Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Elmwood Park, NJ.

We live in a stressful world. Often the complexities of our lives can become ovewhelming and they can cause great anxiety. Through good psychotherapy, together we can break down your seemingly unmanagable oppressive thoughts, this can help you cope with your life's circumstances in a productive manor and by eliminating the unhealthy anxiety you will be able to see stress as is, just one more challenge in your life.

We have all had moments of anxiety and we remain anxious due to the beliefs we hold about our reality and the thoughts we have about our situation. An individual becomes anxious when they overestimate the negative aspects of their situation and underestimate their ability to cope and function in problem situations. The anxious individual will imagine and create even more negative consequences than are actually present. I guide my clients to a more rational approach of focusing on the task at hand, not engaging in or imagining negative outcomes, and not engaging in or exaggerating possible negative outcomes. We focus together on ways that enable coping, behavioral change and flourishing in that situation.

Anxiety can take many forms, including excessive stress, low self-esteem, panic attacks, phobias and compulsions. When fear or anxiety is experienced on a daily basis it can become so familiar that it goes un-noticed until problems arise that grab our attention. These can include health problems, insomnia or feeling stuck in bad relationships. Addressing anxiety can free up your energy and enjoyment, and give you back your life.

Living with excessive worry and uncontrollable negative thoughts may impede your functioning during the day and keep you up at night. When anxiety impacts your ability to live comfortably, therapy can help. Using CBT and concrete coping skills I’m able to help clients to cope with stress, address specific fears, and alter negative self-talk. I also incorporate psychodynamic insight-oriented interventions, to help clients dive deeper to explore and work through the root of their anxiety. Although anxiety can be overwhelming and debilitating, it’s highly treatable. Together, we can help you work through your worries, and find strategies that help you feel calmer, more at peace, and fulfilled.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy is a highly effective treatment for anxiety disorders, particularly OCD. It involves gradually exposing individuals to feared stimuli or situations while preventing the typical compulsive response. Through repeated exposure to these anxiety-provoking triggers, clients learn to tolerate distress without engaging in compulsive behaviors. ERP therapy is based on the principle of habituation, where anxiety decreases over time with repeated exposure. Therapists work collaboratively with clients to develop personalized exposure hierarchies and teach coping skills to manage anxiety. ERP has been shown to significantly reduce symptoms.

I can help you understand and reduce anxiety and stress. We'll start with a thorough assessment to understand whether you're experiencing clinical anxiety and what subtype or if you're just in a stressful season. Either way, we'll discuss a toolbox of self-care strategies from mindfulness and exercise to evaluating your work and lifestyle commitments to develop a customized stress-management plan for you. Then comes the hard part--sustaining those goals over time. I'll be with you every step of the way until you experience the peace you want in your life.

We embrace an expansive view of the individual and collaborate with clients to explore how their sense of self, past experiences, environment, and culture, impacts their current moods, relationships, experiences, and self-beliefs. We will work together in identifying what areas of life you would like to further explore to best reach your goals/growth in this process of self-discovery.

The world is a demanding place these days and we get pulled in so many different directions—add to that the stress of having, keeping, or finding a job, family and/or relationship pressures—and anxiety and stress can so easily gain the upper hand. My goal as a therapist is to help you talk though your issues and concerns so that I can give you the tools to help you overcome your sources of anxiety and stress.

At Transformation Counseling Services each member of our clinical team is exceptionally trained in the application of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Mindfulness for anxiety disorders. Our goal is to help our patients reduce their symptoms and improve in their daily lives. We help our clients learn concrete skills, and current evidence-based practices tailored to their unique needs with special attention paid to racial , social economic, cultural, and spiritual/religious beliefs. If you are ready to live a stress free life please contact us for a free consultation.

We’ll start by getting on the same page: what is bringing you to therapy, what are our goals for incorporating medication, and what would it look like to truly feel “better?” We’ll discuss your past history with both psychotherapy and medication, the current challenges you’re facing, and what you hope to get out of this process. You and I will collaborate on a treatment plan that maps out how we’re going to get there.

Dr. Joel and Dr. Sara work supportively and educatively to help you gain a sense of mastery with respect to your anxiety and stress. For over 40 years, we have helped the victims of abusive relationships, work stress, emotional burnout, identity concerns, & perfectionsitic personalities who partake in unhealthy habits. Clients have often reported a sense of relief and appreciation over being well-understood and accepted by Dr. Joel and Dr. Sara. Our practical and reasonable therapeutic approaches build your healthy self-esteem and provide you with the tools for enhanced growth and effectiveness while facing life's challenges. Often within a few sessions, clients feel better.

Stress is not only an internal problem but is evoked by environmental impingement such as family, business, and political currents. All individuals have varying levels of stress in their lives. One of the focuses of psychotherapy is to help with increasing a capacity to move through it. An enhanced capacity for imagination and creativity can be a result.

Many people have anxiety. Anxiety is the most common problem that clients bring into psychotherapy. Anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness, and dread. Sometimes you can say what it is bothering you. Your job or relationship may be causing you stress and you want to solve the problems. You don’t know how to deal with the mounting pressures. Friends will often say “don’t worry about it” but that doesn’t help. Sometimes you don’t really know what is bothering you it just is. I can show you how spot these feelings before they overwhelm you and what you can do about it. We’ll get clear on what has been difficult for you and how have you been feeling.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) If you feel uncontrollable or excessive anxiety and worry more days than not during any six month period, you may be experiencing Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). You may feel constantly on-edge, irritable, tired, unable to concentrate, complain of muscle tenseness or have other physical complaints, or your sleep pattern may be disturbed. If anxiety or worry is creating emotional distress, hindering your life, or causing you a lack of achievement or satisfaction in your life, even if you are not experiencing panic attacks, a psychotherapy consultation for General Anxiety Disorder is recommended and I would welcome your inquiry.

Psychotherapy provides a robust and adaptable process for addressing both anxiety and stress, often integrating evidence-based approaches like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Through 1 therapy, individuals gain a supportive environment to understand the triggers and patterns associated with their anxiety and stress responses. CBT offers practical techniques to identify and challenge anxious or catastrophic thoughts, develop coping skills for managing worry, and implement relaxation strategies. When underlying traumatic experiences or significant life stressors contribute to anxiety and stress, EMDR can facilitate the processing of these memories, reducing their emotional intensity and impact. This comprehensive process empowers

Everyone knows what it feels like to be anxious and stressed. I have worked with many clients around anxiety issues. I help people to see that "they are not anxiety" but rather, that "anxiety is a visitor." It comes and it goes. Sitting down and taking a close look at your anxiety is a way to begin to have control over it, rather than anxiety controlling you! Mindfulness offers many tools I share with my clients as I help them with troublesome anxiety and panic issues. I also bring in information from modern neuroscience, as well as offering them some cognitive and behavioral techniques. There are things that can help you to manage your anxiety, so you don't have to struggle with it.

Anxiety is excessive worry about negative events that you expect to happen, but are not necessarily in the cards. The worry is enough to bring on dread, panic, obsessions, compulsions, and phobias. Usually, early life experiences – perhaps forgotten or suppressed -- taught you to anticipate the worst. Together, we will bring these memories into consciousness so you can consider if they still apply to you in your current life as an adult. This will help you stay more grounded in the reality of the here and now, which can significantly reduce anxious symptoms. I will also teach you calming techniques, including mindfulness practices and self-compassion to counter anxiety when it arises.

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.

Do you worry about work constantly when you’re at home, or feel anxious and tense even about small events? Is your mind riddled with a powerless sense of imminent danger, a place where rising panic can be difficult to quell? Does your apprehension make it difficult to get on with regular life and enjoy each day? Do you struggle with recurrent thoughts that bring about fear, doubt and anxiety and compel you to engage in safety and sometimes nonsensical behaviors? These signs and symptoms are common in those suffering from anxiety disorders. Anxiety and fear can have even paralyzing effects in many aspects of your life; however, there is hope for a calm and serene existence.

Stress and anxiety are grounded in fear of an anticipated future. The mind makes up a scenario, suggests that it may be true and an anxiety and stress are born. Nothing has actually happened other than the mental event, yet this phenomenon accounts for the bulk of human suffering. As a therapist it is my job to help clients who tend to be anxious recognize the endless stream of stress producing conjecture as a mental phenomenon unrelated to reality. Working together we can often trace their tendency to anxiety to earlier life experiences and have them begin to see the automatic nature of their anxiety's generation - this helps them interrupt the process.

Anxiety and stress are among the most common struggles people face, yet they can feel incredibly isolating. The constant pressure to do it all in a fast-moving world can become overwhelming, leaving you exhausted and unsure how to find relief. You are not alone in this. Whether anxiety shows up in your daily routines, impacts your relationships, or keeps your mind from resting, therapy can provide support and direction. Together, we will work on practical ways to calm your mind, ease the intensity of worry, and create more space for peace and clarity in your life.

It's hard not to feel stress in today's world. Constant exposure to stress, without tools and practice to manage it begin to affect our physical health as well as emotional and mental well-being. Learning self-hypnosis, mindfulness and breathing techniques and reduce stress and improve how we react to stressful situations. Journaling, doodling, and visioning also reduce the impact of stress. Even if you don't consider yourself an artist, painting and drawing create peace thoughts. Learning a new hobby, such as knitting, whatever your age or gender, is documented to reduce stress. You can learn these techniques, strategies and skills in the comfort and privacy of my office.

Helping clients get out of their head and into their body is a specialty of mine. Often times Clients are working very hard to avoid negative outcomes and I help them shift their approach to a preparedness for undesirable outcomes so that they don't have to expand so much energy trying to keep bad things from happening. The goal is increase one's capacity so that can develop the confidence that keeps them from leaning into anxious thoughts.

There is normal stress and anxiety and then there are levels which are far beyond what you imagine to be on that range. We live high-stress and fast-paced lives and it is understandable why we sometimes feel overwhelmed and highly stressed out. There is help available to assist you in calming your nerves and finding productive and safe methods for dealing with the many painful stressors around us.

Anxiety and stress are interrelated. Generally people with anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, tend to internalize conflicts that cause them to always be stressed out, which affects their thinking and behavior. Through an eclectic psychotherapy approach that includes psychodynamic, cognitive and behavioral work, I help them release the fears and angers that underlie the build-up of stress. In time they learn to moderate their feelings, cope better with stressful situations and live a calmer life.