Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Benicia, CA.

Anxiety often serves a useful function for humanity when it is not overused, facilitating us keeping our responsibilities and agreements, and remaining ethical and moral in our behavior. Yet, anxiety, leading to stress is the most common dysfunctional problem in today's high pressured world where stressors abound. Anxiety when overused, like too much anger, is self destructive to our minds and bodies. My therapy style assists you to get to the root of your anxiety, determining what secondary gain you may be getting from this behavior and weighing it against the cost. I can assist you to get to the source of your anxiety and learn behaviors thta will serve you and your family better in life.

Experiencing occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. However, anxiety disorders and ongoing chronic stress can appear as repeated episodes of worry & fear, or develop into sudden feelings of intense anxiety with physical sensations, known as panic attacks. Your anxiety may feel related to an event or thought, and other times appear to occur randomly and without cause. Anxiety can develop at any age, when left untreated it may develop into depression. In therapy we will explore how anxiety is affecting your life. You will learn how your physical, emotional and mental health are connected and together create an effective treatment plan specific to your goals to improve your well-being.

Anxiety and stress are actually two different things. Where stress usually comes from actual and identifiable challenges, anxiety tends to be more arbitrary in that there isn't necessarily one specific cause. However, both anxiety and stress tend to develop based on one's specific context--that is what one has experienced through their lifetime. While some anxiety and stress is actually good for us (i.e. propels us toward action), excessive amounts can create both emotional and physical challenges. I work with clients from a top-down/bottom-up approach, working to help the brain to better control the bodily effects of stress and anxiety and the body to control the brain.

Anxiety and Stress are both rampant in our modern society. It is my belief that relationships are both the root cause as well as the solution to struggles with anxiety. I take a family systems approach to address these issues by raising the functioning of the relationships in my clients' lives and allowing them to regulate and feel more peace day to day.

I help men, women, and teens who are feeling anxious and stressed out, develop the skills they need to succeed. I understand that we in the Bay Area live in a "high expectations" environment. As a clinical psychologist with more than 10 years of experience, I have treated countless individuals for anxiety and stress-related concerns. My approach to therapy is client-centered, authentic, and based on current research. Psychotherapy can be transformative and life-changing. I am happy to offer a free initial phone consultation and to answer any question you may have. Give me a call today!

Your Higher Self is your wise inner nurturer who is your guiding light. Your ego on the other hand, is the part of you that gives you "monkey mind"- the thoughts that are fearful, stuck on angry, or judgmental. Neuroscience research has proven that our thoughts and assumptions actually create our reality. Anxiety is an SOS from our soul that we need to heal a core wound and a resulting negative pattern of negative thinking that is creating a negative reality for us. In spite of what appears possible, you can create anything you desire to happen in your life. This is the evolution of humanity that we are all awakening to. To learn more you can watch my YouTube video on Manifesting.

I begin by understanding how you experience anxiety/stress because how you experience them is unique for you. Then we begin to increase your tolerance for how you experience anxious/stressful thoughts, feelings, memories, and/or situations. This is necessary so the anxiety/stress stops being an overwhelming experience that interferes and gets in the way of your life. It's crucial to be able to become more comfortable when you experience anxiety/stress because they're a part life. The problem is the distressing and limiting to debilitating effect they have on you. As you learn to be able to do this, you will begin to experience more peacefulness, calm, hope, self-confidence and self-esteem.

Anxiety and stress are most common conditions that result in physical ailments, disease and impairment in living. I show you how to use the whole body to both contain stress responses and to find a more solid, stable foundation with which to process anxious and stressed places. These are usually aspects of ourselves that do not feel safe or supported- so grounding in the whole body, breathing, letting the body unwind tension allows for a way to not get caught up in these stress patterns. Rather we then learn how to enter into the places of anxiety/stress- so that these parts of ourselves feel safe to experience, express and release what they have been carrying- including unresolved traumas.

Depression, anxiety, excessive worry, and challenges in relationships are rooted in insufficient emotional attunement in formative years. After providing you practical and effective tools that lower anxiety and reduce stress symptoms in the moment; I focus on really attuning to your experience and helping you experience being accepted. As our relationship develops, I find it normal that you will internalize an internal ability to experience yourself as acceptable. After this happens, you will find that the normal "pain in the ass life experiences" that you find will still be there, but you will have a different sense of self that will allow you to navigate them a deeper sense of self!

Are you feeling stuck? When you’re depressed, anxious or overwhelmed, it feels that life is always difficult. Anxiety and stress can also immobilize us and make it difficult to take any action. Taking the time to work through challenges in therapy improve your life in ways you never imagined. I am a therapist who helps clients manage anxiety and break through depression. My style is warm and nonjudgmental, and I work collaboratively with a wide range of clients. I have a great deal of experience with postpartum depression and anxiety. Using insight-oriented psychotherapy and mindfulness techniques, I will help you find a way to stop feeling stuck and move forward.

Many persons seek the support of psychotherapy or counseling at some point in their lives. Some come for relief from troubling anxiety, stress or depression, while others come to understand reoccurring anger or conflicts with loved ones, or the lingering influences of childhood experiences that still impact their lives. Others come with fears of expressing themselves authentically or trusting others, desperate to liberate themselves from the constraints impeding their lives, but unsure if such freedom is even possible. If you are struggling with anxiety and stress, psychotherapy can help. To learn how, please consider calling me for an introductory conversation at 415-533-9724.

Anxiety in my experience works similarly to depression. If depression is caused by unexpressed feelings, anxiety is caused by unexpressed fear. It may be a therapist cliche to talk about creating safety and trust, but this is especially true of helping to heal anxiety. It really is about helping the client feel safe to express their fears and worries and to learn to feel safe to have the full range of our emotional expression.

While most treatment approaches for anxiety and stress are effective on the surface, they don’t treat the real problem. Mantras, deep breathing, and rational dialogues about your fear being irrational rarely work---for most people don’t believe it or you! Imagine if you can trick the brain into changing without you telling your conscious mind that you are changing it? Problem with anxiety and stress is that the brain in this state knows you want to change it and it resists. Contact Kevin@kevinflemingphd.com for the ultimate stress and anxiety solution that will literally change your brain's autonomic nervous system patterns while you sit on your butt. 877-606-6161.