
- Ritualistic behaviors, such as repeated hand washing
- Problems sleeping
- Cold or sweaty hands
- Shortness of breath
- Palpitations
- An inability to be still and calm
- Dry mouth
- Numbness or tingling in the hands or feet
- Nausea
- Muscle tension
Length of sessions:
Sessions are 50 minutes long. In some cases, depending on your needs, we can arrange to meet for longer sessions, or for multiple sessions during the week.
Length of therapy:
The length of our work together will be a question we visit over time, and depends on what your goals are and how much prior experience you have working with anxiety. Primarily CBT therapy is SHORT term and won’t last longer than 6 month.
Experience shows that, once you decide that the therapy seems useful, the results will come more quickly depending on the depth of commitment to the work. The effort you put in will likely be one of the best investments in your life.