Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Toronto, ON.

Managing stress and anxiety can feel like an overwhelmingly daunting task. Together, we will explore your anxiety from various perspectives: What are the root causes of your anxiety? What sorts of events and experiences trigger your anxiety? What has your experience of coping with stress and anxiety been like? I have postgraduate training in the psychology of anxiety, and have worked with performers (musicians, dancers, singers, businesspeople, dentists, athletes, lawyers, and doctors, amongst others) dealing with anxiety issues for the past seven years. I have a breadth and depth of experience I will put to use in working with you to understand and manage your anxiety.

We live in a society that can put a lot of pressure on us to perform (say, at work, or with friends and family). Sometimes it's difficult for us to be who we "really are" and still perform to the standards we feel are expected of us. Understandably, this can lead to stress and anxiety (perhaps also depression, which often goes hand-in-hand with anxiety). There are a lot of ways that we can be triggered, and psychotherapy allows us to become aware of what they are, where they come from, and how we might be able to find who we "really are" with that.

I use strategies from CBT and solution-focused therapy to help my clients address anxiety issues. This may involve using thought records or other tools to get clients to examine the basis of their stress and anxiety and explore how negative assumptions and negative internal dialogue may be contributing to their distress. I also focus on making positive lifestyle changes to build clients' resiliency and help them develop more functional coping strategies. I draw on my background in the health and fitness field to assist clients in achieving mind/body wellness through proper self-care (exercise, nutrition, stress management strategies, etc.)

Everyone experiences stress, and stress can be positive motivation to get things done. But when stress escalates it can be experienced as anxiety. Anxiety can arise when we lose touch with our feelings. In an anxious state, our bodies produce cortisol, leaving us in a fight or flight state. I try to help people understand the nature of their stresses and regulate stress through meditative, mindful or breathing practices. We explore the internal experiences – the feelings and emotions that escalate stress into anxiety. Learning to address these feelings gives us tools to deal effectively with challenging feelings, thereby developing a healthy sense of inner awareness and control.

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.

Stress and axiety can be debilitating in anyone's life. While identifying the symptoms may be easy, dealing with them can be quite problematic. Together we could identify triggers, understand where they come from and then outline useful coping mechanisms that would assist you in minimizng and dealing with these experiences. By understanding and creating different responses to anxiety and stress, it is possible to actually experience them less often. By taking actions instead of "worrying", people are able to feel more empowered, in control and less vulnerable to these states.

Anxiety and stress is apart of our daily lives.Stress can help us run just a little faster or work just a little harder but sometimes that stress starts to take over and we can no longer function.All we can do is feel anxiety.We can't find the tools and resources within us to help us out of difficult situations and we don't even know where to look to calm ourselves down.So many of us stay silent and suffering out of fears that if we tell someone we will be judged harshly.The opposite is actually the case:this is the time when we must reach for a trained psychotherapist to help make sense of what is happening for us.Together we can find out what is going on for you and change can happen.

Feelings of stress and anxiety can be overwhelming. Anxiety disorders effect 20% of the population or 1 in 5 adults. Most anxiety disorders respond well to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This evidence based treatment can be relatively brief and provides good results. My approach will work toward helping you to feel less fearful and more confident. I provide a private and confidential process geared to your own pace and timing.

Anxiety usually signifies perception of a threat. When anxious, we become aware of an external or internal threat. An external threat would be a situation that is perceived as dangerous (a negative performance evaluation) or an internal threat such as becoming aware of a negative thought or feeling (i.e. I'm ashamed for being a failure). Some degree of anxiety is normal under stress, however if you feel crippled and overwhelmed by it, you might wish to consider psychotherapy to learn effective strategies (Mindfulness, EMDR) ) to contain your anxiety. Therapy can help you understand causes of your anxiety and learn how to respond to anxiety-provoking situations with greater confidence.

My approach to stress and anxiety is a gentle, body-based talk therapy. When we become stressed and anxious we can feel hijacked by our thoughts and physical sensations. I help my client's engage their body and their mind in a way that allows them to listen and make sense of the sensations in their body, the feelings and thoughts generated in anxious or stressed states. With a heightened awareness and understanding of themselves client's can learn to reduce and manage the physical sensations associated with stress, anxiety and old patterns keeping them stuck. The sense of control that this brings assists clients in being able to respond to their needs without being overwhelmed.

I keep up to date with the latest and most effective treatments for anxiety and stress. As well as having an excellent handle on these practical strategies, both permissive and provocative, from a variety of experts in the field, I offer a more in-depth look at the underlying causes to access more permanent healing and management of symptoms. Anxiety and stress is probably the most common problem that I find amongst my clients.

Integration of talk therapy with holistic body centred modalities: Giving space for the client to explore and express feelings, own awareness’s, transform thoughts, grieve, vent, and neutralize guilt, anger and fear. New understandings and thus new neural pathways begin to form. Somatic focusing: A profound process of accessing the deep subconscious through breathe work And Life Coaching, meditation, visualization, Emotional Freedom Technique, New Decision Therapy, Polarity Therapy, Cranosacral, Reiki, forgiveness and acceptance work, supplements for brain chemistry balancing are very effective as well. Also CBT, EFT . The combination is powerful.

Anxiety can manifest in a variety of ways. Whether you experience a bodily anxiety (i.e. panic attacks) or thought-based anxiety (i.e. social anxiety or obsessions), therapy can help you deal with the distress. My approach to working with anxiety is primarily psychoanalytic, but I certainly won't shy away from offering practical suggestions or tools for coping. For instance, I love the idea of keeping "one foot out" of anxiety instead of "both feet in" (i.e. reminding yourself in an anxious moment that you have a history of anxious thoughts, the intensity of which don't match reality). Ideally, therapy will help to reduce the intensity of your anxiety which can lead to reduced frequency.