Do you wake up gasping for air, can't sleep because your mind is racing, or feel overwhelmed by a sense of dread that won't go away?

It's really hard not to feel at least a little anxious and worried, given all the stresses in our lives and the world. Work-life imbalance, limited access to mental health care, financial and job insecurity, the pandemic, natural disasters, gun violence, armed conflicts, and concerns about global safety and stability can all cause you to feel stressed out, anxious, and hopeless.

The recent Gallup study in 122 countries shows that the world is angrier and more stressed than ever. About 40 percent of those polled said they felt angry, worried, stressed, or depressed.

So, no one can escape feeling concerned and worried. But if your anxiety gets in the way of your well-being and everyday routines, it may be time to look into anxiety therapy.

Anxiety counseling provides a safe space to explore your anxiety's causes and triggers and develop healthy coping strategies. Your therapist can help you come up with helpful strategies to take care of yourself and manage your anxiety better.

Self-Care for Anxiety: How Can Anxiety Therapy Help?

Whether cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Gestalt therapy, exposure therapy, or body awareness exercises, anxiety therapy can help address your concerns and find relief.

Anxiety counseling can teach you self-care methods to help you stop overthinking, manage stress, create boundaries, and work through your emotions so that you cope with anxiety more effectively.

1. Stop Overthinking 

Most of us ruminate and worry about work, health, or relationship problems for most of our waking hours. Overthinking might give you a false sense of control and security. However, countless things in life are beyond our control. Living in your head or overthinking produces stress and anxiety, keeping you from dealing with the underlying issues and healing. 

Counseling for anxiety can help you come up with helpful ways to stop overthinking, like practicing mindfulness or writing in a journal. Also, your CBT therapist can introduce you to cognitive restructuring, one of the central techniques in cognitive behavioral therapy. Cognitive restructuring can help you challenge negative thinking patterns and change how you feel by changing how you think about your experiences. 

1. Develop Stress Management Skills

Anxiety therapy can provide a secure environment to build resilience, develop stress management techniques, and practice coping methods.

Juggling a profession, the demands of parenting, and finances leaves little to no time for much-needed self-care. Such a lifestyle might trigger anxiety and lead to burnout.

Counseling can be a good place to address your time management issues, set priorities, strike a better work-life balance, and take care of your needs.

1. Empower Yourself with Gratitude

Counseling can help you find hope and feel grateful even in difficult times. By practicing gratitude regularly, you can boost your resilience, improve empathy, and learn to accept things you cannot change or control. Your therapist may encourage you to keep a gratitude journal, practice mindfulness, or focus on the positive.

1. Set Realistic Expectations and Goals

Anxiety counseling can assist you in revising your goals and expectations for the future. Many times, our anxiety stems from our inner critics. For example, if you are a perfectionist, you may set unrealistically high standards for yourself and soak yourself in self-limiting beliefs and self-criticism that usually lead to anxiety, stress, and burnout. 

Setting realistic goals and making better choices can be effective alternate methods to deal with anxiety. With the guidance of a qualified therapist, you can challenge unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors, prioritize your values and revise expectations, and learn how to set more realistic goals.

1. Develop Self-Care for Anxiety 

When it comes to anxiety management, self-care practices are essential. Self-care for anxiety, in addition to anxiety treatment, can help you make the change you were hoping for and maintain that change. With the help of your therapist, you may work on developing the following anxiety-coping strategies:

• Boundaries

Limiting our exposure to external stressors and learning to set boundaries in interpersonal relationships might help relieve anxiety.

For example, learning how to communicate assertively and confidently to say "no" to unreasonable demands can actually be super helpful in managing stress.

• Relaxation Strategies

Being fully present can help you notice when you're caught up in overthinking and worrying without being too hard on yourself. By practicing mindfulness, deep breathing, or other relaxation methods, you can learn how to reduce stress and feel more relaxed.

It can be tough to deal with anxiety, but you can get through it. Anxiety counseling can be the best start toward relief and recovery.

To find out more about our services, click here: anxiety treatment.