Counseling for Excessive Worrying & Social Anxiety

Most people feel nervous in certain situations, and small amounts of anxiety occur as a natural response to stress.

Normal Types of Anxiety:

Everyone experiences anxiety occasionally.  Examples of normal types of anxiety are, for instance, experiencing some nervousness at the thought of having to speak in front of a group of people, starting our first day of work at a new job, riding an amusement park ride, experiencing a medical test to diagnose a potential issue, or having an unfamiliar dog growl at us. Normal types of anxiety can motivate us to prepare for situations and cope with them well.  They can also help us to avoid or react quickly to danger.

When To Begin To Consider Treatment:

When feelings of intense fear and anxiety become very frequent and interfere with our ability to eat, sleep, complete activities of daily living, find employment or complete work at our job, and find or maintain significant relationships, an anxiety disorder may be present.

People who suffer from ongoing anxiety feel as if they cannot go on living this way.  They often feel overwhelmed by the "what ifs" of this life.  They often feel tense, unable to relax, and restless.  Frequent anxiety that is not treated can lead an individual to feel sad and hopeless.  It can, in fact, lead to symptoms of depression.  Relentless worrisome thoughts can make people suffering from anxiety not able to concentrate.  They can have difficulty making decisions due to an inability to focus their thoughts on one idea at a time.  Ongoing anxiety is exhausting.  It has a way of taking over a person's mind in the moment as the person worries that they won't have the skills, ability, financial resources, or social support to manage circumstances in the future.  Anxiety can make a person worry about what others think of them and can cause them to conclude that they are not worth as much as other people.  Anxious thoughts can be very convincing. 

How Chronic Anxiety Affects Us:

Chronic anxiety can affect our relationships as others grow weary of hearing our worries.  It can cause others to believe that their repeated reassurance about future events working out seems to not help us.  Untreated anxiety can cause us to have people distance themselves from us since they find being in relationship with us too stressful. Our ability to feel happy and engaged in the moment is compromised.  Focusing on simple things can be hard, and concentrating for a long period of time may feel impossible.  Often people who suffer from anxiety will feel like others simply don't understand what they are going though because other people become impatient with their inability to calm down or have a positive outlook on life.

Chronic anxiety can also cause our health to suffer as we have frequent headaches, high blood pressure, stomach distress, and experience decreased immune system functioning leading to the onset of frequent colds, flus, or autoimmune conditions.

There is HOPE for ALL PEOPLE suffering from Anxiety:

Often when we struggle with excessive daily worrisome thoughts or fears of moving forward with activities that we need to do, we’ve felt this way for so long, it’s hard to imagine that we could conquer our fears and worries and feel empowered to live our lives to the fullest.  It’s hard to imagine a life in which we could feel at peace.  However, it is possible. 

It’s possible to live a life without feeling controlled by worries and fears.  It is possible to feel calm when socializing with others.  It is possible to take care of your physical health without feeling a sense of dread.  Please realize that anxiety symptoms are very treatable.  It is possible for you to live a life that is peaceful and calm despite the daily hassles that occur to all of us.  Dr. Braun has training in utilizing evidence-based techniques to help you understand the root causes of your anxiety and worrisome thoughts.  She is available to help you to develop practical tools for overcoming your anxiety so that you can begin to live the life you have always dreamed of having. 

Techniques typically used for the treatment of anxiety will depend upon whether or not the individual's anxiety has trauma as a root cause.  If past traumatic experiences are a root issue that have caused anxiety symptoms to develop, EMDR will be recommended.  In addition to EMDR, cognitive behavioral methods of psychotherapy, insight oriented psychotherapy, and experiential therapies will likely be a part of the treatment plan.  Dr Braun will present different options for treatment and will collaborate with you to find a treatment style with which you feel the most comfortable.

Please decide to stop suffering and take the first step toward reclaiming your life by calling Dr. Braun for a free 15 minute consultation: (708) DR-BRAUN or (708) 372-7286

View other Resources on the Depression and Anxiety Resource Page of this website