What is Anxiety Counselling?

Anxiety counselling is designed to help people with levels of anxiety that hinder their quality of life, to learn healthier and more effective ways to cope, in addition to addressing the underlying patterns and experiences that produce a more anxiety prone nervous system. A system that tends towards anxiety is experiencing frequent disreguation, which tends to result from events or environments that require consistently high levels of activation.

Addressing relevant core experiences and patterns, in addition to supporting the nervous system in learning to regulate in the face of stress can create change from the bottom up, meaning from the roots of the anxiety in such a way that anxiety reduces and resolves.

Through therapy, patients learn to understand how their thoughts, histories and stuck emotions contribute to their anxiety symptoms. By learning to change these patterns, patients can then reduce the likelihood and intensity of anxiety symptoms.

In addition, patients learn techniques to reduce undesired behaviours associated with anxiety disorders. Specifically, patients may be encouraged and supported in approaching activities and situations that have provoked anxiety (such as public speaking or being in an enclosed space) in order to reduce the fear associated with these situations.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Anxiety counselling is a collaborative process, where you will work with your counsellor to identify specific concerns and develop concrete skills and techniques for coping with anxiety. You can expect to practice your new skills outside of sessions to manage anxiety in situations that might make you uncomfortable. However, anxiety counselling won’t push you into such scenarios until they’re sure you have the skills you need to effectively confront your fears.

    Your counsellor may encourage additional forms of therapy to address your concerns. Group psychotherapy, for example, which typically involves several people who all have anxiety disorders, can be effective for both treating anxiety and providing patients with support. Family psychotherapy can help family members understand their loved one’s anxiety, and help them learn ways to interact that do not reinforce anxious habits. Family therapy can be particularly helpful for children and adolescents suffering from anxiety disorders.

    In most cases a counsellor will help identify problematic patterns of coping, assist in building new skills and patterns, and provide education about how your brain and nervous system work to provide anxiety treatment.

  • Everyone worries or feels nervous from time to time. Anxiety is a normal human reaction to stressful situations. But for people with anxiety disorders, those fears and worries aren’t temporary. Their anxiety persists, and can even get worse over time.

    Anxiety disorders can severely impair a person’s ability to function at work, school and in social situations. Anxiety can also interfere with a person’s relationships with family members and friends. Fortunately, though, there are effective treatments for anxiety. If you are experiencing anxiety that is interfering with different aspects of your life and prevents you from doing things, scheduling an appointment for anxiety counselling in Langley can help.