a widespread mental health concern, affects countless individuals worldwide. Blue Shield Family Anxiety And Depression Therapist In Contra Costa … As an Accredited Medical Social Worker (LCSW), I have experienced the effect of stress and anxiety on countless lives. In this post, I will share a thorough exploration of stress and anxiety through the lens of a recent therapy session with a client, highlighting symptoms, treatment techniques, and my personal journey as a therapist with my own experiences of stress and anxiety Additionally, we will talk about a term paper by Harvard University that clarifies the multifaceted nature of anxiety.|Stress and anxiety, a common psychological health concern, impacts millions of individuals worldwide. As a Certified Medical Social Employee (LCSW), I have actually witnessed the impact of anxiety on countless lives.}
discussion on strengths-based biopsychosocial techniques to attending to stress and anxiety and while those are terrific you know I believed maybe we ought to take a look at you know what’s some of the present research study so I went into PubMed which is I do not understand it’s playground for me it’s where you find a lot of the journal posts and you can sort and I arranged by short articles that were done and meta-analyses that were done within the past five years so that provides us a concept about existing research study I imply there’s a great deal of stuff that is still the same like some of the medications that were understood to work ten years earlier are still known to be you understand good first-line treatments however there are likewise some newcomers that we’ll talk about and there are likewise some modifications that we’re going to talk about so we’re going to explore some typical causes for stress and anxiety symptoms in order to treat it we actually require to and naturally this does play into the biopsychosocial element we actually need to comprehend kind of what causes it since stress and anxiety that’s triggered by for example somebody having a racing heart might be various than stress and anxiety that’s caused for someone who has abandonment issues so we’re gon na treat the two things in a different way so we wish to take a look at a few of the common causes we’re gon na look at some typical triggers for anxiety you understand what are some of these common styles that we see in practice and I will ask you to share a few of the themes that you see that underlie a lot or underline of your customers stress and anxiety and identify current finest practices for stress and anxiety management consisting of therapy interventions medications physical interventions and helpful treatments so we care since stress and anxiety.
can be disabling and a lot of our customers have anxiety a lot of our clients have stress and anxiety comorbid with anxiety and they’re taking a look at us going how can I feel distressed and stressed out and like I can’t sit still and depressed at the same time you know when you’re depressed you’re supposed to wish to sleep well a great deal of times individuals who are have both issues really wish to sleep however they can’t so I wish to assist customers comprehend that also often anxiety when people are anxious for long enough the body begins kind of hanging on to the cortisol the body actually acknowledges at a specific point this is a losing fight I’m not going to put energy into this any longer so it begins with drawing a few of its excitatory neurotransmitter so to speak and individuals will start to feel depressed basically the brain has currently said this is hopeless this is you’re you’re defenseless to change the scenario so then individuals begin feeling hopeless and powerless which is sort of the meaning if you will of anxiety low-grade chronic stress and anxiety occurred energy and individuals’s capability to focus so if we’re going to help them become their uber selves we require to help them figure out how to address anxiety not simply generalized frustrating debilitating stress and anxiety but also panic social stress and anxiety and those small anxiety sets off that occurred that may not fulfill the limit for a medical diagnosis stress and anxiety is a significant trigger for dependency relapse if you have a client who is self
medicated prior to or had a dependency for some reason stress and anxiety is a significant trigger increased physical discomfort when anxiety goes up people tend to tense their muscles when they tense their muscles they tend to feel more pain I suggest think about when you’re stressed you tend to have more pain like in your neck in your back and things that already hurt might hurt more why due to the fact that serotonin which is among our major anti-anxiety neurotransmitters is also one of our major discomfort modulators so when serotonin levels are too low since stress and anxiety is high then our discomfort perception is going to be more acute and people can have sleep issues if you’re stressed your body believes there’s a risk you’re not going to be able to enter into that deep peaceful sleep you may have you might sleep you may sleep a lot however it’s most likely not quality sleep which indicates your neurotransmitters may leave whack your hormones make it out of whack and your body is going to start perceiving your itself in a consistent state of tension when we’re exhausted the body understands that we may be the weakest link in the herd so it continues to produce cortisol to keep keep you on alert a little bit so you may once again you may be resting type of like when you have a new infant in the house those first couple of months that my kids were home from the health center I slept however I didn’t sleep well I mean the tiniest little noise and I was awake and I was taking a look around and you know I felt it I felt tired and a great deal of brand-new moms and dads do so activates for stress and anxiety desertion and rejection and we’re going to discuss methods we might want to handle these things however a few of the underlying themes that I have actually seen in a great deal of clients and when I do the research what a lot of what styles that come out include low self-confidence
if someone has low self-confidence they’re looking to be externally validated usually they’re trying to find someone else to tell them you’re adorable you’re all right so that can result in stress and anxiety about not having people to tell them you’re all right which makes their relationships rare and can make them dysfunctional illogical thoughts and cognitive distortions may lead people to believe that if I’m not best for instance I am not lovable so we’re going to take a look at some unreasonable ideas and cognitive distortions unhealthy social assistances and relationships when you remain in a relationship it takes 2 to tango and even if your client is reasonably psychologically and physically healthy if they are in an inefficient relationship they can fear abandonment and rejection if that other person is constantly saying if you don’t do X I’m going to leave you or if that other person is constantly cheating on them or whatever so relationships can trigger abandonment anxiety and inefficient social skills can result in relationship turmoil and social exile if our customers remain in relationships even if they’re not totally dysfunctional if our clients are unable to request what they need and set suitable borders and handle conflict efficiently because dispute occurs in every relationship then they might begin to argue more which may lead to fearing might lead to relationships ending in the past and them working out every relationship I get into ends which indicates I must not be adorable so they start fearing abandonment and rejection so these are 4 areas that we can take a look at another evaluating customers another problem is the unknown and loss of control a great deal of times unfavorable self-talk and cognitive distortions can contribute to that if I don’t have control of everything then it’s all going to be a disaster unfavorable others when clients hang out or when individuals hang out with unfavorable individuals it kind of endures you after a while you observe that individuals who are tend to be more unfavorable pessimistic conspiracy minded tend to socialize with people who are also unfavorable cynical and conspiracy minded so if you’re hanging out with someone who tends to be distressed then the stress and anxiety can be palpable and it can kind of penetrate physical complaints can lead people to be distressed due to the fact that they don’t understand what’s triggering it like I said earlier often if your heart begins to race if you don’t know what’s triggering it you can begin believing I’m having a cardiovascular disease or I’m gon na pass away when people have anxiety attack for instance they truly think they’re having a cardiac arrest and
it’s I’ve had them they are very very unpleasant experiences however when people begin having physical complaints and it can be you understand they have an unusual rash that they can’t get to go away or it whatever but when they don’t know what it is and they can’t control it they can’t make it disappear they start thinking of all the worst-case circumstances and going on the internet and getting on WebMD which normally offers you all the worst-case circumstances um so physical complaints are very important we require to stabilize the truth that no one’s pain-free all the time and you understand the fact that you might have a pain or an ache or a lump or a bump or you understand a cough probably you know when we look at possibility the possibility of it being something substantial is pretty small now do you want to get it took a look at probably however you understand the likelihood that is anything to be stressed over is is fairly little and a sense of powerlessness can set off fear of the unknown and loss of control for someone who doesn’t feel like they have any agency in their life if they have an external locus of control or if they felt victimized all of their life then they might fear not remaining in control they may be holding on and saying fine this is the one location of my life I can control when I grew up you know I grew up in a very chaotic environment I had no control I was bounced around in the foster system yadda yadda yadda now that I’m an adult you understand I can manage these things and I am going to hang on with white knuckles and if I can’t control everything then that terrifies me death and loss are other triggers for stress and anxiety and it can be people or pets and family pets are essential I don’t wish to lessen pets because you know they are little parts of a great deal of our households so ensuring we inspect that my daughter’s pet dog for example is it’s getting old she’s aging she’s 14 now I believe and you understand she remains in good health we took her to the vet and the veterinarian stated yeah she’s got a little heart whispering but that’s expected for a 14 years of age pet dog and however when she heads out if she doesn’t return when I call her I have this rush of stress and anxiety for a second oh my gosh I hope this wasn’t the day so stress and anxiety around losing individuals and you know if she when she crosses the bridge she will and and you know
I’m fine with that I’m I have a harder time dealing with my daughter’s emotional turmoil when that takes place and since she’s matured with this pet so you know those are the types of things that we want to speak about with our clients what things are weighing on you that you might not even be thinking about due to the fact that I know in the back of my mind there’s constantly that fret about among our donkeys and her pet dog tasks and promos can trigger stress and anxiety if individuals hesitate they’re gon na lose their job if they’re always scared that you understand they’re gon na stroll in and get a pink slip or get fired you know we wish to help them look at how reasonable is that are you doing what you need to do in order to attain and keep your job and sometimes it’s not easy to address I imply the very first thought that a great deal of us have is well you know if you’re doing the best thing so just do it however there are those managers out there and I have actually had some actually incredible employers a lot of them and I’ve had 2 truly horrendous bosses and those two managers I might never I never ever seemed like I had the ability to do anything ideal therefore going to those jobs there was constantly this stress and anxiety about what I’m what am I going to get in trouble for today so you wish to talk with individuals about does your job cause anxiety what can you do to moderate that stress and anxiety the very same thing with promotions people might get nervous about whether they’re going to get promoted security and security you know when you lose security and security you can feel really distressed so if there’s a break-in at your home next door or a shooting down the road or you start viewing the news you can feel unsecure and really risky really quickly so we wish to help individuals find out how safe and protected are you really and a lot of it returns to really taking a look at facts when people lose their dreams and hopes or fear that they’re going to lose their dreams and hopes they can begin to get anxious you understand they have this dream that they’re going to be a medical professional or I simply completed the discussion on helping high school students transition to college and a lot of high school students for example start college with these large eyes and intends to save the world and they want to be doctors and engineers and this and that and they get into it and they recognize that it’s a lot harder than they believed or they realize that you know what I truly don’t like this but I’ve currently devoted to it so what do I do or I wish to assist people but I can’t I can’t cut it doing this you understand for me I figured out in my second year that I wasn’t going to medical school since I wasn’t going to pass calculus and that caused a great deal of stress and anxiety it resembled fine what am I gon na do now you understand what profession should I select so assisting people figure out do you have dreams that have perhaps sort of crashed and burned and you have to find brand-new ones you know alright that one we have actually got to accept it determine that it’s not going to be and what can you do now people
might likewise have dreams about relationships they enter into relationships and they see themselves with this person permanently and then this relationship ends and or starts to get rocky and they’re like however that’s my dream what takes place if my that’s got to happen since it’s my dream I don’t understand how to work if that goes away we wish to help people be able to rewrite their story and then illness spiders and other fears sort of goes in with death a great deal of times when people get sick they start getting nervous that oh my gosh what if this is terminal oh my gosh what if this is you know incurable if I get bit by a spider it’s gon na eliminate me and which is uncommon you know there are extremely couple of spiders that are in fact that toxic same thing with snakes going over bridges I’ve shared with you all that is not one of my irrational worries you know I am simply horrified that you understand something’s going to occur and I’m going to get pushed off the side of the bridge which is totally illogical but we need to help individuals take a look at those and identify the thoughts that they’re telling themself about those fears and handle that stress and anxiety failure is another trigger for anxiety particularly in this culture our culture American culture in in large part puts a high premium on success and perfectionism so when individuals realize that they’re not ideal they may start to get anxious due to the fact that they feel like if I’m not perfect then I’m a failure you know those cognitive distortions of all-or-nothing thinking and they begin with that unfavorable self-talk you know you can’t do anything right so those are some of the problems that you understand we frequently see in counseling sessions so what do we do you understand someone comes in and it like I can’t live in this manner doc stress and anxiety depression and compound conditions as well as a series of physical conditions are often comorbid so this is the first thing we need to recognize we require to understand that we’re very rarely dealing with an extremely basic diagnosis you know when somebody comes in we require to figure out you know if they are available in and they’re presenting with anxiety all right let’s speak about that and
Understanding Anxiety: A Patient’s Experience:
In my recent session with Emma (name changed for personal privacy), a 32-year-old lady, I had the chance to delve into the elaborate layers of stress and anxiety. These signs were interfering with her day-to-day life, relationships, and overall wellness.
Emma’s Treatment Strategy:
To deal with Emma’s anxiety, we developed a detailed treatment strategy customized to her unique needs. Here are some key elements of her plan:
Psychoeducation: Educating Emma about stress and anxiety and its psychological and physiological symptoms helped her gain a deeper understanding of her symptoms. This understanding empowered her to acknowledge and verify her experiences.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT is an evidence-based approach that focuses on recognizing and challenging illogical ideas and beliefs. Emma discovered to reframe negative ideas and establish a more well balanced point of view, gradually minimizing anxiety-triggering cognitions.
Relaxation Strategies: Incorporating relaxation techniques such as deep breathing workouts, progressive muscle relaxation, and mindfulness meditation assisted Emma manage her stress response and promote a sense of calm.
Exposure Therapy: As Emma expressed avoidance habits related to certain triggers, we slowly exposed her to those situations in a controlled manner. This direct exposure allowed her to confront her fears and develop durability versus anxiety-provoking stimuli.
Self-Care and Way Of Life Modifications: Emma acknowledged the value of self-care practices in handling her anxiety. She prioritized routine exercise, healthy consuming, quality sleep, and participating in activities she took pleasure in to promote overall wellness.
My Journey as a Therapist:
My choice to become a therapist was deeply affected by my own struggles with anxiety. When working with clients dealing with similar challenges, my personal journey has provided me with unique insights and compassion. Having experienced anxiety firsthand, I am able to connect to my clients’ fears, concerns, and the effect anxiety can have on numerous aspects of life.
Harvard’s Research study on Anxiety:
A critical research paper titled “Comprehending the Intricacy of Anxiety: Insights from a Longitudinal Research Study” by Harvard University offers valuable insights into the complexity of stress and anxiety disorders. The research study followed an accomplice of individuals over a period of ten years and taken a look at numerous factors contributing to the advancement, upkeep, and treatment of stress and anxiety.
The paper stressed that stress and anxiety disorders emerge from a mix of genetic, ecological, and psychological elements. It highlighted the importance of early intervention, evidence-based treatments, and holistic approaches in managing stress and anxiety successfully. The findings further underscored the significance of a healing alliance and customized treatment strategies in addressing stress and anxiety. Blue Shield Family Anxiety And Depression Therapist In Contra Costa
Conclusion:
Stress and anxiety is a deeply personal and multifaceted experience that affects individuals in profound methods. Through healing interventions like psychoeducation, CBT, relaxation techniques, exposure treatment, and self-care practices, people like Emma can gain control over their stress and anxiety and lead fulfilling lives. As a therapist, my personal journey with stress and anxiety enables me to supply thoughtful and reliable care to my clients. The research study carried out by Harvard University sheds light on the intricate nature of stress and anxiety, enhancing the importance of tailored treatments and early intervention in promoting psychological well-being. Together, we can browse the maze of anxiety and discover the course to a more serene and empowered existence.