Anxiety can be described as hyper-vigilant, busy fast mind, restless, manic. Think the meerkat pose, always on guard waiting for anything bad to happen or something specific bad to happen. The easiest way for me to explain it to clients is using the concept of the comfort zone or familiar zone. This is a place where we feel in control and we can cope. When we are pushed from the centre point of our familiar zone we begin to feel some discomfort in a means to push us back to the centre. We then tend to default to being concerned with negative things that we perceive as threats.
Our senses act like those proximity senses on cars, the closer you get to something that could damage you the stronger the anxiety you can feel. I support my clients to understand that these feelings are there for a purpose and are there to help them to navigate life’s ups and downs. The mind continually learns how to react to perceived threats and each time that encounter occurs it will send a similar emotional and often physical reaction.
How to recognise anxiety in you or someone you know
If some or all of these statements resonate with you and you are ready to take back some control and re-programme your subconscious then get in touch.
- I sometimes or often experience intense anxiety or worry and find it difficult to regain control.
- I sometimes or often struggle to get a good night's sleep or can be easily irritated.
- I sometimes or often feel frozen with fear and not knowing where to turn.
- I sometimes or often avoid certain situations that cause me fear or panic.
- I sometimes or often carry out repetitive behaviours to calm myself down (i.e checking doors are locked, the oven is off or counting/repeating words to yourself)
These are by no means exhaustive or meant to in any way diagnose anything, they are simply some statements that may help you to recognise how you feel. And to know, there is help available and that you can move past this. It is hard to explain what it feels like not to have those feelings and I always like the way this client explained it to me.
"Being able to face the things that usually triggered me to feel overwhelmed with anxiety is so freeing. You have literally removed any emotional reaction or attachment I had so that now when I am faced with what was a usual trigger, I feel nothing but happy and proud that I no longer react the same way. It totally feels like we deleted that code from my brain. Thank you."
I always get asked, “how many sessions will I need?” Everyone has different experiences and so whilst I will tailor therapies for each client I can't tell you how many sessions upfront. What I can say is that it is weeks rather than months.