Douglas Johns, LCSW
Portland, Oregon
503-252-3739
Counseling Therapy For Anxiety ~ Portland, Oregon
Douglas Johns, LCSW
Anxiety can be difficult to
identify. Sometimes anxiety is experienced as depression
and some people cycle between the two. Anxiety is a lot
like stress. Both can make us feel keyed-up, touchy,
vulnerable or exposed. The constant worry, sometimes just
out of conscious awareness, is exhausting. And because it's
painful we don't want to feel it. So we may work at not
feeling it. In the long run that's a mistake.
The place to begin addressing all suffering is by first
admitting it to yourself. "I'm suffering." That's sometimes
easier with depression than with anxiety. Anxiety feels
like something I should just be able to get over and be
done with. But then that's part of the problem that fuels
anxiety: Worrying about worrying.
Both anxiety and depression decrease with similar
interventions: Regular exercise, a more healthy diet,
calming influences. And perhaps the most important is
learning to feel comfortable feeling uncomfortable. This
means relating with our experience rather than ignoring it
or trying to get rid of it. Paradoxically, when we
acknowledge the anxious feeling it often begins to
decrease.
Try this. The next time you feel stressed-out or anxious
repeat the following to yourself: "There is stress" or
"There is anxiety." Don't identify with it as in, "I feel
stressed-out." Just label it objectively. "There is stress.
There is anxiety." In time you can create some space
between you and the feeling. This "space" is a place of
increased responsiveness rather than reactivity. It's like
taking a step back from the experience. Space is created
where we can actually make decsisions, in the moment,
regarding how we respond to our anxiety. And, as I
emphasize throughout my work, my counseling method helps
people cultivate self-compassion
for the
challenges you face from just being a human being.
Please call me with any questions you have about my
counseling practice at 503-252-3739.