Anxiety 

 

What is Anxiety?  Anxiety is more than just a feeling of worry or nervousness—it is a complex experience that affects the mind, body, and behavior. Anxiety can create emotional turmoil, physical discomfort, racing thoughts, and changes in behavior, making it difficult to feel in control of your life.

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For many people, anxiety is deeply connected to past trauma. Traumatic experiences can cause your nervous system to stay on high alert, leading to chronic anxiety. Even when the danger has passed, your body and mind may continue to react as though you are still in harm's way.

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At Kind Works Counseling, we understand that anxiety and trauma often go hand-in-hand. Whether you experience constant worry, physical symptoms, or avoidance behaviors, therapy can help you manage your anxiety and address the trauma beneath it, creating a path toward lasting calm and healing.

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How Does Anxiety Show Up?

 

Anxiety affects more than just your emotions—it impacts your whole being. Some common signs of anxiety include:

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• Emotional Reactions: Feelings of fear, unease, or dread that seem overwhelming or hard to control. You may also feel irritable, restless, or tense without an obvious cause.

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• Physical Symptoms: Anxiety can cause physical symptoms like a racing heart, muscle tension, dizziness, stomach issues, shallow breathing, or trouble sleeping. These reactions are often tied to your body’s stress response, which may be heightened after trauma.

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• Cognitive Patterns: Racing thoughts, constant worry, or anticipating the worst can leave you feeling mentally drained. You might find it difficult to focus or feel stuck in a loop of negative thinking.

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• Behavioral Changes: Anxiety can lead to avoidance of people, places, or situations that make you feel anxious or unsafe. It can also cause compulsive behaviors, like repeatedly checking or seeking reassurance, in an attempt to control anxious thoughts.

The Connection Between Trauma and Anxiety

 

When you have experienced trauma, your body and mind may stay in a heightened state of alertness long after the event has passed. This constant activation of your nervous system can lead to chronic anxiety. In many cases, anxiety becomes a way for the body to protect itself, even when there is no immediate danger.

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Polyvagal-Informed Therapy helps us understand how the nervous system responds to stress and trauma, and how those responses can create ongoing anxiety. By addressing both anxiety and the underlying trauma, we can help your body and mind find a sense of safety and calm again.

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How we can help with anxiety

 

At Kind Works Counseling, we take a trauma-informed approach to anxiety counseling. Our goal is to help you understand the different ways anxiety affects your mind and body, and to teach you strategies for managing these reactions. Therapy focuses on calming the nervous system, addressing negative thought patterns, and processing trauma to bring lasting relief.

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Here is how we can help:

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• Gaining Awareness of Triggers: We work together to identify the situations, memories, or thoughts that trigger your anxiety. This gives us insight into what might be keeping your nervous system stuck in a state of alertness.

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• Calming the Nervous System: We use techniques such as breathing exercises, grounding techniques, and mind-body awareness to help your body shift out of fight-or-flight mode. By sending calming signals to your nervous system, these tools help reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety.

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• Processing Trauma: Many people’s anxiety is rooted in unresolved trauma. Using approaches like EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Somatic Therapy, and Parts Work, we help you process and release past trauma, so it no longer triggers anxiety.

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• Challenging Negative Thoughts: Through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), we work on identifying and challenging the anxious thoughts that feed your worry. Replacing these patterns with more balanced, realistic thinking helps reduce the mental load of anxiety.

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• Building Resilience: Over time, we help you develop coping tools and strategies that make it easier to face life’s challenges without being overwhelmed by anxiety. These tools give you a greater sense of control and confidence in managing your anxiety.

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Therapy Tailored to You

 

Everyone experiences anxiety differently, especially when it is linked to trauma. That is why we tailor therapy to your unique needs. Whether you are dealing with generalized anxiety, social anxiety, panic attacks, or anxiety triggered by specific events, we will work together to find the best strategies for you.

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At Kind Works Counseling, we understand that living with anxiety can be exhausting, especially when it is tied to past trauma. With the right support, you can find relief, feel calmer, and regain control over your life.