Social anxiety is the nervousness, anxiousness and self consciousness that one may feel when in a social situation, public space or group. This comes from a fear of being judged, ridiculed or scrutinized by others. Those with social anxiety are afraid of being embarrassed in front of others and therefore it is hard to engage at social events, speak up in public, eat in front of others or even go to work or school on days when the anxiety gets too high.
Social anxiety does not go away when you are with others who you know. You tend to overthink about what others may be thinking and you are always thinking that others have negative thoughts towards you. You may be afraid, for example, that someone did not say hello because they don’t like you, or that they looked at you so they are thinking you dressed weird or are strange. You may over analyze and obsess until you are sick with worry, self disgust or embarrassment. Social anxiety can cause isolation & unhappiness even when you are alone. There is hope, however for you if you have social anxiety.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is an uncontrollable feeling of doom or worry that is not necessarily due to a particular event or situation. It is constant and persistent no matter what the circumstances. You may stress about money, even when you have a lot of savings. You may worry about getting fired, even when you are a great employee. You may be worried about illness, calamity or bad things happening, even when there is little to no evidence that it is likely. Generalized anxiety is like a faucet that won’t turn off, no matter how much others try to reassure you, convince you all is well, or tell you not to worry. There are specific treatments available for generalized anxiety.
Panic attacks are the mark of possible panic disorder. Panic attacks are a fear responses that manifest physically for this reason many mistake a panic attack for a heart attack. Panic attacks often result in heart palpitations, chest pains, shaking, difficulty breathing, dizziness, the feelings of fear, doom or losing control. Panic attacks are sudden onsets of these physical symptoms and often come on without warning. They can happen anywhere and anytime seemly out of no where and therefore cause more anxiety for fear that they will happen when unexpectedly. Panic attacks can also happen in the face of something extremely feared. There is help however for decreasing panic attacks and treating panic disorder.
Avoidance seems like it helps anxiety. For example, staying away from the mall because you had a panic attack at the mall, seems like a great idea. Staying home instead of going to the party seems to be the best when anxiety is high. Avoiding anything that brings on anxiety makes sense right? Wrong. The more we avoid anxiety, is the more we feed the anxiety loop that happens in our brains. When we avoid, we actually convince our brains that there is indeed something to be feared and so the anxiety gremlin gets bigger, not smaller.
Our skilled team of therapists can help you to escape that cycle of fear, worry and panic by interrupting the fear cycle. We work with you to shift your brain into understanding the difference between discomfort and danger. We teach you how to take steps to minimize or even eliminate those fears, worries and anxieties through cognitive behaviour therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy and/ or exposure therapy. The freedom from anxiety keeping you captive in your life is just around the corner! Contact Us today!
Let us help you work towards recovering from excessive anxiety. Whether you have a diagnosis or not, we can help to assess, treat and remedy the symptoms of distressing anxiety. Live the life you have always wanted to live! Be the person you have always been too fearful to be. Now is your time to work towards a new you! What did you always image or dream that you could be? Where are the places that you would explore if you no longer had the anxiety? Let us start you on your journey to a more fulfilling and meaningful life!
Anxiety treatment is all about retraining your brain to escape the cycle of fear, worry and anxiety. We help you to through the avoidance cycle while working through the uncertainty that causes anxiety. We help you to rewire the brain from always thinking the worst case scenario by challenging negative thoughts and erroneous beliefs.
The amygdala, the emotion centre of the brain, is overactive during high anxiety while the pre-frontal cortex has difficulty going online. The pre-frontal cortex is the executive functioning, rational thinking centre of the brain. We want this part of the brain online in order to think clearly and rationally while bringing down high anxiety through tolerance, acceptance and making space for the experience. We implement methods that help you tell your brain that you are safe, can do hard things, and can overcome overwhelming anxiety.
