How Do I Overcome Anxiety?
Meet Casey. Casey’s day is often consumed by racing thoughts and worries. Her “should” thoughts (e.g. “I should be productive all the time”) and her “what if” thoughts (e.g. “What if I take this risk and it doesn’t work out”) cause her to feel overwhelmed and often out of control. She is rarely ever able to relax which has impacted her ability to have restful sleep. The stress from worrying impacts her appetite and her racing thoughts make it impossible to concentrate and be in the present.
Can you relate? Does this sound like something you also go through? If so, you are experiencing symptoms of anxiety. As a therapist at Speak Life Transformation, I explain what anxiety is and how to overcome it.
What Is Anxiety
According to the DSM-V, a diagnostic tool used by mental health professionals, generalized anxiety disorder is “excessive anxiety and worry, occurring more days than not for at least 6 months, about a number of events or activities.” It is ongoing worrying thoughts that are difficult to stop and shut off. The worrying thoughts interfere with a person’s ability to focus on other things and move on from a situation. Anxiety can make it difficult to complete daily tasks and impact relationships.
Different Types of Anxiety Disorders
There are different types of anxiety disorders. They are all developed by fear or anxiety about a specific situation or event. Risks factors, such as genetics, brain chemistry, life events, and temperament, can be the cause of anxiety. Below are some examples of anxiety disorders.
Separation Anxiety:
The fear or worry about being separated from an attachment figure (e.g. parent, child, sibling).
Social Anxiety:
This is fear or worry about the possibility of being judged by others in social situations.
Panic Disorder:
Recurring panic attacks. A panic attack is an intense fear or intense discomfort that causes somatic symptoms (e.g. heart pounding, sweating, chest pain, shortness of breath).
Agoraphobia:
The fear or worry about being in specific places (e.g. enclosed or open spaces, being outside of the home).
The Function of Anxiety
Like all emotions, anxiety has a function. Anxiety helps us be alert when there is danger (physical or emotional) and helps us respond quickly to protect us from danger. When we are faced with danger our brain releases different hormones and one of those hormones is adrenaline. The part of the brain called the amygdala detects danger, causing us to fight, flight, or freeze. Anxiety is one of the emotions that are triggered during this process.
Anxiety becomes an issue when our brain causes us to stay alert even when there is no danger. This often occurs after someone has experienced trauma. Fear and worry about the possibility of a distressed situation happening causes an individual to avoid anything connected to the fear or become emotionally overwhelmed by the thought of having to face the fear.
How To Overcome Anxiety
It is possible to take back control over your anxiety. Below are some coping strategies that help reduce anxiety.
Mindfulness
What causes anxiety to increase in intensity are thoughts that are worrying about what’s to come or what could possibly happen again. I call this the Anxiety Trap when your thoughts get stuck in either the past or future. One way to get your thoughts unstuck is refocusing them on the present, what’s happening right now. Mindfulness helps train your brain to filter out distractions by focusing on 1 focal point via your senses. There are many different ways to practice mindfulness. You can practice mindfulness while engaging in a daily activity like showering or a hobby like gardening. While completing the activity focus on what you are presently seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, or smelling.
Mindfulness Example
One place our minds often wander and get stuck in the anxiety trap is the shower. Instead, while you are showering choose to pay close attention to the water pressure on your skin (touch), the soap/shampoo increasing in bubble/suds (seeing and touch), the smell of the soap (smell), and the sound of the water hitting the floor of the tub/ shower stall (hearing). This mindfulness exercise has now shifted your focus from worrying thoughts to your current showering experience. I am sure while reading this your mind created a picture of this showering experience causing you to practice another form of mindfulness, imagery, without you even realizing it.
Journaling/ Vlogging
You may find your racing thoughts often causing your mind to feel foggy or causing you to feel overwhelmed by the many thoughts and feelings happening all at once. Journaling and vlogging are 2 ways to process and organize your thoughts. There is no right or wrong way to go about journaling or vlogging. You can start with writing or talking about whatever comes to mind.
If this does not provide enough guidance or structure for you to get started you can choose a topic to focus on, such as, a recent upsetting event or your high and low for the day. You can also create a prompting question to answer. Think about it like an interview question for yourself (e.g. “If I had the ability to make 3 wishes come true what would they be and why?”, “What is my biggest fear?”). Do not overthink it because that will cause you to feel anxious about completing the exercise which defeats the whole point of journaling or vlogging.
Creating A Night Routine
My clients often state that nighttime is when their worrying thoughts are the loudest and hardest to silence. This makes it difficult to fall asleep and have restful sleep. Having a night routine that includes activities that help with relaxation is a helpful way to quiet those racing thoughts, relax the mind, and have restful sleep. A night routine should start 1-2 hours before the time you want to fall asleep.
Within that timeframe, you want to complete relaxing activities that help your brain settle and your body relax. Avoid any activities that require your brain to be active (e.g. completing work/school assignments, drinking coffee/ soda, playing video games, watching action films).
Here are some examples of relaxing activities you can add to your night routine:
take a warm bath/ shower
drink non-caffeinated tea
complete a 10-minute stretching routine
listen to soundscapes*
listen to soothing music*
meditate/ listen to guided meditation*
read a book
*tip: listen using headphones to block out surrounding noise and to drown out racing thoughts
Using Therapy as an Anxiety Treatment
If you recognize that anxiety is making it difficult to complete your work, take care of home responsibilities, and get along with others then therapy is a great source of support. Therapy for anxiety will help you understand why certain situations cause anxiety, heal from past trauma that is the cause of anxiety, and/or identify the cause of anxiety. A licensed mental health professional will use clinical practices that increase your awareness of how you perceive the world and how this impacts how you feel and act. Therapy provides the guidance needed to process all the different thoughts you are thinking and emotions you are feeling.
Want Help With Overcoming Anxiety?
One big takeaway I hope you received well reading this, it is possible to control your anxiety. I know experiencing anxiety can be overwhelming and at times seems like it is coming out of nowhere… but with the right strategies and support you can effectively treat anxiety. At Speak Life Transformation, a therapist will help you learn how to communicate your emotions in a way that makes sense to you and teach you coping skills that increase your ability to control your anxiety. See below to learn how to get connected with a therapist today.
Complete the Therapy Inquiry form.
Meet with Natasha for a free 15-minute consultation where you ask any questions you may have about therapy services.
Begin your transformation journey by creating a plan with Natasha that will be a roadmap for how the two of you will work together in helping you start living your best life as your best self.
Natasha Bryant, LCSW
Natasha is a psychotherapist and confidence coach helping women set self-love boundaries, go after their dream careers, and heal from past hurts. That’s what sparks her joy…empowering women to unapologetically live their best life as their best selves. She owns a private practice in Philadelphia, PA, Speak Life Transformation, providing online mental health and wellness services. She is an author, self-proclaimed foodie, travel enthusiast, and a down-to-earth "Hope Dealer" who creates a space for clients to own their story and live it out authentically.
Other Mental Health & Wellness Services At Speak Life Transformation
Therapy for anxiety is not the only service we offer. We’re able to offer a wide range of mental health services online anywhere in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and consultation services world wide. Other mental wellness services Speak Life Transformation provides include couples therapy, therapy for women, teen therapy, school-based trauma-informed care, confidence coaching, and corporate wellness care. We have black therapists for clients looking for a therapist who is a part of the BIPOC community and also therapists who have a faith-based background for clients looking to incorporate faith-based principles in therapy. All therapy services are currently provided via video Telehealth. Check here for our YouTube channel, and our FAQs, and let’s get started today!
