Anxiety Counseling

Anxiety is part of a system designed to help us recognize and respond to possible threats. Fear, stress, and uncertainty are not signs that something has gone wrong; they are part of a normal emotional life.

The difficulty comes when the alarm becomes too sensitive—or too difficult to turn off.

What if I make the wrong decision?

What if I disappoint someone?

What if something happens to someone I love?

What if I'm not prepared?

What if I can't handle what happens next?

The body can respond as well, with tension, restlessness, a racing heart, difficulty concentrating, or a persistent sense of being on edge.

The problem is that some of the things that reduce anxiety in the moment—avoiding, checking, seeking reassurance, over-preparing, or repeatedly thinking something through—can make anxiety more difficult to manage over time. This is when contacting a qualified Wellspring clinician is helpful, as they can help the client learn to better navigate the anxious thoughts.

There isn't a particular level of anxiety you have to reach before asking for help. A useful question is whether anxiety is interfering with the way you want to live. If worry, fear, perfectionism, avoidance, overthinking, or the need for certainty is affecting your relationships, work, sleep, spiritual life, decisions, or ability to be present, talking with a therapist is worthwhile.

Although our Wellspring clinicians introduce clients to coping techniques when it is helpful, therapy does not stop there.

Your therapist will work to understand what you're anxious about and what happens inside you when you feel afraid. The treatment approach our clinicians take is grounded in empirically supported modalities, specifically tuned to each client’s needs.

What triggers your anxiety? What are you afraid might happen? What do you do when anxiety appears? What brings temporary relief, and how can we work towards healthy, long-term relief? How might your experiences and relationships have shaped the way you respond? How can we make your world bigger than this again, and help you feel safe in relationships?

In therapy, there is room to bring the fear, uncertainty, sadness, anger, insecurity, and other parts of your experience you may have learned to avoid or hide. Over time, you may begin to notice small changes that indicate a newfound confidence in navigating fears and relationships.

The ability to understand and manage difficult emotions develops, in large part, through relationships.

Early in life, we depend on other people to help us make sense of what we're experiencing. When someone responds to fear with steadiness, we begin to learn that feeling afraid is okay. When our emotions are understood rather than dismissed, we become better able to understand them ourselves. When we feel valued and heard even while struggling, we learn that difficult feelings don't make us unacceptable.

Of course, relationships don't always provide those safe experiences.

A person may learn that vulnerability is risky, that certain emotions should be kept to themselves, or that maintaining connection requires pleasing others, being “good enough”, withdrawing, or staying in control.

Those patterns often make sense in the context in which they developed. They may have been important ways to protect ourselves or preserve relationships. These patterns, once protective, can become limiting as we encounter new experiences.

Therapy offers a relationship in which those patterns can be understood with curiosity rather than judgment—and, over time, new ways of responding to the anxious thoughts become possible.