Is Your Anxiety Useful or Destructive?
Every Christian knows 1 Peter 5:7. It says, “Cast your anxieties upon Him, for He cares for you.” That tells us two things: 1) God cares for us, and 2) we have anxieties. Anxiety is a part of life, but there is normal, useful anxiety that heightens our senses and prepares us for action, and there is abnormal, destructive anxiety that sets us on edge and makes us hard to live with. Which do you have?
Do you worry about paying bills, getting or keeping a job, a romantic breakup, or other important issues of life? Are you embarrassed or self-conscious in an awkward social situation? Do you get a case of nerves or sweating before a big test, business presentation, stage performance, or other significant event? Are you apprehensive when encountering dangerous objects, places, or situations? Do you try to stay healthy by seeking a safe, hazard-free environment? Do you have some anxiety, sadness, or difficulty sleeping after a traumatic event? These are normal, even useful, anxieties.
Or do you have constant and unsubstantiated worry that causes significant distress and interferes with daily life? Do you avoid social situations for fear of being judged, embarrassed, or humiliated? Do you experience seemingly out-of-the-blue panic attacks and a preoccupation with the fear of having another one? Do you have an irrational fear or avoidance of an object, place, or situation that poses little or no threat of danger? Do you perform uncontrollable repetitive actions such as excessive cleaning, checking, touching, or arranging? Do you experience recurring nightmares, flashbacks, or emotional numbing related to a traumatic event that occurred several months of years before? These are symptoms of destructive anxiety and need to be managed with anxiety treatment.
Whether it is useful anxiety or destructive anxiety, living with anxiety is hard. That’s why God says don’t do it; cast it on Him. Anxiety can cause you to feel alone, like no one understands and no one knows what it is like. Whether you have anxiety about something in particular or about many things, anxiety can overwhelm and consume you to the point that maybe you are isolating yourself, or maybe you are taking your pain out on others. All you can see are worst-case scenarios. Whatever form anxiety is taking with you, you need anxiety treatment to find relief.
anxiety treatment because You’re Not Alone!
Destructive anxiety likely stems from a loss of connection or from the fear of the loss of connection to someone significant in your life. Because this loss of connection or the potential loss of connection results in anxiety, anxiety relentlessly whispers that you are alone. That is a lie. You are not alone. Many people struggle with destructive anxiety. The National Alliance on Mental Illnesses reports that 42 million adults in America, 18.1 percent of the population, experience an anxiety disorder. One in thirteen people worldwide have an anxiety disorder. Sadly, only a third of those suffering from anxiety disorders get anxiety treatment, even though anxiety is very treatable.
There are many ways that anxiety can be experienced. Some experience it physically with racing heartbeats, butterflies in the stomach, sweating, trembling, etc. Others experience anxiety with actions such as nail biting, yelling at people, finger tapping, organizing things, etc. Sometimes anxiety causes panic attacks with chest pains so bad that you think you’re having a heart attack. Anxiety can cause you to get halfway to a big event like a concert that you’re excited about attending, only to turn around and go home because you can’t get out of the car. If this is you, you can be helped with anxiety treatment.
anxiety treatment for The Life You long for
The good news is that you don’t have to be a prisoner of anxiety. You can have the life you want, one that is happy and free of destructive anxiety. Emotionally Focused Therapy is a powerful anxiety treatment that can alleviate anxiety. In EFT, we recognize that you not only long for safe connection, but you need it like you need air and water. When you try to get safe connection with significant others and your attempts at connection are ignored or dismissed, your anxiety gets triggered. But when you have a sense of connection, you are able to regulate your emotions and move from distress to peace. If you have been living on the edge, it is possible to find the calm you seek.
anxiety treatment with emotionally Focused Therapy can help you
Research shows that how we process and inhibit our emotions contributes to our feelings of anxiety, which directly influences how we feel, think, and behave. When we feel the emotion of fear or anxiety, our brain gives that emotion a negative, worst-case scenario kind of message, which triggers a protective action such as the symptoms we discussed earlier. People who experience anxiety tend to have a negative view of self and of others which, in turn, perpetuates anxiety.
Anxiety treatment with Emotionally Focused Therapy will not only honor your feelings but will help you learn to recognize when these feelings are happening and will help you identify the messages that you have attached to these feelings which lead to anxiety. In anxiety treatment, we will teach you the emotionally healthy skill of giving yourself permission to feel what you feel, as well as other tools to deal with the symptoms of anxiety. We will help you work to change your view of self and of others so that the negative messages of anxiety are heard less and less. If medication is indicated, we will refer you to a medical professional.
Common Objections To Anxiety TREATMENT
“I can’t talk myself down from my anxiety; then why would talk therapy help?”
Because in the counseling room, you are not alone with your anxiety. A trained caring, concerned, empathetic counselor is with you. Alone, the anxiety can be overwhelming; but in the counseling room, it’s manageable. Your counselor will help you get in touch with the emotions and needs that are driving your anxiety, and find a way to establish a safe and secure connection that will alleviate the pain of anxiety.
“I already know the cause of my anxiety.”
You probably do think you know the cause of your anxiety. You think you get anxious because you have too much on your plate and don’t have enough time or means to get it all done, or because your boss is too demanding and you don’t have the skills to perform up to standard, or that you don’t have enough money. Those things may or may not be true, but there is something deeper going on that you are not aware of. Anxiety is rooted in the fear of not having enough. Anytime we begin to worry that there won’t be enough, anxiety pops up. What you may not be aware of is that running alongside your fear of not having enough is the more powerful emotion of shame. While anxiety is rooted in the fear of not having enough, shame is rooted in the fear of not being enough. Shame comes up when a situation arises that sounds an alarm in our brain that we could be rejected or abandoned because we are not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, rich enough, etc. and therefore we are unworthy of love and care. Your counselor will work with you to go below the surface to identify the unmet attachment needs that trigger the emotions of fear and shame which are driving your anxiety. By identifying those unmet attachment needs during anxiety treatment, you can learn to change the underlying messages of fear and shame that tell you that you are unworthy of love and care.
“Counseling is too expensive.”
Counseling is definitely an extra expense that you don’t now have. But it is an investment in yourself. Imagine your paycheck as a cash register and the electric company is in line, the gas company is in line, the water department, internet, cell phone provider, grocery store, restaurants, and so on. Where are you? In the back of the line. Why don’t you step in front and pay yourself first and invest in what you need to have a happier, freer, more peaceful, balanced life? When it comes to your mental and emotional health, seeking anxiety treatment is well worth the investment.
Take The Next Step
If you would like to schedule a free thirty-minute consultation to see if anxiety treatment with Emotionally Focused Therapy can help you overcome your anxiety, use the contact link, call or text 817-808-2606, or email info@soulcarecounselingdfw.com.
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