Therapy for Anxiety and Stress
Support for Teens, Young Adults, and Parents within New Hampshire
Does it feel like anxiety is dictating how you live your life?
Whether it’s your own anxiety or your child’s, it can feel like anxiety is in the driver’s seat and you’re just the passenger along for the ride. Call it what you want… stress, feeling overwhelmed, agitation, nervousness, apprehension, fearfulness, panic. Whatever you call it, it’s as if it is smothering you and all you want is to be able to breathe freely again. Maybe it’s the panic attack in the middle of class where you feel like all eyes are on you. Perhaps it’s the obsessive routine that you feel like if you don’t finish, you’re going to crawl out of your skin. It could even be a feeling you can’t quite explain that something bad is going to happen… all the time. Or maybe it’s as simple as you’re tired of feeling worried and stressed.
However you would describe your experience, you’re noticing the impact on your life…
Trouble concentrating at school or work
Avoiding certain places or situations
Not sleeping well
Your child being excessively clingy, isolating, or irritable, seemingly overacting to every little thing
Your teen refusing to go to school
Physical symptoms like stomachaches, headaches, sweating, trembling, rapid heartbeat
Missing deadlines or not completing tasks or assignments because you’re worried about them being perfect
Your child being unwilling to try new activities or even new foods (are you getting a little tired of mac n cheese?)
Worrying constantly about everything or one thing in particular
Not being able to relax because you can’t stop all the thoughts constantly racing through your mind
Having to plan every little detail (of your day, of a project, of your life) before you can move forward
Therapy can help with your anxiety and stress!
Even though it may feel overwhelming right now, taking back control of your life is achievable. It will empower you to live life on your terms rather than your life being dictated by anxiety.
I can help you get there.
We will work towards:
Understanding where your anxiety is coming from
Whether it was a specific incident that caused your anxiety or it seems to have emerged seemingly out of nowhere, we’ll explore together where your anxiety comes from. By gaining insight into what's driving your anxiety, we can tailor our approach to develop effective strategies to address it and to better support you in managing and overcoming it.
Identifying your triggers
We’ll work together to pinpoint specific situations, thoughts, or events that tend to increase your anxiety. Whether it’s one trigger or a myriad of triggers, figuring out what they are will allow us to create personalized plans to help you cope with them better and lessen their impact on your life.
Figuring out what may be contributing to your anxiety or causing it to worsen
Beyond immediate triggers, we'll explore broader factors that may be fueling your anxiety or making it more challenging to cope with. This could involve looking at your daily routines, how you interact with others, or recurring patterns in your thoughts and actions. By addressing these contributing factors, we can develop a more complete strategy for managing your anxiety effectively.
Teaching you coping skills and techniques to manage your anxiety and regulate your emotions
I’ll give you practical tools and evidence-based techniques and strategies to help you manage anxiety and regulate your emotions. This may include relaxation exercises, cognitive-behavioral techniques, stress management strategies, and more. Through guidance and regular practice, you'll develop the skills and resilience needed to navigate challenging situations with more confidence as you gain the knowledge that you can get through these hard situations.
Helping you to achieve relief and feel in control of your anxiety
Ultimately, our goal is to empower you to regain a sense of control over your anxiety and break free from the hold it has on your life. Through the insight you’ll gain and the skills you’ll develop as we work together, you’ll find that you are better able to tolerate anxiety-provoking situations and feel more at peace overall.
Anxiety can make you feel isolated and alone, but I’ll walk with you and guide you through the process of taking back your life. I know it’s hard, but with help, I also know you can do it!
Anxiety and stress don’t have to be the driving force in your life.
It’s time to restore balance and find the peace of mind you’re longing for.
I can help you discover your inner strength, learn new skills, and gain the confidence you need to overcome your anxiety.
FAQ:
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While stress, and even anxiety, is a normal part of life, treatment is important if it starts feeling overwhelming or is interfering with your or your child’s functioning or daily activities. If you’re finding that you or your child are experiencing frequent symptoms of anxiety and it’s interfering in your life, then it’s time to pay attention to them. Symptoms of anxiety include:
* Excessive worry or apprehension about various aspects of life, such as work, relationships, or health
* Restlessness or feeling on edge
* Difficulty concentrating (often resulting in poor grades for kids)
* Irritability or even anger
* Physical symptoms such as fast heartbeat, shortness of breath, or trembling
* Fatigue or feeling easily tired
* Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
* Stomachaches or headaches
* Unwillingness to be apart from a parent or other “safe person”
* Wanting a parent to sleep with them
* Exaggerated fear of particular situations or things
* Constant, nagging thoughts that won’t leave your mind
* Engaging in repetitive actions or rituals
Anxiety is a real and treatable condition. You don’t have to handle it all on your own.
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Anxiety is one of the most manageable of the emotional or mental health issues and therapy has proven to be highly effective in its treatment. However, it’s important to recognize that the outcome of therapy can be influenced by many factors, such as the person’s willingness to engage in the therapeutic process, the specific therapeutic approach used, the severity of the anxiety, as well as biological and environmental factors. At times, I believe medicine is also needed and can be beneficial, but in my experience, it is not always needed. My suggestion, and what most professionals recommend, is to start with therapy and then consider adding medication if therapy alone isn’t as effective as needed.
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Often, children and teens (and adults) will mask their feelings of anxiety, showing anger instead. This can be confusing to parents. You may be asking, If my child is anxious then shouldn’t I see them be fearful or agitated instead of angry?
Anxiety triggers a fear response. When we feel fear, our bodies will commonly resort to the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn defense mechanisms. This means that instead of your child behaving in a fearful manner, they might lash out, using the “fight” response. This causes parents, and others around them, to mistake anxiety for anger.
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Although seeing your child or teen directly can be very helpful, if they’re not open to therapy, we can explore other approaches that can help them, and your family, find relief. I can help you as a parent learn strategies and tools that will enable you to support your child in a healthy way and decrease the symptoms of anxiety that he or she is displaying.
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Reach out to schedule your free 20-minute consultation. During the call, I will answer any questions you may have, learn about what you’re struggling with, and tell you more about my approach to therapy for anxiety. If you are considering therapy for your teen, they are more than welcome to be on the call as well to ask any of their questions. Part of the purpose of the initial consultation call is to figure out if we’re a good fit to work together, based both on personalities and the challenges you’re experiencing right now. I want you to feel comfortable and for you to get the help you want, need, and deserve. Hopefully, I can be that for you, but if not, I’ll try to refer you to someone who can.