Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Lethbridge, AB.

Everyone feels anxiety at some point in their lives but when it starts to interfere with your life, counseling can help. Although anxiety can feel debilitating, it is treatable. People with anxiety don’t always share the same symptoms, they vary from person to person. Therapy will help you to reclaim your life and function in a chronically stressful world.

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.

Have you experienced tightness in chest, shortness in breath, rapid heart rate, upset stomach, or the urgency to go to your safe place? Anxiety can manifest into physical and emotional symptoms that can affect our thoughts, feelings, and sensations. We all experience different amounts of anxiety, and sometimes, it can be too difficult to manage and make one feel uncomfortable. Anxiety is one of the leading mental health concerns in Canada. Through evidence based research, counselling has been very effective for treating anxiety and panic. Learning ways to cope with the symptoms of anxiety can help manage anxiety so that it doesn't control us.

We all live with uncertainties in life. Many are stressed by demands at work and at home. What makes a difference is how you deal with these givens. Together we can explore your thinking and meaning-making of situations that either give you anxiety and panic, or allow you to take things in stride with greater measures of peace and calm. Let stress spur you on to better performance but not weigh you down. Let uncertainty add a degree of excitement to your life without incapacitating you. Let's work out some strategies together!

Coping with stress and management of anxious thoughts and feelings is a challenge for many clients. We examine the ways that stress can affect the physical body and seek direct ways to mitigate these problems, such as breathing retraining and thought distancing. Often, we focus on building a hierarchy of fears and gradual exposure to these fears. We also work on management of physical reactions, such as panic.

[I OFFER VIDEO SESSIONS THROUGHOUT ALBERTA AND ONTARIO]. Anxiety and stress are two conditions that have treatments that work. Cognitive behaviour therapy, desensitization therapy, and hypnotherapy (all of which I practice) are often tremendously helpful. I have been a psychologist since 1986, and I can help. Set up a time to see me by visiting https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=14249112

Anxiety and stress are sometimes helpful responses and can carry important information for us about our current lives. However, they can also be overwhelming and come with sensations that are difficult to tolerate. I can help you learn techniques to soothe your body, regain balance, and address the mind chatter that may be perpetuating your anxiety.

Anxiety and Stress are commonly reported reasons for attending therapy, however similar, they are diagnosed and treated quite differently. You can assess your level of stress here:http://www.cmha.ca/mental_health/whats-your-stress-index/#.VCmMd0tH0lI. Anxiety symptoms and disorders may be assessed in much more detail. If you feel you suffer from anxiety, it may be best to meet with a trained therapist to discuss treatment options.

Experiencing stress seems inevitable. However, when stress is overwhelming we can develop anxiety which may hinder us from participating in life in a full way. Our lives get smaller, less satisfying, and we might feel that we are no longer in control. Most individuals know they are anxious when they experience uncomfortable physical symptoms. Through therapy we will get to know these physical symptoms, while also exploring how anxiety started, and what triggers it in the present. The hope is that through this process we can develop strategies that will help shift your nervous system from anxiety to a state of calm and connection with self, and others.

The pandemic has changed the world, greatly increasing stress and anxiety for most individuals. I am passionate about helping people navigate the new "normal" as they come out of the aftermath of the pandemic. This may look like finding life/work balance, focusing on self-care, regrouping, or rebuilding certain aspects of their lives and relationships. With general anxiety, teaching self-soothing, self-regulating, or introducing mindfulness techniques can be helpful in combating stress and easing anxious thoughts and behaviours.

Anxiety is actually our "friend", that is alerting us to something we need to pay attention to. So, anxiety first needs to be listened to before "managing" it. We could be feeling anxious because of medical reasons or past traumas are being triggered. Stress, on the other hand, is something we do need to "manage". If we don't manage stress, it will manage us. It is important to occasionally consider how much stress we actually are carrying and figure out what can be reduced or eliminated. We have only so much energy available to us to spend on our own unique load of stresses. So stress management is really about energy management.

In order to help my clients who struggle with anxiety, I help them to reduce the frequency, intensity and duration of the anxiety so that they can function in their daily lives. It is important to learn vocabulary to describe anxiety, to identify cues, symptoms and triggers, and to look for underlying areas of vulnerability that are creating an environment for anxiety to thrive.