Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in San Anselmo, CA.

With therapy, we work towards having a better relationship to anxiety, which eventually changes the anxiety itself. Using mindful awareness of the body and thoughts, and bringing in compassion, you can learn how to respond differently to fear and stress. You can override your instinctual responses to stress by finding calm - even if not in the moment initially - and eventually create new mental pathways of more tolerance and ease in difficult experiences.

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.

Anxiety is a paradox: the harder we try not to feel anxious, the more anxious we get. Similar to chinese finger cuffs, the intuitive solution to anxiety - trying to control what we think or feel - doesn't work. I offer therapy that helps clients avoid this trap and use state of the art CBT and mindfulness tactics to help clients move through and past anxiety.

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.

Over the course of time, a client may start to experience increased anxiety and find themselves beginning to become more and more tentative as they approach their relationships and personal and professional goals. I provide a comprehensive assessment, that takes into account biopsychosocial (biological, psychological and social) areas of life, and together we are able to develop a holistic and integrative plan that is adjusted to the client's changing life circumstances. When clients redesign their approach to life, they have greater insight, are transformed, and better skilled to attain a higher degree of life satisfaction.

Anxiety can be difficult for some to identify and sometimes it's hard to distinguish anxiety from depression. Anxiety and depression can be so closely knit that teasing them apart can be the first step towards generating understanding and emotional change. I will work collaboratively with you to understand what your personal and unique experience is with your anxiety. We will explore your history and make links between your past and present to help increase awareness and develop new ways of coping with your anxiety. My style is warm, empathic, and collaborative and I will work hard to help you better understand and manage your 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.

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.

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.

If you are experiencing symptoms of stress and anxiety such as numbness or tingling, wobbliness in your legs, heart pounding, difficulty breathing and you have a fear of losing control, counseling can help you. I will work with you to give you tools that will help to calm you and help you to deal with the anxiety and stress you are feeling. I will also work with you to help you identify the thoughts that are leading you to feel anxious and help you to change them.

We will look at what contributes to your anxiety and stress. You will learn to manage your anxious thoughts and behaviors better. You develop practical skills and self awareness. I will help you challenge your habitual negative thinking and find ways to self sooth, and self regulate. You will feel more connected, calm, and confident. You will develop more inner peace and self acceptance benefitting you in all areas of your life.

These days, many of us live with a good deal of anxiety and stress in our daily lives. My way of working with both conditions is to help bring relief to the immediate distressing symptoms (worry, panic, fear, etc) as well as to address and heal their underlying root causes. I help clients access their own self-regulating, inner resources to find a sense of calm in themselves, as well as creating a safe place for them to gently "feel into" and release the emotions behind the anxious tension.

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.