Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Castro Valley, CA.

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!

Recent studies show that moderate stress can actually make us more productive and successful. But when stress and anxiety become too much to handle, they can make life miserable. I use mindfulness-based therapy to help you increase your own innate ability to decrease anxiety and keep stress manageable. If your symptoms are related to past experiences such as painful or difficult childhood experiences, abuse or trauma, I offer Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. EMDR therapy is a highly effective for relieving symptoms of PTSD and improving performance. Come experience it for yourself!

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.

With anxiety and stress, we will work together to first learn to identify the sources of each and then we will work together in coming up with a plan for managing yourself when you feel overwhelmed. Then we will explore your circumstances and examine your lived experience to better understand what other choices you have for taking care of yourself if you are often feeling anxious and stressed.

Are you worried about things going out of your control? Do you experience overwhelming anxiety and panic attacks? Are you obsessed about someone or something that is driving you crazy? I can help you find the roots of your fears, worries and anxieties, identify destructive patterns, work through inner conflicts, and move on to peace, and a calm state of mind that you deserve.

Becoming aware of your habits and choosing to do things another way is an unfolding process. With mind-body approaches and awareness of how stress is held in the body we will uncover the source of your anxiety and stress while practicing practical and accessible tools to help you find an ease in your life and a comfort in your body. You can find calm in the stillness!

There is an almost infinite list of causes for anxiety and stress, probably a few more if you live in a metropolitan area. Maybe your anxiety is decades old from trauma, family of origin, or chemically related. Perhaps it's situational and can be attributed to a recently suffered trauma, is work related, or relationship related. When you are stressed out or anxious, your brain doesn't function optimally. Instead, it functions in crisis mode and impairs your decision making ability and leaves you feeling too drained for the rest of your life. I will help you to regain your control by giving you concrete strategies and tools to manage them.

If you're struggling with racing thoughts, wanting things to be perfect and feeling frustrated when they and you are not, worrying about the future, worrying about the past, picking behavior (picking skin at lips, at fingers, etc...), feeling of panic and anything else that feels related to anxiety or stress, I can help. Anxiety is something that can propel us to do great things, but in excess it can severely limit us, make us doubt, and make us lose that spark that we bring into the world. I use ACT and other meditative/mindfulness techniques to drop the struggle with perfection, and embrace the unique talents you bring to the world. We'll let the anxieties rest, so you can shine.

Are you worried and stressed to the point of where the quality of your life is suffering? I am delighted to offer assistance in calming and soothing your thoughts and emotions of anxiety and frustration, even panic and avoidance of things that lead to disruption of an otherwise more enjoyable existence. You can find a whole new way of living through being assisted in coming to a gentle awareness(not forced) of what is feeding your anxiety or stress, and together we can create a plan for you to start softening the anxiousness and its effects on your system. Your body can come down into a more calm place and the mind loves to learn different, expansive ways of soothing yourself.

I assist hardworking professionals in managing anxiety and stress while upholding their commitment to excellence in both their careers and personal lives. My clients place significant value on their work, relationships, and family. Worries about disappointing others in their work and personal life contribute to exhaustion from negative thoughts while juggling various responsibilities. I believe that attaining a sense of engagement in life, striving for excellence in work, feeling loved and supported, and experiencing reduced anxiety and stress is achievable for you. I offer a complimentary 15-minute consultation for you to judge if we would be a good fit. You don't have to suffer alone.

Anxiety in all of its forms (social, panic attacks, fears and phobias, PTSD, health-related anxiety, and performance anxiety) are concerns that I have helped adults and children overcome for over 22 years. It is a specialized area of therapy I work with using approaches that bring somatic awareness and resolve the underlying trauma that has led to activation in the body and worried mind. My aim is to help you learn tools to help you cope better and empower you to understand the causes of anxiety leading to resolution and lasting change.

In addition to being a licensed Marriage Family Therapist, I am also a ceritified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner as developed by Dr. Peter Levine, and a certified Structural Integration Practitioner as developed by Dr. Ida Rolf. Using these body-based technologies in what we call a "bottom up" approach to anxiety and stress is a lot more effective than the "top down" approach of traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. That's because anxiety and stress are artifacts of the reptillian brain and limbic system not the neocortex where CBT works.

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@kevinfleminphd.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.