a prevalent psychological health concern, affects millions of individuals worldwide. Therapists For Social Anxiety … As a Licensed Medical Social Worker (LCSW), I have witnessed the effect of stress and anxiety on countless lives. In this post, I will share a thorough expedition of anxiety through the lens of a current treatment session with a patient, highlighting symptoms, treatment strategies, and my individual journey as a therapist with my own experiences of anxiety Furthermore, we will go over a research paper by Harvard University that sheds light on the diverse nature of anxiety.|Stress and anxiety, a prevalent mental health issue, impacts millions of individuals worldwide. As a Certified Clinical Social Employee (LCSW), I have experienced the impact of anxiety on many lives.}
discussion on strengths-based biopsychosocial approaches to dealing with stress and anxiety and while those are wonderful you understand I believed maybe we ought to look at you know what’s some of the existing research so I entered into PubMed which is I don’t know it’s playground for me it’s where you find a lot of the journal posts and you can sort and I arranged by articles that were done and meta-analyses that were done within the past 5 years so that gives us an idea about existing research I indicate there’s a lot of stuff that is still the same like a few of the medications that were known to work ten years earlier are still understood to be you understand great first-line treatments however there are likewise some beginners that we’ll speak about and there are likewise some modifications that we’re going to speak about so we’re going to check out some common causes for stress and anxiety symptoms in order to treat it we really require to and obviously this does play into the biopsychosocial element we really need to understand sort of what triggers it due to the fact that stress and anxiety that’s caused by for instance someone having a racing heart may be various than stress and anxiety that’s triggered for somebody who has abandonment concerns so we’re gon na deal with the two things differently so we want to take a look at a few of the typical causes we’re gon na take a look at some common triggers for anxiety you know what are a few of these common styles that we see in practice and I will ask you to share a few of the themes that you see that underlie a lot or highlight of your clients anxiety and identify present best practices for anxiety management consisting of therapy interventions medications physical interventions and encouraging treatments so we care due to the fact that stress and anxiety.
can be debilitating and a lot of our clients have stress and anxiety a great deal of our customers have stress and anxiety comorbid with depression and they’re looking at us going how can I feel nervous and stressed out and like I can’t sit still and depressed at the same time you understand when you’re depressed you’re supposed to wish to sleep well a lot of times individuals who are have both issues really want to sleep however they can’t so I wish to help customers comprehend that likewise in some cases stress and anxiety when individuals are anxious for enough time the body starts type of hanging on to the cortisol the body really acknowledges at a specific point this is a losing battle I’m not going to put energy into this any longer so it begins with drawing a few of its excitatory neurotransmitter so to speak and individuals will start to feel depressed basically the brain has currently stated this is hopeless this is you’re you’re powerless to alter the circumstance so then individuals begin feeling powerless and hopeless which is sort of the meaning if you will of anxiety low-grade chronic stress and anxiety emerged energy and people’s capability to concentrate so if we’re going to help them become their uber selves we need to help them determine how to resolve anxiety not simply generalized frustrating incapacitating stress and anxiety but also panic social stress and anxiety and those minor anxiety activates that come along that may not satisfy the threshold for a diagnosis stress and anxiety is a significant trigger for dependency relapse if you have a customer who is self
medicated prior to or had an addiction for some reason anxiety is a major trigger increased physical discomfort when stress and anxiety increases people tend to tense their muscles when they tense their muscles they tend to feel more pain I imply consider when you’re stressed you tend to have more pain like in your neck in your back and things that currently injured may hurt more why since serotonin which is among our major anti-anxiety neurotransmitters is also one of our major pain modulators so when serotonin levels are too low since stress and anxiety is high then our pain perception is going to be more acute and individuals can have sleep problems if you’re stressed out your body believes there’s a risk you’re not going to have the ability to enter into that deep relaxing sleep you may have you might sleep you might sleep a lot but it’s probably not quality sleep which indicates your neurotransmitters might get out of whack your hormonal agents make it out of whack and your body is going to begin perceiving your itself in a consistent state of stress when we’re exhausted the body knows that we might be the weakest link in the herd so it continues to secrete cortisol to keep keep you on alert a little bit so you may again you may be resting kind of like when you have a brand-new child in the house those very first couple of months that my kids were house from the healthcare facility I slept however I didn’t sleep well I indicate the tiniest little sound and I was awake and I was looking around and you know I felt it I felt tired and a great deal of new parents do so triggers for anxiety desertion and rejection and we’re going to speak about methods we may wish to handle these things however a few of the underlying themes that I’ve seen in a great deal of clients and when I do the research study what a lot of what themes that come out include low self-confidence
if somebody has low self-esteem they’re looking to be externally verified usually they’re trying to find somebody else to tell them you’re adorable you’re all right so that can result in anxiety about not having individuals to tell them you’re fine which makes their relationships tenuous and can make them inefficient cognitive distortions and unreasonable ideas might lead people to believe that if I’m not perfect for instance I am not adorable so we’re going to take a look at some irrational ideas and cognitive distortions unhealthy social assistances and relationships when you’re in a relationship it takes 2 to tango and even if your customer is fairly mentally and physically healthy if they are in an inefficient relationship they can fear desertion and rejection if that other individual is always saying if you do not do X I’m going to leave you or if that other person is always cheating on them or whatever so relationships can activate abandonment anxiety and ineffective social skills can lead to relationship chaos and social exile if our clients are in relationships even if they’re not totally inefficient if our clients are not able to ask for what they require and set appropriate limits and handle dispute efficiently since dispute takes place in every relationship then they may start to argue more which may lead to fearing may cause relationships ending in the past and them going well every relationship I get into ends which suggests I must not be lovable so they begin fearing desertion and rejection so these are four areas that we can take a look at one more examining clients another issue is the unknown and loss of control a great deal of times negative self-talk and cognitive distortions can contribute to that if I do not have control of whatever then it’s all going to be a catastrophe unfavorable others when customers hang out or when people hang out with unfavorable people it kind of endures you after a while you discover that individuals who are tend to be more unfavorable pessimistic conspiracy minded tend to socialize with people who are likewise unfavorable pessimistic and conspiracy minded so if you’re hanging out with somebody who tends to be anxious then the stress and anxiety can be palpable and it can type of permeate physical grievances can lead individuals to be distressed because they do not know what’s causing it like I said earlier often if your heart starts to race if you don’t know what’s triggering it you can start thinking I’m having a cardiac arrest or I’m gon na die when individuals have anxiety attack for example they really believe they’re having a heart attack and
it’s I’ve had them they are very very unpleasant experiences however when individuals start having physical grievances and it can be you understand they have an odd rash that they can’t get to go away or it whatever but when they don’t understand what it is and they can’t control it they can’t make it disappear they begin thinking of all the worst-case situations and going on the internet and getting on WebMD which usually gives you all the worst-case circumstances um so physical problems are necessary we need to normalize the reality that nobody’s pain-free all the time and you know the reality that you might have a discomfort or an ache or a swelling or a bump or you understand a cough probably you understand when we take a look at probability the probability of it being something considerable is pretty small now do you want to get it checked out most likely but you know the probability that is anything to be fretted about is is fairly small and a sense of powerlessness can activate fear of the unknown and loss of control for someone who doesn’t feel like they have any firm in their life if they have an external locus of control or if they felt taken advantage of all of their life then they may fear not being in control they might be hanging on and saying alright this is the one area of my life I can control when I matured you understand I grew up in a really disorderly environment I had no control I was bounced around in the foster system yadda yadda yadda now that I’m an adult you know I can manage these things and I am going to hang on with white knuckles and if I can’t control everything then that terrifies me death and loss are other triggers for anxiety and it can be animals or people and pets are essential I do not wish to minimize animals due to the fact that you know they are little parts of a great deal of our families so ensuring we examine that my child’s pet dog for instance is it’s getting old she’s aging she’s 14 now I believe and you understand she’s in good health we took her to the vet and the veterinarian said yeah she’s got a little heart murmur but that’s expected for a 14 years of age pet and but when she heads out if she does not return when I call her I have this rush of stress and anxiety for a second oh my gosh I hope this wasn’t the day so anxiety around losing individuals and you know if she when she crosses the bridge she will and and you know
I’m all right with that I’m I have a harder time dealing with my daughter’s emotional turmoil when that occurs and since she’s grown up with this canine so you know those are the kinds of things that we want to speak about with our customers what things are weighing on you that you may not even be considering since I understand in the back of my mind there’s always that stress over one of our donkeys and her dog tasks and promotions can set off anxiety if people are afraid they’re gon na lose their job if they’re constantly afraid that you know they’re gon na stroll in and get a pink slip or get fired you know we wish to help them take a look at how realistic is that are you doing what you require to do in order to attain and keep your task and sometimes it’s not easy to address I mean the very first idea that a lot of us have is well you understand if you’re doing the ideal thing so just do it but there are those bosses out there and I have actually had some actually incredible employers a great deal of them and I have actually had 2 actually horrendous managers and those two managers I could never ever I never ever seemed like I was able to do anything right therefore going to those tasks there was constantly this stress and anxiety about what I’m what am I going to get in trouble for today so you wish to talk with individuals about does your job cause stress and anxiety what can you do to moderate that anxiety the exact same thing with promos people may get distressed about whether they’re going to get promoted security and security you understand when you lose security and security you can feel actually anxious so if there’s a break-in at the house next door or a shooting down the road or you start viewing the news you can feel really risky and unsecure truly quickly so we wish to help people determine how safe and protected are you actually and a lot of it returns to truly looking at truths when people lose their dreams and hopes or fear that they’re going to lose their dreams and hopes they can start to get distressed you understand they have this dream that they’re going to be a physician or I simply completed the presentation on helping high school students transition to college and a great deal of high school trainees for example start college with these wide eyes and wants to save the world and they want to be medical professionals and engineers and this and that and they enter it and they recognize that it’s a lot harder than they thought or they recognize that you understand what I truly don’t like this but I’ve already committed to it so what do I do or I wish to help individuals however I can’t I can’t cut it doing this you understand for me I determined in my second year that I wasn’t going to medical school because I wasn’t going to pass calculus which caused a great deal of stress and anxiety it resembled all right what am I gon na do now you know what profession ought to I pick so assisting individuals determine do you have dreams that have perhaps sort of crashed and burned and you need to discover new ones you know all right that a person we’ve got to accept it find out that it’s not going to be and what can you do now people
may also have dreams about relationships they enter into relationships and they see themselves with this person permanently and after that this relationship ends and or begins to get rocky and they’re like but that’s my dream what takes place if my that’s got to take place due to the fact that it’s my dream I do not know how to function if that goes away we wish to help people have the ability to reword their story and then sickness spiders and other fears sort of shares death a great deal of times when people get ill they start getting nervous that oh my gosh what if this is terminal oh my gosh what if this is you know incurable if I get bit by a spider it’s gon na eliminate me and which is unusual you understand there are very few spiders that are really that toxic exact same thing with snakes reviewing bridges I have actually shared with you all that is not one of my illogical fears you know I am simply horrified that you know something’s going to take place and I’m going to get pushed off the side of the bridge which is completely illogical however we require to assist individuals look at those and identify the ideas that they’re telling themself about those phobias and handle that anxiety failure is another trigger for anxiety particularly in this culture our culture American culture in in big part puts a high premium on success and perfectionism so when people realize that they’re not perfect they might begin to get nervous due to the fact that they feel like if I’m not ideal then I’m a failure you know those cognitive distortions of all-or-nothing thinking and they start with that negative self-talk you know you can’t do anything right so those are some of the issues that you understand we frequently see in counseling sessions so what do we do you understand someone can be found in and it like I can’t live by doing this doc anxiety depression and substance conditions in addition to a range of physical conditions are often comorbid so this is the first thing we require to realize we need to understand that we’re really seldom handling a really simple medical diagnosis you understand when somebody is available in we need to find out you know if they are available in and they’re presenting with anxiety all right let’s talk about that and
Understanding Anxiety: A Client’s Experience:
In my recent session with Emma (name changed for privacy), a 32-year-old female, I had the chance to dig into the intricate layers of stress and anxiety. These symptoms were interfering with her daily life, relationships, and general wellness.
Emma’s Treatment Plan:
To resolve Emma’s anxiety, we developed a thorough treatment strategy tailored to her distinct requirements. Here are some crucial elements of her strategy:
Psychoeducation: Educating Emma about stress and anxiety and its physiological and psychological symptoms assisted her gain a deeper understanding of her signs. This knowledge empowered her to recognize and verify her experiences.
Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment (CBT): CBT is an evidence-based technique that focuses on identifying and challenging irrational thoughts and beliefs. Emma found out to reframe negative ideas and develop a more balanced point of view, gradually reducing anxiety-triggering cognitions.
Relaxation Strategies: Incorporating relaxation methods such as deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, and mindfulness meditation helped Emma regulate her tension reaction and promote a sense of calm.
Direct exposure Therapy: As Emma expressed avoidance behaviors related to certain triggers, we slowly exposed her to those scenarios in a controlled manner. This exposure enabled her to confront her worries and establish strength versus anxiety-provoking stimuli.
Self-Care and Lifestyle Modifications: Emma recognized the importance of self-care practices in handling her anxiety. She focused on routine exercise, healthy eating, quality sleep, and engaging in activities she took pleasure in to promote overall well-being.
My Journey as a Therapist:
My decision to end up being a therapist was deeply affected by my own struggles with anxiety. When working with customers dealing with similar challenges, my individual journey has provided me with unique insights and compassion. Having experienced anxiety firsthand, I have the ability to connect to my patients’ worries, concerns, and the impact anxiety can have on various elements of life.
Harvard’s Research on Anxiety:
A critical research paper entitled “Comprehending the Intricacy of Stress And Anxiety: Insights from a Longitudinal Study” by Harvard University offers important insights into the intricacy of stress and anxiety conditions. The study followed a mate of people over a span of ten years and analyzed different factors contributing to the advancement, upkeep, and treatment of stress and anxiety.
The paper stressed that stress and anxiety disorders emerge from a combination of genetic, ecological, and mental aspects. It highlighted the importance of early intervention, evidence-based therapies, and holistic techniques in managing anxiety effectively. The findings further highlighted the significance of a restorative alliance and customized treatment plans in resolving anxiety. Therapists For Social Anxiety
Conclusion:
Anxiety is a diverse and deeply personal experience that impacts individuals in profound ways. Through therapeutic interventions like psychoeducation, CBT, relaxation strategies, exposure therapy, and self-care practices, people like Emma can acquire control over their anxiety and lead satisfying lives.