Anxiety Treatment

Is Anxiety Taking Control of your Life?

• Do you constantly feel stressed and on edge?
• Are you always worrying about work, parenting, money and relationships?
• Are you overwhelmed with the day to day functions of life?
• Do you find it hard to turn off your thoughts at night to get a good night’s sleep?
• Do you wake up in the morning tired and stressed, dreading the day ahead?

If you have answered yes to these questions, you may be suffering from anxiety.

Anxiety is a natural reaction that our bodies experience as a result of stress. It can actually help us cope with situations of crisis. Yet when anxiety begins to spill over to all parts of our life, making it difficult for us to deal with everyday life situations, or preventing us from pursuing new and exciting opportunities, it has become a problem.

Physical symptoms of anxiety can include a pounding chest, sweating, trembling or shaking, nausea or dizziness and headaches.

In addition to physical symptoms, anxiety causes a range of emotional issues as well.  You may be easily irritated, fear the worst, plan excessively to rule out any surprises and have difficulty trusting others.  Surprises are really hard for people dealing with anxiety.  For this reason, you may have the need to plan every last detail.  But when someone does something to upset your plan or change it any way, you react with an emotional outburst that is out of proportion.  This may be particularly embarrassing for you as people with anxiety are also extremely sensitive to any hint of criticism or judgement and are plagued by feelings of inadequacy.

While dealing with anxiety on a daily basis is hard for you, it is hard for your friends and loved ones as well.  Very often, family members, especially, children can feel like they are walking on eggshells around you.  Ironically, in my experience, people with anxiety worry a lot about their children.  They want the best for their children and want to be perfect parents.  However, this anxious focus on parenting can actually leave their children vulnerable to picking up anxious behaviors themselves.  These children may strive toward perfection themselves and become discouraged at the slightest sign of failure.  Like you, your children may also be particularly hard on themselves.

So what do you do?

As you read this, I know that you long to just have a “normal” day and you work hard to achieve this.   But in fact, the harder you try, the more elusive this “normal” seems to get.  You feel disheartened and begin to believe that this is how you will feel all the time.  But let’s puts things in perspective…

First, you are not alone.  Anxiety affects 40 million adults in the United States ages 18 and older (18% of U.S. population). Source: Anxiety and Depression Association of America.  What is ironical though is that while Anxiety Disorders are highly treatable, yet only about one-third of those suffering receive treatment.

Anxiety treatment will help get control over your life.

Anxiety is highly treatable.  Anxiety disorders are really a result of distortions in thinking. These thoughts trigger psychological stress or anxiety. The basic premise of Anxiety treatment is that our thoughts—not external events—affect the way we feel.  In other words, it’s not the external situation that determines our level of anxiety, but rather our perception of the situation. For this reason, your trying to incessantly control the external situation does nothing to reduce your anxiety.

In our meetings, I will help you examine your negative thoughts and beliefs that trigger fear and anxiety reactions. By examining how these thoughts or cognitions trigger anxious reactions, we will first map the process by which anxiety takes hold of you.  Next, you will learn how to replace the negative thoughts and beliefs with more accurate, realistic and positive ones and cope with life more easily and effectively.

However, you may have some additional questions before you reach for the phone. Here are some questions/objections that people have expressed to me:

“I don’t want to talk with a stranger about my private life. I should be able to handle this myself.”

You are right. It is hard to talk about your private life someone you don’t know. But consider this: you have talked to people you know— friends, your mom, your sister-in-law. But things haven’t changed much. I know it is hard to talk about your private life with a stranger but remember anxiety is a very common problem. Your therapist will have heard similar stories. You are not alone. What a therapist can offer is not only support but practical easy-to-learn techniques that will help you turn your life around.

Your therapist is much more than a friend or a confidante. She is a problem-solver and a collaborator. You will be able to access the years of training and experience that she has in treating anxiety and she will help you come up with your very own customized solutions. Therapy is not about talking. It is about solving a problem. In therapy, you and your therapist will work toward a goal — a long term goal of resolving your struggle with anxiety.

Once you have been able to overcome anxiety, you will be able to live your life fully.

“I’ve heard that treatment for anxiety is expensive and can take a long time.”

First, I encourage you to ask yourself how much anxiety is limiting your life. Is it causing you to suffer daily and keeping you from living the life you want to live? If so, I invite you to imagine yourself doing all the things that living with heightened anxiety currently prevents you from doing and ask yourself what that is worth.

Second, my practical approach is different than most therapists. Years of study, experience and counseling specific to treating anxiety disorders have enabled me to fine tune techniques and create a tailor-made treatment strategy for each individual. The techniques I use and teach work effectively and efficiently, and my success rate for treating anxiety disorders is very high. Together, we can create an integrated approach and schedule that addresses your specific needs, personality and situation.

What is the price tag to your quality of life.? Think of the many ways that you limit yourself from reaching your full potential. Now imagine yourself without anxiety. How would your life change?…..

Now, think of your life if nothing changed. Isn’t it worth taking care of the problem once and for all?

“I don’t want to take medications. Can I actually overcome anxiety without medications?”

Medications can be very helpful in reducing symptoms of anxiety in the short-term. For some, it may be an essential part of treatment along with psychotherapy. However, most people are able to reduce symptoms of anxiety with therapy alone. In fact, you can learn ways to stop anxiety before it even begins. Therapy will help you get to the root of your anxiety. You will be able to identify thoughts and situations that trigger your anxiety and face them head-on. You will acquire skills to replace negative thoughts with ones that are more realistic, accurate and positive.

Anxiety is caused by a combination of psychological and physiological factors. Symptoms of anxiety are a combination of our thoughts as well as the situation of our lives at this current time. Medications cannot address these factors. It is only by identifying and changing the thoughts, feelings and interpersonal situations that trigger anxiety, can we actually treat anxiety at its root.

You will also become more aware of your particular strengths and learn to use them to your best advantage and promote healing. In a safe and confidential setting, I will help you work through your emotions and feelings with compassion, understanding and understanding. Through these depression treatment sessions, I have helped many people feel like themselves again, regain control of their moods and begin to feel joy again.

Although it may feel like moving a mountain, you may be surprised to find that depression treatment can begin to work fairly quickly. Many people report feeling better after the very first session.

Anxiety treatment has helped countless people move forward in their lives with more confidence, ease and self-esteem. If you are willing to go through this process and empower yourself, anxiety treatment can actually move you to a place, in terms of your mood, productivity at work and your relationships with friends and family, that you never thought was possible.

You can do this because you are more strong and resilient than you give yourself credit for.

So what is the next step?

The next step is to make an appointment. Just make the call to set up an appointment.   I know it can feel hard to pick up the phone then forget the call. Just make an appointment online. It’s easy!

About Rochna:  Rochna Hazra is trained in Marriage and Family Therapy at Virginia Tech. She includes the emotional, psychological, spiritual and family aspects of a person in her work. Originally from India, she combines the Eastern traditions of mindfulness, non-judgment and a holistic approach to healing with the Western approach of realism and solution-focused action.

Rochna uses Cognitive-Behaviorial techniques to help you overcome anxiety.

Rochna is also a Certified Advanced Relapse Prevention Specialist and trained in Sex Addiction and Mindfulness-based Therapy and Relapse Prevention.