Anxiety & Trauma

What is Anxiety & Trauma?

Anxiety and trauma, though often intertwined, represent different experiences and challenges. Stress refers to the body’s response to external pressures or demands, such as work deadlines or relationship issues. It can be acute or chronic and is typically manageable with effective coping strategies. Trauma, on the other hand, arises from deeply distressing or disturbing events, such as abuse, neglect, significant relational challenges, or accidents which can have a profound and lasting impact on well-being.

Navigating stress and trauma requires a customized approach that considers individual lived experience and addresses both immediate symptoms and underlying causes. By understanding the distinctions between stress and trauma and applying targeted therapeutic strategies, individuals can work towards healing and resilience. Therapy offers a supportive space for managing stress, processing trauma, and developing skills for a more balanced and fulfilling life. Seeking help is a courageous first step, and with the right support, recovery and growth are within reach.

What is Anxiety?

Feeling anxious occasionally is normal, especially during tough times or major life changes. But when anxiety is constant, uncontrollable, and disrupts daily life, it becomes a problem. Anxiety means our nervous system is over-aroused, and treatment focuses on calming, regulating, and managing this over-arousal. Once anxiety calms, we can explore the underlying thoughts, feelings, and experiences that triggered it. Living with high anxiety long-term is challenging, but effective treatments can alleviate symptoms and address the root causes.

What Is Attachment Trauma?

Early attachment trauma occurs when the bond between a child and their primary caregiver is disrupted. A strong attachment is formed when caregivers consistently provide comfort, affection, and meet basic needs. However, a lack of affection or abusive behavior can lead to attachment trauma.

These early life experiences shape our attachment styles in adulthood, influencing how we handle actual or perceived threats such as rejection, abandonment, criticism, or conflict in our relationships. The patterns we developed as children often carry over into our adult lives, and recognizing and addressing these patterns is essential for adapting them to better serve us as adults.

Understanding and addressing attachment trauma is vital for fostering healthy relationships and emotional well-being in adulthood.

What is Social Anxiety?

Are you afraid of being judged by others? Excessively self-conscious in everyday social situations? Avoid meeting new people due to fear or anxiety? If so, you may be experiencing social anxiety. 

Social anxiety is an intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged. This fear can impact work, school, and daily activities, making it hard to form and maintain friendships. If you’ve felt this way for months and these feelings hinder everyday tasks like talking to people at work or school, consider seeking help.

What Are Panic Attacks?

A panic attack is a sudden episode of intense fear that triggers severe physical reactions without any real danger or apparent cause. They can be very frightening, making you feel like you’re losing control, having a heart attack, or even dying. Many people experience one or two panic attacks in their lifetimes, often linked to a stressful situation. However, if you’ve had recurrent, unexpected panic attacks and live in constant fear of another attack, you need support. While panic attacks aren’t life-threatening, they can significantly impact your quality of life.

What Is Performance Anxiety?

Performance anxiety, also known as “stage fright,” is the nervousness felt before or during important tasks, affecting various individuals, from public speakers and musicians to those giving speeches at events. This experience can stem from emotional reasons like fear, worry, and embarrassment, cognitive symptoms such as excessive self-criticism and unrealistic expectations, and physical symptoms like increased heart rate, shortness of breath, trembling, and sweating.

What Is Work-Related Stress?

Work-related stress occurs when the demands placed on an individual at work surpass their ability to cope. Dealing with it is important, especially when work demands become too much to handle. Long-term exposure to stress at work can impact your mental health, leading to chronic distress like anxiety and depression. Various factors can cause stress at workplaces, such as the culture of the organization, poor management practices, job demands, the physical work environment, relationships with colleagues, changes happening at work, lack of support, conflicting roles, and even traumatic experiences.

We work with you to manage your work-related stress through therapies that work for you. 

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