5 Ways Therapy Will Help You Manage Anxiety
Do you struggle with managing anxiety?
Anxiety isn’t just feeling nervous or stressed. Managing chronic anxiety or an anxiety disorder can be incredibly difficult–especially without some sort of support system. It’s also tiring; anxiety often keeps your brain in a constant loop, an endless cycle of unhelpful thoughts, which can leave you feeling exhausted!
If you feel burned out by your anxiety, you’re not alone and there’s nothing wrong with you. And–perhaps most importantly–there are ways you can learn to manage it so it doesn’t control your life!
If you’re looking to get support in managing your anxiety, here are 5 ways therapy can help:
It will teach you to examine the root:
Your anxiety isn’t just coming from nowhere, but often when we’re feeling heightened anxiety or feel trapped in a thought spiral, it’s hard to navigate our way to the root. The feeling of anxiety just gets too big and overwhelms us, until it’s the only thing we can think of–making that thought spiral worse. Your therapist will help you figure out what is at the root of those anxious thoughts, so you can start to treat that, as well as helping you develop healthy, in the moment coping skills for when anxiety shows up.
It will help you develop healthy coping mechanisms:
There are ways to cope with anxiety without just indulging the runaway train of thought. The method that works for you might be different than what works for someone else, just the way you experience anxiety is different than how someone else experiences it. Your therapist will be able to help you first identify the root of that anxiety, and then find the coping skills that are right for you.
It gives you a space to release what you’re holding:
If you deal with chronic anxiety, you might be so accustomed to feeling that way that sometimes you don’t even notice how much you’re holding inside of yourself. Therapy gives you a regular opportunity to sit down with someone who is there just to support you and release what you’ve been carrying. Even just the simple act of talking about what you’re feeling anxious about can help stop the thought spiral and reduce that feeling of anxiety.
It helps teach you feelings are just information:
In therapy, you gain a lot of skills, but managing your feelings by engaging with them as passing pieces of information can be extremely helpful to managing your anxiety! Your therapist will help you learn how to identify what you’re feeling and why–much like finding the root of your anxiety–so you can make better choices on how to manage those feelings, rather than feeling as though your feelings have control over you.
Your therapist can help you broach the topic of medication:
If your anxiety is so strong it seems to control your life, it’s likely that you could benefit from a combination of both therapy and anxiety medication. Your therapist might not be able to prescribe medications for you, but they likely have a network that they can use to find a referral to someone who can. It also gives you a space to talk with someone you have an established, trusting relationship with to talk about any fears or apprehensions you may have when it comes to anxiety medication. While a psychiatrist can also address these fears when they prescribe something for you, it can feel easier to be vulnerable with someone you already have a relationship with, and who knows what your goals with the medication are, as your therapist likely would!
If you’re looking for more support as you manage your anxiety, working with a therapist can equip you with the tools you need! Get in touch with our office today to get started.
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