Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Santa Ana, CA.

Many of my clients come into treatment due to anxiety and stress. Stress is a normal part of life but when stress becomes too overwhelming and affects an individual negatively that is when treatment can be helpful. I have helped many kids, teens, and individuals find the root to their anxiety by building awareness. I also work with the client to find useful tools to help manage stress. I work with clients to find healthier thoughts and effective ways to get their needs met. I am trained and certified in evidenced based practices to treat anxiety. I want to emphasize that each individual is unique and therefore tailoring treatment to the individual is important.

How does anxiety and stress play out in your life? It is a vital aspect of our lives, important at very specific times. Yet when anxiety is the ruler and someone is helpless it becomes a life limiting function. Anxiety might also be an avenue to avoid more intense emotional feelings and thoughts. A valuable goal might be to respect and manage one's anxiety and stress in order to live a more free and productive life.

We help you to reduce your stress and anxiety, by first connecting you with the therapist you feel most comfortable. Then we obtain your background and current stressor to help you better identify your triggers. Once you have some insight , then we teach you relaxation and stress management techniques to help you to reduce your anxieties and stress.

Panic attacks? Things like panic attacks, trichotillomania, obsessive behaviors, even brain freeze can all be helped with the proper tools. Stress about taking a big exam like the BAR, State Boards, LMFT, LPCC, LCSW, CPA, SAT or other standardized tests. We offer specialized hypnosis sessions where symptoms are often reduced within 3-5 sessions. Fear of driving, flying or a special performance. Hypnosis is a fast effective solution. We also offer traditional psychotherapy using behavioral modification, positive psychology, and solution focused techniques to help you find the courage to face your fears. We offer tools to reduce your anxiety and manage your emotions.

Anxiety, panic, and phobia treatment are OCAC's sweet spot. This is where we do 95% of our work. The other 5% is in related disorders. If you find your thoughts controlling you or find yourself unable to step away from what you know are irrational thoughts, there are solutions. Many patients hear “Just relax" from friends and family, and while momentary exercises like breathing or meditation may help some, they really only subside surface symptoms of underlying cognitions that really need to be addressed. The inability to “just relax” will often exacerbate anxiety further, and there is a reason. If your needs are beyond common stress management, our average treatment is 14 weeks.

Whether stress/anxiety results from pushing oneself too hard or needing to be too perfect, or from an over-active limbic system that just won't seem to turn off, or from current or past trauma(s), several approaches offer relief when they are used to effectively target the source of the problem: Voice Dialogue, EMDR, Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, Relaxation Training and self-soothing techniques, Assertion Training, Mindfulness, Neurofeedback. All or a combination of these can work to alleviate symptoms and heal the problem. Sometimes they are used in conjunction with short-term or longer-term medications. An exercise and nutritional program can also be extremely beneficial.

Most days, everyone experiences anxiety and stress on some level. The problem arises when the anxiety begins to interfere with normal functioning and you become paralyzed to be more productive. Anxiety can be a specific fear (worries about safety/security) or more generalized where you just constantly feel “anxious” and do not know why. When you are in that state, it is hard to recognize the triggers, or what thoughts/behaviors may be exacerbating your symptoms. Therapy helps to uncover those patterns while also offering techniques to stop them from being debilitating, so you can move forward with a more satisfying, productive everyday life.

Together, we can break the automatic and unhealthy patterns of thought that are leading to your anxiety and stress. I employ Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) - which is currently the most successful, scientifically proven method of psychotherapy to combat depression and anxiety. Using CBT, we can track and replace the irrational thoughts that are bringing you the most anxiety and stress.

I find that the most important part of working with anxiety and stress is to work with creating a safe environment to explore and work on these feelings together. This is an important goal. Without safety, and a feeling of genuine and concern and compassion for you, I do not think we will be able to get very far. From here learning to approach, tolerate and understand what makes you anxious and stressed out, the things you avoid talking about and are fearful about being overwhelmed by are the things I want to help you master. So much of anxiety is feeling smaller than what we are up against. Getting confidence in yourself and coping effectively with your anxiety is what I will help you do.

When becoming anxious and stressed, it can be very difficult to think clearly and not feel overwhelmed with all your emotions. You do not have to suffer in silence or be alone with your worries and concerns. Get help from an experienced Psychologist and feel what it is like to live with less anxiety and to free yourself up for a more meaningful and enriching life. Please visit my website at www.orange-county-counseling-psychologist.com.

People rarely come to counseling when their anxiety first starts causing them problems. Most people try to handle it on their own and try the “white knuckle” approach until they are exhausted and overwhelmed. Often life becomes unmanageable and depression sets in when anxiety is not dealt with. Anxiety commonly focuses on illogical things that may seem foolish or kind of crazy, so you have kept these to yourself. Don’t keep struggling alone. Call me so I can help you reduce the hold anxiety has on you and restore freedom to live your life fully again. Contact me at 714-751-0888 and I promise I won't think you are crazy.

We treat anxiety and stress by first helping you identify what may be causing it. Causes may include external stressors (like economic stress or marital stress), or internal stressors like being too hard on yourself, or not feeling fulfilled in life. depending on the cause, we then teach teach you find ways to perhaps think differently about the stressing situation, ways to change your life to reduce the stress, or techniques for stress inoculation such as relaxation training, meditation, or deep breathing exercises. If you have a panic disorder, we teach you specific coping techniques to deal with it in the future.

Regardless of its cause, anxiety is firmly rooted within our bodies, and needs to be addressed on both an emotional and physical level. Dr. Simina uses body-mind techniques as well as hypnotherapy to help loosen the grip of anxiety on the mind and body. With Dr. Simina's approaches, you will learn how to restore the physical and emotional sense of wellbeing that anxiety all too often robs from us. Her clients with stress and anxiety related issues mostly report a sense of freedom from feeling overwhelmed in life and renewed sense of aliveness after few sessions.