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

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.

I teach clients tools that they can use to help calm them when they are feeling stressed. I also teach clients specific strategies to keep their stress and anxiety-related thoughts from interfering with their lives. I give clients positive and adaptive responses to stress. I explore with clients the root of their their fears and the importance of not letting those fears keep them from doing the things they want to do.

At some point, we all experience anxiety and stress. For New Yorkers in particular, anxiety and stress are a part of our everyday lives. They can cause panic attacks, phobias, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), frustration, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), heart disease, diabetes, isolation, high blood pressure, loss of sleep, irrational fears, muscle tension and depression. Often times it stems from genetics, relationships, illness, financial worries, or a major life event, such as marriage, divorce, loss or change of job. With decades of experience, I can help you develop ways in which you can effectively reduce your stress in order to regain a sense of both physical and mental well-being

When working with people who struggle with anxiety I teach skills that enable people to manage the daily stresses of life. This includes those struggling with generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias, post traumatic stress disorder, and panic disorder. By learning how to cope more effectively with these symptoms people learn how to live more functional and satisfying lives.

Many people struggle with anxiety and stress, and I work frequently with these issues in my practice. These issues take different forms for each person, and therapy is individualized for the person with whom I am working. There are thoughts and thought patterns that contribute to a person's anxiety and sometimes panicky symptoms. Through integrating cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques with also exploring the underlying emotions that are contributing to the anxiety, we can work together to reduce your anxiety and stress.

I will help you with anxiety and stress in a variety of ways. Sometimes just talking can calm and de-stress you, especially if we explore unhelpful thoughts or poor time management that hinder you. Othertimes, I will teach you breathing exercises, meditation, EMDR and hypnosis that are natural healing agents. I will encourage you to engage in physical activity, spend time in nature, eat foods that are natural antianxiety benefits, or if appropriate, get a pet. If you wish, I will help you gain perspective by developing a spiritual approach.

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.

Anxiety in any form is an uncomfortable physiological experience. And it is a natural human habit to want to avoid the situations that cause this uncomfortable feeling. The problem is that anxiety follows us as we go, claiming greater territory in our lives, as we, in turn, shrink away from new experiences and opportunities. As your therapist, I will help you change your relationship to anxiety. Through our work, you will find that by deliberately seeking out that discomfort and embracing it, anxiety retreats. This is the path to regaining lost ground, claiming new territory, and increasing your self-confidence and agency.

Anxiety and stress are signals that something is going wrong and you need to make changes. If you feel anxious or stressed ask yourself, " Who or what are you angry at? Or, what are you doing that is painful, without limits and leaves you in a state of Dis-Ease/ Anxious and Stressed? Many times your anxiety can be expressed in panic attacks which are overwhelmed emotions unable to be contained. Psychotherapy will help you to express these pent up emotions and burdens. It will teach you to: be assertive with yourself and others, learn to say "No", relax, set limits, take better care of yourself and learn to use anxiety as your friend and a warning signal that you need to make changes,

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are the most commonly diagnosed disorders in the USA. Each year 19 million Americans are affected by generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, PTSD or specific phobias (e.g. claustrophobia). I help you identify core conflicts underlying anxiety such as anger, ambivalence about autonomy and fears of abandonment and safely replace maladaptive coping mechanisms with healthier ones. I help re-educate your negative self-talk with positive, productive inner talk and teach you breathing and relaxation techniques and mindfulness meditation to control physical symptoms.

You will learn where your anxiety and stress come from and find creative ways to explore it and heal it. Anxiety can be very complicated. I will help reflect characteristics, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that you are unable to see in yourself. The more you learn about yourself, the more predictable life becomes and the lower stress we experience on a daily basis. Daily stress equals chronic stress. Chronic stress is very unhealthy for us. You will learn coping skills for your in-the-moment anxiety and long-term skills to lower chronic stress. I am a Certified HeartMath Practitioner and can work with you through HRV biofeedback to reduce stress.

I often think that anxiety is a difficulty that shows great promise--because it's really misdirected energy moving in unhelpful directions: panic, stress, etc. and energy itself is a gift. The key is how, together, we find ways to make it more productive by identifying whatever fuels it and lends it power. I've treated so many people for anxiety and they have made great progress, either reducing or eliminating the symptoms.

Stress can be felt from feeling pressure at work (or from not working), from always being on the go but still finding not enough time in the day, from feeling more responsibilities than you can handle, from being unable to deal with small stressors when they come up, from finding some areas of your life having significant effects on other areas of your life, or from many other sources. You can get beyond the effects of this by discussing what is going on and finding alternate strategies to deal with situations. Christopher looks forward to heling you on this journey as you see to come to a place of wholeness and peace.