Anxiety

Anxiety often signals the emergence of uncomfortable feelings that are difficult to tolerate “as a feeling” and can lead to impulsivity and acting out behaviors that may be self-sabotaging.

Anxiety may present in many different ways: chronic worry, panic attacks, dissociative states such as numbing, physical tension, irritability, sleeplessness, racing thoughts, somatic complaints such as stomach aches or headaches, or a persistent sense that something is wrong even when one cannot identify the cause.

Adults often describe it as a mind that will not shut off.

Anxiety can lead to feelings of overwhelm, fogginess, and a tendency to shut down.

Anxiety as a Signal

The goal of therapy is not to eliminate anxiety entirely.

Anxiety is part of the human nervous system that serves an important function to signal and alert us that we need to attend to something.

Anxiety signals us that something needs to be addressed.

When Anxiety Starts to Interfere

Therapy is worth considering when anxiety begins to shape your choices, limit your activities, interrupt sleep, constrict relationships, or produce physical symptoms without medical explanation.

It is equally appropriate when you appear to be “coping” externally but are doing so at a personal cost: chronic tension, toll on relationships, psychosomatic symptoms, irritability, exhaustion, or collapse after holding it together all day.

You Don’t Have to Wait

You do not have to wait for a crisis to seek help. Early intervention can help keep patterns from becoming chronic and reduce the likelihood of escalation into depression, avoidance, or substance-based coping.