Therapy For Anxiety

Should I get help for my anxiety?

Anxiety can significantly impact your daily life, affecting relationships, work, and overall well-being. Seeking help for anxiety is beneficial for several reasons. One of the biggest issues with anxiety is the avoidance behaviours that it leads to.

Cycle of Avoidance and Anxiety

The cycle of avoidance and anxiety is a common pattern that many individuals experience. It begins with an initial feeling of anxiety triggered by a particular situation, thought, or event.

As anxiety intensifies, the individual may engage in avoidance behaviours. Avoidance acts as a temporary relief strategy, allowing the person to escape the anxiety-provoking situation. For example, someone might skip social gatherings to avoid feelings of panic or embarrassment. While avoidance can provide immediate respite from anxiety, it ultimately reinforces the original anxiety and leads to long term anxiety growth.

Each time an individual avoids a situation, their belief that the situation is indeed threatening becomes strengthened. This reinforcement creates a feedback loop: anxiety leads to avoidance, which in turn increases anxiety over time. As a result, individuals may find their world shrinking, limiting opportunities for social engagement or personal growth.

Breaking this cycle often requires intentional therapy interventions. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is particularly effective, as it helps individuals confront their fears gradually. By recognizing and challenging irrational thoughts, individuals can reduce their anxiety levels. Additionally, exposure therapy techniques can be employed, where a person is gradually exposed to their fears in a controlled manner, with the support of a therapist.

It's crucial to acknowledge that while the cycle of avoidance and anxiety can feel overwhelming, there are effective therapeutic strategies available to help individuals regain control. By taking proactive steps towards facing their fears, individuals can begin to disrupt the cycle and foster resilience.

Anxiety and avoidance are often best friends. Living with anxiety typically means avoiding many of the things that make us anxious, leading to our world shrinking over time. Going to therapy can help can facilitate a deeper understanding of your anxiety, allowing you to manage symptoms more effectively and enhance your overall quality of life.

Going to therapy for your anxiety can help you develop effective coping strategies. Therapists at Cedar Tree Therapy are experts in arming you with various coping mechanisms, including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) strategies and dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) strategies to name a few. These strategies can assist you in navigating challenging situations, no longer avoid what makes you anxious, and helps to reduce your anxiety levels over time.

Engaging in therapy for your anxiety can help you to get to know yourself on a deeper level. Therapy provides a safe space to explore the specific triggers of your anxiety. This exploration helps you develop personalized strategies to address and mitigate these triggers' impact.

Therapy offers a judgment-free zone where you can express your feelings and experiences openly. This supportive environment fosters a sense of understanding and connection. The relationship you develop with your therapist can be an incredibly corrective and healing experience, and can allow you to learn that it is safe to trust others again. By understanding and managing your anxiety, you can improve your interactions with others, leading to healthier and more fulfilling relationships.

When left untreated, anxiety can escalate into more severe mental health issues. Early intervention is crucial to prevent these potential complications.

Many individuals experience anxiety, yet many people struggle to reach out for help. You don’t have to go it alone. Recognizing that we all experience mental health challenges from time to time can empower you to take proactive steps towards your well-being.

Treatment For Anxiety

Seeking therapy for anxiety is a proactive step towards reclaiming control over your life. Engaging with a therapist can be a transformative experience, providing the tools needed to manage anxiety effectively and lead a fulfilling life. At Cedar Tree Therapy, treatment for anxiety typically involves a combination of therapeutic approaches tailored to the individual's needs. Common methods include:

1. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): CBT is considered the gold standard treatment for anxiety at this time. This approach focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and behaviours that contribute to anxiety. CBT operates on the principle that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are interconnected, and by altering negative thought patterns, we can decrease anxiety and improve our emotional well-being.

2. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a therapeutic approach that is increasingly used for treating anxiety. ACT aims to help individuals build psychological flexibility, which is the ability to remain open to experiences, including negative emotions, while actively pursuing valued actions. This shift from avoidance to acceptance can significantly improve one’s ability to cope with anxiety, enabling clients to lead more fulfilling lives.

3. Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT): Originally designed for the treatment of borderline personality disorder, DBT is effective for anxiety as well. DBT offers mindfulness skills, distress tolerance, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness skills. DBT has been shown to significantly reduce symptoms of anxiety, improve emotional regulation, and enhance overall functioning in clients. By incorporating mindfulness and distress tolerance techniques, individuals can develop resilience against anxiety, allowing them to face challenges with greater confidence.

4. Exposure & Response Prevention Therapy (ERP): A subset of CBT, exposure therapy involves gradual exposure to feared situations or stimuli in a controlled manner. Gradual exposure to anxiety-provoking situations is a critical element of CBT. Clients confront these situations in a controlled manner, allowing them to build tolerance and reduce fear over time. This helps reduce avoidance behaviors and desensitize individuals to their anxiety triggers. This form of therapy is the gold standard in treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

5. Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques: A wonderful addition to the therapy models above, these include practices such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, and progressive muscle relaxation. They help promote relaxation and reduce the physiological symptoms of anxiety.

6. Medication: In some cases, medication may be prescribed alongside therapy. Common options include antidepressants like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or anti-anxiety medications like benzodiazepines, depending on the severity and duration of anxiety symptoms.

7. Lifestyle Modifications: Encouraging lifestyle choices that support your mental health, such as regular exercise, a balanced diet, adequate sleep, and reducing caffeine and alcohol intake, can significantly impact anxiety management.

Each client’s treatment plan is personalized, taking into account the individual’s specific experiences and preferences, ensuring the most effective approach to manage anxiety. If you think you might benefit from having more control over your anxiety, do not hesitate to reach out to Cedar Tree Therapy and book a free 15 minute consultation.

About the Author

Dana Etherington is an Occupational Therapist, Psychotherapist and the Owner of Cedar Tree Therapy, a group psychotherapy practice located in Brooklin, Ontario. Dana uses cognitive behavioural therapy along with other evidence based treatment modalities to treat anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and disorder eating.

Taylor's Pregnancy & Postpartum Story

Taylor is a summer student with Cedar Tree Therapy, currently in the Social Service Worker Program at Durham College. She graciously offered to share her story of becoming a new mother in the hopes that it may help someone. A step mom to two children and new mom to her own baby in her early 20’s, Taylor shares her thoughts on seeking out therapy, the overwhelm of motherhood, and postpartum body image struggles.

My journey as a first-time young mom is probably not very conventional. Firstly, it was completely planned with my partner with whom I had only been with for a few months at the time and secondly, I was lucky enough to have it happen so fast I didn’t even have much time to prepare mentally for the journey I was about to undertake.

Not only was I about to be a mother, but I was already playing the role of stepmom to my partner’s two children at 24 years old, “0 to 3” as I like to say! I wasn’t prepared for any of it if I’m being completely honest. All I knew was that I was going to spend the rest of my life with my partner and everything that came with it.

The hormones took me by surprise at first, being that I was the first in my family and first of all of my friends to have a baby, my mom was the only one that could give me any real advice. My moods were so unpredictable, and my anxiety became increasingly worse during the second trimester. With both my partner and I working shift work and having no set schedule with my step-children things were starting to weigh heavy on my mind. What would we do for day-care?Would we have any time left for our relationship? Our off-days with the kids will turn to on-days all the time!

Once our beautiful “ours baby” came into the world my anxiety took a back seat for a little while. Although it was the toughest thing I had ever done in my life, it was so incredibly empowering, rewarding and my favourite experience I’ve ever had with my partner. Arriving back home however, I think that’s where a lot of the anxiety starts for most new mothers. I was very lucky to have my partner, he was the primary caregiver when it came to his own children and had far more experience than most dads. He’d laugh when I’d say “Ok what do I do now!” when it was something that came like second nature to him. It seemed crazy to me that for most new parents they were just expected to take this tiny little human home with them and figure it all out as they went.

When it came to my anxiety, a lot of it stemmed from wanting to be back to my old self so quickly. I was lucky enough to be very active my entire pregnancy my partner often commented that it didn’t even seem like I was pregnant if it weren’t for the beachball on my belly. Waddling around the house in a diaper, however was not something that I had planned on. Whether it’s my age, or just on the society we live in as a whole I felt the pressures of the “snap back” culture. My belly was squashy, and instead of being proud of what my body had just done I was way too concerned with getting back to the way it was before. I was learning to breastfeed around the clock and was completely sleep deprived. There’s a saying “sleep when the baby sleeps!” but it was a little unrealistic as I had a two- and eight-year-old running around the house as well as foolishly trying to complete 6 college courses with a new-born. I was in over my head.

Although I never struggled with postpartum myself, it quickly became apparent to me why so many mothers suffer with their mental health during the months following giving birth. You wake up, someone needs you. Didn’t snap back fast enough? They’re judging you. Bath time. Dinner time. Laundry, again. It never actually ends.

Is it really a surprise we as new mothers are struggling with our mental health? We’re completely neglecting our own needs and feel we just do not have time to make ourselves a priority anymore! Some mothers feel they need to dedicate 100% of their time to their family, but if we’re not taking care of ourselves, we’re not being the best versions of ourselves and therefore not showing up for our family in the best way we’re capable of. My advice? ASK FOR HELP! I enjoy getting my hair and nails done, and just because I’m a mom now, doesn’t mean that has to become a thing of the past. I plan time for myself in advance and ask my partner or family for help. Sometimes even just having a mommy day on the calendar that month reminds me that I am just as important as all of our other 100 to-do’s on there too!

For me, the hardest part was learning to be a new mother while learning to be a stepmother. Basically, when you’re a stepmom, you’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. If you’re acting like their mom, you’re over-stepping, and if you’re not, you don’t care enough. Now try to juggle the complexities of parenting with your partners ex, when you and your partner would like to raise the kids a certain way but have no control over what the kids are doing or not doing half of the time. When you’re a new mom you have hopes and dreams about the person your child will become and what kind of household you want your baby to grow up in. A blended family means that your child cannot be promised to spend Christmas morning with their siblings or have regular Thanksgiving traditions because half the family is not home for it. This is something I am struggling with and quite honestly, I can’t confidently say I’ve come to terms with the idea of it. In one breath, all I want is a normal family that can have these things but in the other, I would not have this beautiful family if that was the case.

The thought of going back to work gave me severe anxiety. I was losing sleep worrying about who I was going to leave my perfect baby boy in the hands of. Due to the custody arrangement between my stepchildren and their mother, my partner and I do not get to choose where we live. This means we do not get to live close to my family and ultimately do not get those benefits of having their help for things like child-care. Not only did I move away from my family, but ultimately, I moved away from all of my friends and my life as I once knew it. There were so many changes taking place at once. How was this fair? Why does my baby have to go to daycare because of where your ex chooses to live? These thoughts would keep me up at night and I knew something needed to be done about it before this resentment carried onto my partner.

I once thought that therapy was reserved for those who have been through some type of trauma. It wasn’t until I was completely overwhelmed and in over my head that I thought to myself, ok what have I got to lose? I started looking for resources to help me and stumbled upon a couple podcasts and blogs that led me to a really awesome stepmom community. What a lot of these women had in common was their advocacy on therapy and seeking mental health support. After my first session, my body felt lighter. The relief I felt was so intense, I’d actually have to take a shower following my sessions because of how badly my body was sweating! I had realized that talking about my emotions instead of keeping them to myself felt invigorating. By saying things out loud, I was making connections to feelings and behaviours and relating it back to how I had been living my life. I learned that therapy is not only for those who have suffered trauma, it’s for those who want to be the best versions of themselves.

The thought of being selfish is often a fear most new mothers have when it comes to the idea of making their mental health a priority. I want to tell you that it’s ok to be “selfish” sometimes if that means taking care of yourself. I’m not a professional, I’m honestly not even that experienced but what I am, is real. I’m a real mom, who falls short from being perfect every single day. I’m going to keep getting disappointed when it comes to my co-parenting dynamic with my partners ex, and I’m going to get too overwhelmed with being a mom, a stepmom and a wife from time to time, but that’s ok. Working on ourselves is not a job that can be completed because we’re constantly evolving, changing and hopefully growing! When you make a mistake, learn from it instead of beating yourself up. Recognize your own triggers and work on being proactive instead of being reactive. Lean on your support system when you need them and celebrate the small victory’s when you can. You’re doing great mama, you got this.