Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Ottawa, ON.

Anxiety and stress can be situational to an event, loss, disappointment, or fear. Anxiety can also be a baseline hypervigilent state, with a relapsing, remitting quality. It is always parasitic, unpleasant and toxic to those whom it infects. It is also hard on our elationships. Therapy with me seeks to achieve remission or soften the anxiety and then we will focus on preventing relapse. I see anxiety as biological, situational and interpersonal. Therapy will explore precipitating stressors, contributory biological factors, and personal factors and in a Cognitive and narrative model we explore new ways to interact with a goal of remission or at least softenning the distress.

There’s a lot you can do to manage your stress, but the first thing you need is a break between stressors to give your parasympathetic nervous system a chance to restore your equilibrium. A hot bath or a relaxing book is good or Something much more powerful is necessary: deep relaxation. Deep relaxation is a practice that requires 15 minutes of your time each day. During that 15-minute period, your total concentration is focused on relaxing your body and mind to achieve a state of deep calm. This exercise releases endorphins (the body’s natural opiates), creating an emotional high. Deep relaxation practiced daily strengthens your immune system and reduces your risk of stress-related disea....

Saint Paul University’s Counselling and Psychotherapy Centre welcomes a diverse clientele, for individual or couple’s therapy. Services are provided by counselling interns at the Master of Arts and Doctoral level in Counselling and Spirituality at Saint Paul University. *Services in French available

Dealing with anxiety and stress involves some understanding of the situation and what might be causing or contributing to a problem. Often it will be the unique way in which we think about something said to be our automatic thoughts and from there we learn to evaluate them for any sign of distortion. Our thoughts for example, may come across as catastrophizing or seeing only the worst in an event which will naturally lead to anxiety/stress. In counselling we can gain some valuable insight and achieve greater awareness learning to step back examining with a different lens and therefore expanding our perspective. This serves to allow for a more enlightened thought or mood to emerge.

Experiencing anxiety can vary from an unfocused sense of concern or worry to performance fears affecting school or work, panic attacks, stress, hypervigilance from trauma, or phobias. Physical and psychological symptoms generally feel out of control and are frustrating and fear-inducing, and can lead people to question themselves and their capabilities as well as limiting their enjoyment of life. I am experienced and specialized in supporting individuals, children and families to find their own strengths to use in regaining control of their life from the influence of anxiety, using a combination of psychotherapy and counselling approaches to fit each unique situation. Serving the Ottawa area

Anxiety and stress are emotions that are useful on short supply. When the anxiety and stress turn into panic attacks and prevent us from functioning, they can be very damaging. Breathing and grounding techniques can help calm us down. This combined with understanding the source of the anxiety, and learning to remember to breath and ground oneself are tools that will be provided.

Helping client's understand what the difference is between stress and anxiety. Helping them identify what is causing them anxiety and what stressors they may be able to eliminate from their lives. Offering clients a variety of strategies to cope with stress and anxiety --- exploring healthy lifestyle habits, work-life balance possibilities, learning to say no and setting appropriate boundaries, self-care, CBT strategies (such as using a thought record), mindfulness strategies (deep breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation), etc.

Anxiety and stress can be overwhelming and debilitating. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is very effective in helping people manage and overcome anxiety and stress through changing their patterns of thinking and relating to the world. Within a supportive, therapeutic context, I help clients understand the nature of their anxiety and stress, then empower them to change their feelings through a variety of cognitive behavioral techniques.

Anxiety has been called the "common cold" of mental illness. Often people are embarrassed or ashamed about anxiety, so first they need to overcome their anxiety enough to come in and explore it. The more the client understands him or herself, and the more he is educated about anxiety, the more self accepting he can be. If a client is experiencing anxiety attacks without warning, I offer psycho-education, cognitive-behavourial coping, "focusing", and possibly referral for a medication consult. It is important to treat underlying issues, and to do so at a pace that the client is comfortable with.

Anxiety and Stress are both life and living challenges. They are part of the normal obstacles we face in our lifetime, be it in health, in illness, in marriage, in couple and relationship issues, in aging and with our children. The thoughts, feelings and behaviors associated with them can often overwhelm and even paralyze us when they occur. In a supportive and empathic environment I help people understand and demystify these feelings and find coping strategies so that they can overcome these crippling experiences in order to live productively again.

When our sense of self is threatened we respond by experiencing anxiety. In verbalizing our anxiety we begin to see our reality with more clarity. We consider the beliefs and events on which we base our reality and examine our protective strategies and the consequences of our choices. We learn to expand our reality so as to include various helpful factors that we earlier omitted and that will better allow us to manage our stress and anxiety.

Often we are bombarded by stressful life circumstances that can steal our peace. Many of us have come through very painful and challenging experiences that have shaken our ability to create safety. All of which leave us vulnerable to anxiety and we can easily find ourselves in a constant state of panic. In my approach, I support you to make sense of these feelings and get them to work for you rather than against you. As we make sense of our fears and learn ways to create internal safety, we can create a peace that comes from the inside out. Like the quote says " I am not afraid of the storms, for I know how to sail my ship." Our work is to strengthen your ability to sail the storms.

Most of us talk ourselves into anxiety and stress but we can definitely talk ourselves out of it just as well. By identifying the common mental mistakes behind anxiety and stress, we begin to understand how we talk ourselves into feeling anxious and stressed out. My role as a therapist is to teach clients how to correct those mental mistakes and make replacement thoughts to help us feel the way we may want to feel. Moreover, clients will be learning the different relaxation techniques and practice the ones that work for them best. And, the best part is, clients have learned self counselling skills, that they can use for their lifetime, by the end of therapy!