Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Redwood City, CA.

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.

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 often follows frequent mental emotional reviews of images or replay of past fears or dangers, related to traumatic reminders and injuries. I will assist the person in identifying the areas of emotional conflict contributing to symptoms of stress and anxiety and and means to redirect to healthy positive perspectives . We will work together at verbalizing, externalizing, relevant thoughts and feelings in an effort to express internal fears, attached to the anxiety. I will provide psycho-education, normalization and reactions to traumatic memories of events. Relaxation, calming and breathing techniques, exercise, healthy eating, are also part of the therapeutic procedure.

Everyone experiences anxiety at some point, but for some the anxiety is so frequent or intense that it interferes with their lives or even triggers panic attacks. I use Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to help my clients get a sense of control over their own anxiety. We collaborate to learn skills to reduce the frequency or intensity of the anxious feelings, to tolerate the anxiety when it does occur so they can still function through it, and to practice habits that reduce stress and improve general mental health.

I can teach you specific tools to help with anxiety and stress reduction on the physical level. We may also explore the deeper causes of anxiety, your history, and how to find ground in the midst of uncertainty. It is easy to become anxious when our minds are consumed with thoughts of the past or future speculations. By guiding awareness, I will help you to return to the present moment even as we talk, to feel your body and senses in the here and now. Building your capacity to be aware in the present moment greatly reduces anxiety.

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.

Anxiety can take over almost everything: a racing mind, a knot in your stomach, broken sleep, the feeling that you have to stay braced for something you can't even name. Persistent stress wears down your body and your patience until you barely feel like yourself. The good news is that this state is treatable, and you don't have to manage it alone. We'll begin by taking the edge off, then turn to the deeper question: what is your anxiety actually responding to? Worry rarely appears for no reason; it usually points to something underneath that deserves to be understood. I work in a depth-oriented way, helping you trace the unease back to its source so the relief holds permanently.

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.

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.

I create a transformative experience that emphasizes your personal growth and well-being. My approach to anxiety recovery prioritizes the unique needs and goals of each client, fostering a safe and supportive environment where you can explore and overcome anxiety-related challenges. By focusing on practical strategies and personalized interventions, clients will gain the tools and insights needed to manage anxiety and stress more effectively. This tailored approach of somatic, emotion-focused, and attachment-focused therapeutic techniques will empower you to build resilience, enhance quality of life, and achieve a more balanced and fulfilling existence free from painful anxiety.

The modern world we live in is full of amazing technological advancements and organizational wonders, but it is also more complex and demanding than ever before. The myriad competing demands of our lives, how busy we are, the continual pressure to do and be more creates enormous stress for all of us. This stress can escalate into anxiety and the added strain of these issues easily begins to short-circuit our ability to function at our best, to feel good, to maintain relationships and responsibilities. I can help you understand the internal and external forces creating these negative feelings, and together we can find strategies for minimizing stress and anxiety so you can feel better.

Learning to overcome stress and anxieties can be a challenge. Therapy can help you learn tools to understand the cause of your anxieties and stressors, their roles in your life and ways to reduce their impact on your life. Tools can include meditation, art therapy and various other techniques to identify the root cause while learning what works and does not work for you.

I enjoy helping clients with anxiety and/or stress issues. First, we want to rule out any physical causes, so it is important to have a recent medical exam. Always remember, though, anxiety and stress are natural and in many ways beneficial feelings. They keep us motivated and productive! However, too much of a good thing is not good by any means. That's where I come in with my tools to reduce stress and/or anxiety.

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!

While most treatment approaches for anxiety and stress are effective on the surface, they dont treat the real problem. Mantras, deep breathing, and rational dialogues about your fear being irrational rarely work---for most people dont 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

My clients work with me to learn coping strategies and techniques to manage anxiety and stress in their daily lives. This might include relaxation techniques, deep breathing exercises, mindfulness, and progressive muscle relaxation. I utilize tapping to reduce anxiety, and use EMDR to work on the root causes of anxiety with my clients. The goal of anxiety therapy is to help clients learn to live in the present moment and to build emotional resilience and self-regulation skills. Mindfulness, CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) are particularly useful tools for for working to improve anxiety.

Your stress may be triggered by job loss, illness, relationships or by "positive" stressors like a new job or a baby. I provide a solution-oriented and healing environment for people who are suffering from the stress of living a "real" life. I provide a place to change the way you talk to yourself so you will stop beating yourself up and start predicting and creating positive results in your, or your family's, future. We will join together to increase your ability to cope with stress and appreciate your strengths as a human being. You can increase your tolerance for making important changes, learn to accept uncertainty, and cope with the things in life that can't be changed.

Anxiety and stress are like an evil and corrosive thread that work their way through every aspect of a life. It can rob the joy that can make life worth living. I know from both personal and professional experience how anxiety and stress can take the joy out of life and also how to overcome these issues and put them in your past. With the aid of tools like EMDR CBT and guided visualizations I can help you overcome this issue and heal from the issues that drive it. Additionally, I can provide tools, coping skills, and other resources to help you manage this particular issue, and experience increased relief from these symptoms with each session.

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.

Is the weight of the world on your shoulders? Is it difficult to get up in the morning and face the day, even though it was difficult to fall asleep and turn off your mind the night before? Are your relationships suffering because you feel stressed and worried most of the time? A little anxiety can be a positive push toward action, but too much anxiety and stress are unhealthy and unhelpful. I can help you learn to de-stress with relaxation techniques and anxiety management. It doesn’t have to be this hard.

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.

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.

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!

In anxiety treatment sessions with me, you will learn to identify, feel, and let go of fear so that you can live more fully in the present. By better understanding your own unique anxiety process, you will feel more in control of the experience of this emotion. You will also be able to get through tense feelings more quickly. I will teach you valuable relaxation, stress management, and relapse prevention skills so that you can stay calmer in triggering situations even after completing therapy. You will enjoy the freedom of living more peacefully as well as feeling more confident in previously uncomfortable situations. Call me with any questions or to schedule an initial appointment.