Jack Broadley Psychotherapy
PGDip MA MSc
If anxiety is impacting your everyday life, seeking support from a psychotherapist can help you find a way to move forward.
Anxiety
Psychotherapy for Anxiety
Anxiety is a common phrase used to describe feelings of worry, fear, and unease. Typically, it incorporates both the emotional and physical sensations we experience when worried or nervous.
We all at times experience these feelings. It is usual to feel tense or unsure about a potentially stressful situation, such as sitting a test or exam, going out on a first date, starting a new job. In some situations, individuals can be more impacted than others. Despite anxiety being a normal human experience, if these difficult feelings are very intense or prolonged, they can become overwhelming and sometimes debilitating. Seeking help through psychotherapy for anxiety can help you manage these intense feelings.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is the normal human reaction to what the mind perceives as a threat situation.
When we ‘perceive’ that we are in a stress situation, our natural human reaction, often termed our ‘fight, flight, freeze response’, is turned on. This acts as an internal alarm system, designed to protect us from a perceived threat and is hard wired into our brains. It is how we survived in the past as humans, when each day real physical threats were nearby.
Today, despite our understanding and greater awareness of anxiety and stress, we are still impacted by this internal defence system, which we experience as getting the ‘butterflies’ or needing to go to the loo when we feel stressed.
For some people this hard-wired response becomes over-activated and there is a tendency for them to feel that things are far worse than they really are. This can, in some situations, impact people when undertaking normal everyday tasks, reducing social interaction and restricting certain aspects of their lives. As a treatment for anxiety, psychotherapy can help you to recognise, understand and control your symptoms.
What are the symptoms of anxiety?
Rapid and/or irregular heartbeat
Fast breathing
Sweating
Nausea
Dizziness
Trouble sleeping
Feeling irritable
Lack of concentration
Panic attacks
What can cause anxiety?
Many people today have busy, complex lives, which can create additional stress factors. Whilst anxiety is a normal response to a stressful situation, the causes of intense or prolonged anxiety can often be at a much deeper psychological level and may not be linked to an obvious stress factor.
Let’s use the analogy of a ‘stress bucket’. Life presents constant stresses which fill up this bucket. At some point the bucket becomes full and overflows. This accounts for occasions when elevated levels of anxiety, or panic attacks, can arise.
Many people will know exactly what is causing their anxiety, but others may not be so aware. Not knowing what is causing anxiety can also bring on further symptoms. If we are unaware of the trigger, how do we overcome it? This is where speaking to a psychotherapist for anxiety can help.
How can psychotherapy help anxiety?
Anxiety is something that can get progressively worse over time if the root causes are not found, understood and resolved. Without this occurring the additional life stressors continue to build up.
Some people may feel awkward about seeking professional help from a psychotherapist for anxiety, or they tell themselves that it is something they should just deal with. It is important to know that it is all right to seek support.
Using psychodynamic and systemic approaches, psychotherapy is a useful way to explore these deeper levels of anxiety gently and respectfully. My approach to psychotherapy for anxiety is by working with you to identify the root cause of the feelings you are experiencing. Through this process we can better understand the reasons behind your symptoms and together we can work out what, if anything, needs to change.
Take the next step
Seeking help through psychotherapy for anxiety may seem like a big step.
To find out if this is right for you, I offer a FREE 20 minute, no-obligation consultation. During this, we can discuss your situation and explore the ways in which we can work together. Get started by contacting me today.
Clinic Locations
Haywards Heath
Therapy sessions can be either long-term or short-term, face-to-face or online. We have two locations for in-person sessions, one in Haywards Heath, the other in Hove.
Oathall House
68-70 Oathall Road
Haywards Heath
RH16 3EN
Brighton & Hove
9 The Drive
Hove
BN3 3JE
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