ONLINE THERAPY IN WASHINGTON STATE & California

Therapy For Anxiety, Panic & Stress

There’s more to life than worry and panic

Your thoughts are racing and you find it hard not to worry.

You notice your performance at work and school being impacted. You find yourself ruminating on past experiences over and over.

You are tired, exhausted, and overwhelmed. You self medicate your worry and panic through substances like drinking and/or marijuana.

You’re slowly isolating yourself from others because things are just too much. But it’s so hard not to break the cycle. 

What Is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a state of uncertainty and fear resulting from anticipation of a realistic or imagined threatening event or situation.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are the most common mental health issues in the United States affecting 18% (or 40 million) adults.

What Causes Anxiety?

  • Family history of mental health

  • Physical health issues

  • Substance use

  • Stressful & Adverse Life Experiences including:

    • Job changes and finances

    • Divorce and separation

    • Pregnancy and giving birth

    • Moving and life transitions

    • Relationship problems

    • Family conflict

    • Death and loss

    • Traumatic events

Are These Common Experiences?

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    • Even though your relationship is going well, you keep worrying something will happen and question yourself and your partner.

    • What if they leave me?

    • What if they’re lying to me?

    • What if this is too good to be true?

    • On a day to day basis, you worry constantly over things like if someone is judging you, talking about you, if you might die, or something bad might happen.

    • You feel tired, exhausted, fatigued, nauseous.

    • Headaches are common.

    • You become so uncomfortable in public and social settings.

    • Public speaking and presentations are your enemy.

    • You feel like everyone around hates you and that you did something wrong.

    • You sometimes have intense panic attacks that feels like a mini heart attack.

    • You find it hard to breathe, your chest hurts, and your hands tingle.

    • You are on edge, jittery, and chronically feel unsafe walking on eggshells.

    • You look around to survey the environment to assess for potential threats.

    • You’re easily startled and jump at things you hear or see suddenly.

    • Certain sounds, scents, and smells overwhelm you so you try your best to avoid them.

Common Symptoms Of Anxiety

Emotional

  • Fear

  • Worry

  • Sadness

  • Anger

  • Irritability

  • Agitation

  • Confusion

Somatic/Bodily/Physical

  • You feel tense in your body all the time. You find it hard to relax and hold your breath often, without even realizing it

  • Difficulty sleeping or falling asleep

  • Fatigue or exhaustion

  • Bodily/somatic tension

  • Panic attacks

  • Headaches

  • Stomach aches

  • Naseau

  • Heart racing

  • Warm body temperature

  • Shakiness

  • Restlessness

Cognitive/Beliefs

  • Rumination and going over thoughts repeatedly

  • Difficulty concentrating

  • Black/white or binary thinking

  • Rigid thoughts

  • Catastrophic thoughts

  • Mind reading or assuming

  • Labeling

  • Judgement

Avoidance

  • Avoiding meeting up with people

  • Avoiding going out of your home

  • Avoiding text messages, phone calls, emails

  • Avoiding eye contact

  • Avoiding speaking to others

  • Numbing yourself

  • Overly relying on substance and alcohol

  • Fantasizing

  • Wishful thinking

  • Daydreaming

  • Pushing down your emotions

  • Self isolation

Therapy For Anxiety Can Help You

✔️ Learn ways to quiet your mind (rather than have your thoughts control and manage you)

✔️ Identifying and challenging your negative thoughts with more realistic thoughts

✔️ Education on your body physiology and nervous system so you know why anxiety symptoms are occurring

✔️ Understanding your anxiety triggers, learning to recognize when you’re anxious, and reducing intensity and severity of anxiety reactions

✔️ Learn relaxation skills to calm your body, soothe your mind, and decrease nervous system activation

✔️ Learn long lasting skills and tools to stay in the moment such as: guided imagery, breath work, challenging thoughts, meditation, self compassion.

✔️ Empowering you to ultimately become your own therapist so you are equipped with the knowledge, education, skills, and tools to manage your anxiety long term.


Managing Anxiety Is Possible

There is hope.

Anxiety doesn’t have to rule and control your life. You can learn to embody self compassion, curiosity, and care.

We will work together using the following modalities:

  • Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy

  • Self Compassion

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

  • Internal Family Systems (IFS)

We will explore where your anxiety stems from, how to stop it from spiraling, and develop strategies to manage and reduce your anxiety symptoms.

Reach out today to schedule a consultation.

Still Have Questions?

  • Yes, there are evidenced based treatments available. You can feel better today.

    If you have been dealing with severe and persistent anxiety symptoms for months of years, it might be a sign that professional help might be needed.

    You are suffering and in pain. Anxiety is overwhelming. You don’t have to do this alone.

    I am a therapist in Seattle, Washington who can help you. I’ve helped many clients dealing persistent and severe anxiety symptoms. It is possible to heal and recover from anxiety.

    I specialize in helping clients heal and manage anxiety disorders related to:

    • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

    • Social Anxiety

    • Generalized Anxiety Disorder

    Using evidence based treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindful Self Compassion, and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy we will work together to work toward your healing and transformation so anxiety will not control your life, but you will learn to manage anxiety.

  • MBCT is an evidence-based therapeutic practice proven to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.

    MBCT combines the practice of mindfulness with practical tools from cognitive therapy.

    You will learn skills for responding to anxiety and emotional challenges.

    Through the practice of mindfulness you will learn to engage the body, mind, and heart to relate differently to challenging thoughts and emotional distress, and help you care for yourself and cultivate resilience.

    Techniques Include:

    • Breath Work

    • Sitting Meditation

    • Walking Meditation

    • Mindful Stretching

    • Guided Meditation

    • Body Scan

    • Analyzing Relationship Between Your Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors

  • Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) combines the skills of mindfulness and self-compassion to enhance our capacity for emotional well-being.

    Mindfulness is the first step in emotional healing—being able to turn toward and acknowledge our difficult thoughts and feelings with a lens of care and curiosity.

    Self-compassion involves responding to difficult thoughts and feelings with kindness, care, and understanding so that we soothe and comfort ourselves when we’re hurting.

    How MSC Can Help You:

    • Practice self-compassion to live in alignment with your values

    • Gain tools to manage difficult emotions with greater ease

    • Build emotional strength for dealing with daily stresses

    • Motivate yourself with kindness and encouragement rather than criticism

    • Some clients benefit from brief therapy (1-4 sessions) or short-term therapy (3-6 months) for a single issue.

    • Other clients benefit from long-term therapy (6-12 months+) for more complex issues.

    • We’ll end therapy when your goals have been met, your symptoms have decreased, you want space and time to integrate your learning, and/or at anytime you feel therapy isn’t helpful.

    • Some folks also like to pause and take a break, coming back when necessary.

  • You might cry. Many people do. And it's completely okay.

    Crying is a normal, helpful, and natural way for our bodies to release pent-up emotions. Crying is a way to let go of the pain, sadness, or frustration you may be carrying inside.

    By crying, you're actually taking a positive step towards healing.

    Or you might not cry. And that’s okay too.

  • While it's possible to work on your own personal healing, therapy offers different benefits that may be difficult to achieve on your own.

    Talking to a friend, reading self-help books, journaling, and scrolling through TikTok and Instagram are all tools. Therapy is another tool.

    Therapists provide:

    • Accountability

    • Support

    • An objective perspective

    • Structure

    • Confidentiality

    • Expertise, skills, and training

    However, some people never go to therapy and live full and complete lives.

    Therapy is only one way, but not the only way, toward healing, growth, and transformation.

    You get to decide if therapy will be an effective and useful tool on your healing journey.

  • For referrals to other therapists, pro-bono (free) therapy, and reduced fee therapy, click here

Start Therapy Today

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