Anxiety Therapy

We all experience anxiety sooner or later in our journey.

It is so prevalent in our frantic world that some of us learn to live with it or think we are simply stuck in an anxious spiral.  Others attempt to push through the worry, ignore body signals or racing thoughts, and keep going.

While sometimes we are able to manage nerves and uncertainty, other times we can’t shake that restless feeling.  When severe anxiety persists, it can affect our physical, emotional, and mental health to the point where working, interacting, or being becomes too difficult.

You may have a high-performing job demanding too much of you or family problems that keep getting worse.  Perhaps you struggle to find a work-life balance, no matter how hard you try to be on top of everything.  Or maybe you’ve been through a traumatic experience that left unhealed wounds along the way.

Whether it has been there all along or showed up recently, anxiety does not have to take over your story.  If you feel overwhelmed, lost, or rather frustrated, we are here to support you.  Anxiety therapy can help you manage distressing symptoms so you can genuinely relish your life.

At Kelowna Trauma Therapy, our goal is to deliver effective therapeutic care to reach inner healing.  While we are trauma specialists, we also offer evidence-based treatment options to help anyone suffering from anxiety, whether they are trauma survivors or not. 

Our team of practitioners provides anxiety therapy to adults in Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, Peachland, and the greater Okanagan area.

Interested in finding out more about therapy for anxiety and how it can help you?  Read on!

Ready to get started?  Book a free consultation or schedule an anxiety therapy session today.

What Is Anxiety?

Anxiety is an emotional reaction to something risky, scary, or concerning. 

It’s pretty common to feel sporadic or fleeting anxiety before a job interview, a first date, or in anticipation of a big event (e.g., wedding, surgery, move).

In those cases, anxiety tends to be short-term, without significant consequences.  The mind and body are able to relax and return to normal.  But, when anxiety escalates and becomes pervasive, it has the potential to hinder your entire life.

Acute and recurring anxiety can permeate your daily activities in many different ways.  You may feel irritable, struggle to concentrate on tasks, and suffer from constant worry, impacting your relationships, career, and your ability to take care of yourself and others.

What Causes Anxiety?

Anxiety can occur for various biological, mental, emotional, and environmental reasons.

Common causes of anxiety include:

• Family or relationship issues

• Increasing stress at school, work, or home

• Medical conditions or other mental health problems

• Personal or family history of anxiety or other psychological challenges

• Side effects to medications or substances

• Trauma

What Is the Relationship Between Anxiety and Trauma?

Trauma is the human response to a violent, life-threatening, or deadly situation. 

Trauma and anxiety may feed off one another or come in hand in hand, depending on the individual and their particular circumstances.

For example, anxiety can manifest after someone experiences trauma.  If you suffer a direct traumatic experience (e.g., abuse, neglect, accident), witness something traumatic happen to someone else, or even hear the stories of trauma survivors, those experiences can trigger symptoms of anxiety.  Conversely, anxiety and panic attacks can sometimes be traumatizing.  Some signs of anxiety and trauma may also overlap (e.g., trouble sleeping, excess worry), all because of how these emotional challenges show up in the body.

Both trauma and anxiety might prompt the cycle of avoidance, which consists of avoiding people, objects, or places that might provoke anxiety or remind you of your trauma.  This process turns into a damaging and reinforcing loop—although avoidance may bring some comfort at first, it doesn’t last long.  On the contrary, the distressing response to a stressor can grow stronger and more difficult to manage, impairing you even further.

In either case, therapy can help you find freedom from the cycle and achieve lasting ease.

Who Can Benefit From Anxiety Therapy?

Experiencing occasional anxiety is part of life and can be relatively manageable for some people.  Yet, extreme and persistent anxiety may be incredibly harmful, thus requiring professional help.

Signs of unhealthy anxiety include:

• Difficulty staying still, resting, or sleeping

• Fatigue or exhaustion

• Feeling on edge

• Moodiness or irritability

• Racing heart rate or rapid palpitations

• Ruminating thoughts

• Shaking and sweating

• Shortness of breath or hyperventilation

• Trouble concentrating

• Uncontrollable worry, panic, or excessive fear

If you or someone in your family are struggling with any of the above anxiety symptoms, you are not alone.  Severe anxiety is one of the most common mental health challenges, but it is treatable with proper support.

How Can Anxiety Therapy Help You?

Anxiety therapy can help you get to know yourself, address debilitating symptoms, and uncover healthier coping avenues.

This treatment can support you to:

• Develop awareness: Your therapist will help you look inward to explore your symptoms and triggers.  You will gain insight into what anxiety is, how it might impact you, and whether your current patterns and coping mechanisms are supporting or harming you.

• Find long-term relief: Once you get a clearer picture of your anxiety symptoms and patterns, therapy will also help you address them.  Through various techniques tailored to your needs, your therapist will guide you to accept what you can’t control and shift any unhelpful thoughts, beliefs, or behaviours that might be contributing to your anxiety.

• Learn practical coping skills: Therapy provides you with evidence-based tools and strategies to manage challenges when they emerge.  You will learn to deal with anxiety through tangible resources, homework, and exercises versus numbing yourself or running away from it.

The main objective of anxiety therapy is not to get rid of anxiety but to better understand its roots and discover sustainable ways to handle it.  You will regain ownership of your decisions and foster self-compassion instead of letting fear take the wheel.

Our Anxiety Therapy Approach

Here at Kelowna Trauma Therapy, we provide therapy for anxiety, trauma and depression.  We offer an integrative approach based on proven treatment methods, including Psychodynamic Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprogramming (EMDR), Walk and Talk Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and more.

Treatment starts with a detailed assessment to get to know you, identify the best therapeutic modalities for your needs, and prepare a plan.  Our staff will then work together to deliver effective care, designating a primary point of contact for your journey.  We will all collaborate to help you reach your wellness goals. 

You deserve a calm and rewarding life.  We will help you find your way to it.