Anxiety Counselling Brisbane

Excessive worry about health, work, finances, relationships or other life situations often accompanied by a persistent fear that something bad is going to happen. Although the reason for the intense feelings of anxiety may be difficult to identify, the fears are very real and often impact on the individual’s ability to focus on the tasks at hand.

Involving sudden, intense and unprovoked feelings of terror or dread. People who suffer from this condition often develop fears relating to when and where the next panic attack will occur and this can result in withdrawal and restriction of their activities.

Persistent, excessive and unrealistic fear of an object, person, animal, activity or situation.  A person experiencing a phobia will either try to avoid whatever is triggering the fear or endure it with great anxiety and distress.

Is characterised by a repetitive pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears (obsessions) and repetitive behaviours (compulsions). For example repetitive hand washing or cleaning to avoid germs.  These obsessions and compulsions interfere with daily activities and cause significant distress.

Excessive fear of being judged, embarrassed or criticised in social situations leading to feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, self-consciousness and potentially depression. If anxiety arises in social situations but there are an absence of symptoms in more solitary activities, then social anxiety may be the issue.

Triggered by a terrifying event, PTSD develops when fear, anxiety and memories of a traumatic event don’t subside over time. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety as well as invasive thoughts about the event.

EMDR therapy can help with most forms of anxiety, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks and social anxiety. EMDR unblocks emotional processes that have become stuck due to overwhelming distress or discomfort. Patients are asked to identify specific memories that relate to the current anxiety triggers. Using the eight step protocol and addressing past experiences, present triggers and future templates, EMDR targets fearful events linked directly to the anxiety in order to resolve the negative experiences, beliefs, thoughts and feelings.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a behavioural therapy that has been shown to be effective for a variety of anxiety disorders. ACT works with the thoughts, emotions and behaviours associated with the anxiety to address negative thinking, overwhelming emotions and ineffective behavioural patterns.  It is a skill based therapy that incorporates your values in life and acting in ways that match your values.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a therapeutic approach developed in the 1970s that combines meditation and yoga.  MBSR has over 40 years of evidence supporting its effectiveness for managing anxiety. Research shows that individual resilience can be built by learning how to solve problems, improve emotional regulation skills and become more consciously aware of your thoughts and feelings (rather than being on autopilot).

Research has found Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT to be effective in treating SAD, GAD, phobias, and panic disorders, among other conditions.

The premise of CBT is that your thoughts—not your current situation—affect how you feel and subsequently behave. So, the goal of CBT is to identify and understand your negative thinking and ineffective behavior patterns and replace them with more realistic thoughts and effective actions and coping mechanisms.

During this process, your therapist acts like a coach teaching you helpful strategies. For example, you might do a lot of “black-and-white” thinking, where you assume that things are all bad or all good. Instead, you would replace those thoughts with the more realistic perception that there are many shades of grey in between.

It takes practice to use these strategies. Once you start to recognize your anxiety and your triggers, you can learn to apply the coping skills that you learn in CBT to manage fear, panic, and worry.

Note: MWT does not provide Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Exposure Therapy is one of the most common CBT methods used to treat a variety of anxiety disorders, including specific phobias, SAD, and PTSD. The basic premise behind exposure therapy is that if you’re afraid of something, the best way to conquer it is head-on.

During exposure therapy, your therapist will slowly introduce you to anxiety-producing objects or situations. This is often done using a technique known as “systematic desensitization,” which involves three steps:

Step 1 – Relaxation techniques

Your therapist will teach you relaxation training to help combat your anxiety. Examples of relaxation training include progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, meditation, and guided imagery.

Step 2 – Create A List

Create a list of your anxiety-provoking triggers, ranking them in terms of intensity.

Step 3 – Expose

In this final step, you’ll gradually work your way through your listed anxiety-provoking objects or situations, using the relaxation techniques when necessary.

There are several ways your psychologist may choose to expose you to your anxiety-provoking stimuli. Here are the most common:

Imaginal exposure

In this type of exposure, you’ll be instructed to vividly imagine your anxiety-provoking object or situation.

In vivo exposure

In this method, you’ll face your anxiety-provoking object or situation in real life. So with this type of exposure, a person with social anxiety might be instructed to give a speech in front of an audience.

Medication will not cure anxiety disorders, but it can help to keep the symptoms under control so that the individual is sufficiently stabilised to be able to engage effectively with counselling.

Note: MWT does not provide Exposure Therapy

A common misunderstanding about therapy is that you’ll immediately start to feel better. Sometimes this is the case, but initially you may feel worse before you feel better. Surprisingly, this is often a sign of progress and if you think about it, it makes sense.

When you make the decision to enter into therapy, it’s often because you haven’t been able to work through your anxiety on your own. Therapy involves exploring your anxiety and the reasons behind it. This can cause a temporary spike in your anxiety.

Therapy should never be thought of as a quick fix. It’s a process that’s unique to each individual. The type of therapy you need, the skills that you learn, and how long you’re in therapy depends entirely on the type of anxiety you have and the severity of your symptoms.

It’s important to understand that though the process won’t always feel good, it will be completely worthwhile in the end.

The length of therapy will also depend on the type and severity of the anxiety disorder. In many cases significant improvement can occur within 8 to 10 sessions.