Anxiety

Anxiety can be overwhelming and even debilitating. Even though it is a natural emotion that  serves an important purpose to heighten one's response or awareness to stress, too much anxiety can cause both physical and mental struggles. When anxiety begins to affect your daily life and routine tasks, our therapists are here to help you successfully manage it and address the root cause of your challenges.

Anxiety often includes at least one of the following symptoms:

• Feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge

• Not being able to stop or control worrying

• Worrying too much about different things

• Trouble relaxing

• Becoming easily annoyed or irritable

• Feeling afraid, as if something awful might happen

• Intrusive thoughts or rumination

Anxiety is the most common mental health issue that people of all ages face affecting over 40 million Americans a year. Some of the most common diagnoses that result from anxiety are:

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Panic Disorders

• Phobias

• Social and Separation Anxiety

The best evidence-based treatments for anxiety include, but are not limited to psychotherapy, medication, and/or a combination of both therapy and medication. We specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure Therapy, and Mindfulness strategies, as those approaches have proven to have the best long-term success.

Depression

Depression commonly manifests physically, through stomach pains, headaches, disrupted or excessive sleep, and motor control difficulty. While the causes of depression are unknown, a predisposition for it runs in families and it can be triggered by trauma and adverse life circumstances. Depression is diagnosed more frequently in women and tends to display differently in women than in men.

People tend to suffer higher rates of depression after giving birth and in late fall. Depression and anxiety often exacerbate each other and people with depression commonly have difficulty concentrating on tasks and conversations. Some people abuse alcohol and drugs or overeat as a way of coping, causing them to develop other medical problems. Depressed people are also at increased risk for self-harm.

Depression is a mental illness which is characterized by prolonged emotional symptoms including:

• Apathy

• Sadness

• Guilt

• Exhaustion

• Irritability

Diagnosing depression involves a psychiatric evaluation and physical tests to determine whether a person’s symptoms are actually being caused by a different disorder. A person must have been experiencing symptoms for at least two weeks to be diagnosed with depression. Every case is unique and requires individual attention, but there are a number of effective complementary ways of treating depression, including:

• Talk therapy

• Medication

• Adopting a healthier lifestyle

• EMDR