Anxiety Therapy

Is Anxiety Ruining Your Life?

Are you struggling with anxiety? Do you feel like it’s starting to take over your life and negatively impact your relationships? Are you dealing with guilt because as a believer you’re not “supposed” to struggle with anxiety? Do you often regret how you react when feeling anxious, and hate how you talk to yourself afterward?

Maybe you constantly feel afraid, nervous, on edge, or as if something bad is going to happen. At times you feel so paralyzed by fear that you can’t do the things you want to do. Or you are easily irritated, struggle with your temper, and react in defensive ways toward others.

You often second-guess yourself and feel insecure, and perhaps you have noticed how dependent you are on other people and that it is difficult to set healthy boundaries. Or you try to please others to the point of jeopardizing your own well-being.

Anxiety Can Affect Anyone, Anytime

You may feel like you are the only one who struggles with anxiety, but in fact, many women, whether Christians or not, are fighting the same battle––they just don’t show it to the world. A lot of women hide their emotions so well that no one can tell how insecure or afraid they feel. Even the most seemingly confident person can be struggling internally at different times in their life.

Anxiety is a normal emotion that everyone experiences at some point. We feel anxious when we need to study for a test or get ready to give a speech. We also feel anxious during important events or changes in our lives such as graduating, getting married, expecting a baby, giving birth and going through the postpartum period, before job interviews, during health emergencies, or when we move homes. We can also experience anxiety when we encounter conflicts at work, at home, or in our relationships.

When is Anxiety a Problem?

Anxiety becomes problematic when it does not allow us to react in ways that are appropriate and healthy. This may look like not being able to take action and defaulting to avoidance behaviors, or the opposite—overreacting to situations, causing a negative outcome.

Your anxiety reactions may have been learned or transferred from your primary caretakers—if you grew up with an anxious parent who modeled unhelpful ways of responding to stressful situations or a parent who had overly high expectations. Additionally, experiencing too many changes, such as moving or changing schools frequently may also be the root of your anxiety responses. And finally, experiencing stressful events in your community can trigger problems with anxiety.

Many people think anxiety is a personality trait and that there is nothing they can do about it. They have been feeling so anxious for so long that they can’t recognize how easily anxiety creeps in and calls the shots on their behaviors. They are reactive or defensive, and later regret how they handle the situations or the outcomes. They don’t know that there are ways to manage anxiety and instead they allow fear to control them.

But what if instead of allowing anxiety to cripple you, you could use your strengths, build skills, and manage your anxiety levels with the help of a trained therapist? That’s exactly what we do at Florecer Family Counseling.

Anxiety Therapy Can Help!

Therapy with a professional counselor can help you feel comfortable talking about your anxiety and how it affects your life. This process may help you gain insight into the origin of your anxiety, discover and use your personal strengths, learn strategies to manage your anxiety, and build confidence as you practice using these tools.

What to Expect in the Sessions

During the first few sessions, your therapist will gather important information about you–such as your family of origin, a history of important events in your life, your culture, lifestyle, faith, relationships, and current stressors. This will help your therapist understand your situation and determine a treatment plan that will help you achieve your goals in therapy.

In the following sessions, you will have the opportunity to engage in deeper conversations that may lead to insights about yourself and an awareness of your feeling and thinking patterns, attachment style, and behavioral patterns that may be causing conflicts in your relationships. Our goal is to also help you gain an appreciation of your personal strengths.

You will learn calming skills to manage your anxiety, strategies to find your voice to communicate your needs and wants, how to set healthy boundaries, and how to practice conflict management strategies, among many other skills.

Treatment Methods

Our team is trained in many different anxiety treatment modalities that can be combined for a client’s treatment plan. Some of the psychotherapy approaches we use to treat anxiety are

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to conceptualize the connection between clients’ feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.

Motivational Interviewing to assist clients in moving through the process of change and gradually make progress.

Interpersonal Psychotherapy to help clients understand the impact of life changes and attachment styles, and to increase awareness of what healthy relationships look like.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy to assist clients in gaining emotional balance.

Our goal is to empower clients suffering from anxiety by resolving the root of that anxiety. We give you the tools you need to manage your current and future stressors, so you can feel in control of your emotions and actions.

Is Anxiety Therapy Right for You?

Seeking counseling is a big step, and you are wise to have questions. Here are some common ones from our clients:

Would I have to be in therapy for life?

The length of your treatment would be determined during your initial assessment and based on the goals you want to work on in therapy. Treatment plans are created around short-term and long-term goals. On average, most of our clients see significant changes after the first six sessions. To reach their goals, people typically complete 12 to 36 sessions. For best results, we recommend starting with weekly sessions.

How effective is online therapy for anxiety?

Online therapy for anxiety makes the treatment more accessible from the comfort of your own home or office, allows you to use your time more effectively by avoiding the traveling time, and reduces stress, as you don’t have to take time out of your busy schedule to get to an office to see your therapist. You can obtain the same results from online therapy for anxiety as you would meeting your therapist in person.

How can I integrate my Christian faith into treatment?

This can be part of the treatment planning process. You can discuss your faith with your therapist and decide how you would like to include it in your treatment. For example, you may want to begin your session with a brief prayer, talk about a Bible verse, integrate your pastor or spiritual leader into your treatment, or talk about your journey with God. You can also use therapy to address any disappointments with people of faith or religious trauma you may have experienced.

If I am not a Christian, are you still a good match for me?

We work with anyone who wants to receive our help. As professional counselors, we respect each individual’s culture and faith, and it is unethical for therapist to impose their own values onto clients. You will always receive our caring and compassionate approach.

Treatment plans are created around your anxiety symptoms and your goals for treatment. We take the time to understand who our clients are and what is important to them to help them overcome the barriers that are holding them back. Online therapy may benefit you to treat your anxiety.

Take the Next Step to Flourish!

Do you think we might be a good fit to help you with your anxiety? Simply contact us for a free consultation. We offer in-person counseling to those who live near the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, CA. We also provide online therapy to clients who live in any part of California and in the state of Florida. Learn more about our HIPAA-compliant Telehealth therapy.