Are you feeling stressed-out, panicky, tense or nervous? The stress and pressure of everyday life can lead to anxiety, and it is normal to feel anxious at some point. However, if you are finding it difficult to control your worries, or anxiety is beginning to interfere with your everyday life, you may need to think about treatment to help you cope.
Anxiety symptoms can range from mild to severe and can include conditions such as panic disorder and phobias, and other disorders. If you are feeling anxious, you may feel a sense of dread, frequent irritability and restlessness, and you may experience palpitations, dizziness and shortness of breath, as the fight or flight response is triggered in your body.
Whatever your symptoms, the right treatment can help to alleviate your anxiety, as well as give you coping mechanisms to help you address your fears and manage your stress.
Treatments for Anxiety
Psychological Therapy for Anxiety
There are a variety of treatments for anxiety. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) , a psychological treatment, has by far the largest evidence base. CBT helps you understand the nature of your fears and then helps you confront and overcome them in various ways. Other approaches to anxiety treatment include counselling, psychotherapy and hypnotherapy, all of which can be successfully used, but currently have less of an evidence base.
Medication for Anxiety
Other treatments for anxiety include medications such as anti-depressants and beta-blockers, such a propranolol, which can reduce some anxiety symptoms. Benzodiazepines such as diazepam and temazepam are used to treat anxiety and sleep issues, respectively, but such medications can be highly addictive and are usually only prescribed for very short periods of time.
A Flexible Approach to Anxiety Treatment
As a fully-trained and experienced therapist, I’m ready to help you overcome your anxiety, using a range of approaches, from CBT treatment of anxiety and stress management, to hypnotherapy and NLP-based treatments. Any or all of these can be used individually or in combination to provide a carefully-tailored treatment centred around you.
Anxiety Treatment at Achieving Balance
In treating your anxiety, you and I will work together to develop a shared understanding of your fears, including possible causes, triggers, symptoms and what you have been doing to try to manage your anxiety so far, as well as your specific goals. I help you to develop effective coping strategies, teaching you techniques and tools to manage your anxiety in stressful situations.
Throughout the therapy we will monitor progress, identify obstacles and find ways to overcome these in a process that will aim to help you become your own therapist. As different approaches, strategies and techniques work for different clients, your therapeutic treatment will be carefully tailored to you and your unique situation.
If you are interested in a free, 20-minute consultation, please feel free to contact me on 020 7096 8854 or email me at martin@achievingbalance.co.uk. I am available from 8.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Thursday, and Friday mornings.