Anxious About Feeling Anxious? You're Not Alone. Try These Tips to Start Feeling Better.
Do You Find Yourself Worrying a Lot During the Day?
Do you feel anxious about a lot of things going on in your life? During the week, you might worry or feel anxious about a lot of things.
Did I forget a project deadline?
Did I forget to respond to that email?
Did I offend my colleague with what I said in the meeting?
I made a fool of myself in front of my friends just now.
Then you start thinking to yourself, “Why am I so anxious about so many things? Oh geez now I’m anxious about how anxious I am! Something must really be wrong with me.”
We live in a stressful world, and it is not uncommon to have some worries and anxieties about our lives. Where it becomes a larger issue is when the worry and anxiety begin taking a larger and larger part of our lives and starts to impact our work, school, and social lives. It is not uncommon for some people to begin feeling anxious about how much anxiety they constantly feel during the day. Some call this meta anxiety, meta worrying, or worrying about worrying. This is also a common symptom reported by people suffering from generalized anxiety disorder.
Three Things To Reduce Your Anxiety
Schedule regular worry time
This helps you learn how to compartmentalize and contain your anxiety and worry. Take time daily or several times and week (whatever works best for you) to sit down and give yourself permission to worry away! Even better is to journal your worries and anxieties as getting them out and written can be helpful as well. During the rest of the day if you catch yourself worrying or feeling overly anxious, simply say “I’ll worry about that at my next scheduled worry time.”
What would you tell your best friend if they were worrying about the same thing?
What advice would you give them? Many times, we are much harder on ourselves than our friends and loved ones. Write out or verbally say what you would tell your friend then try to heed the advice for yourself.
Are you catastrophizing?
This is a common cognitive distortion humans face from time to time and clearly is common with anxiety. Try this simple mantra. “Is anyone going to die or be severely injured?” If the answer is yes, then deal with the emergency! But in many cases, the answer is probably no. Then simply take a deep breath, and say while this may not be enjoyable, I can deal with it. Try it out. Train yourself to not see everything as an emergency.
Recent Study Demonstrates Effectiveness of Counseling for Generalized Anxiety
A recent study explored different approaches to treating Generalized Anxiety Disorder which is the closest diagnosis that would describe anxiety about anxiety. This well done study investigated multiple types of counseling approaches including psychodynamic therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, supportive counseling, and relaxation training.
Now all of these treatment approaches were compared to a wait list control group to see which would be effective. The good news is all approaches were helpful in alleviating the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder.
But….What was even more interesting was only CBT was found to have lasting effects in maintaining changes on 3-month and 12-month follow-ups. So if you find yourself struggling with making lasting changes in controlling your worrying and anxiety, search for a therapist that understands CBT.
Still Need Support?
Here at Sequoia Counseling Group, we specialize in empirically supported treatments with CBT being a key approach for generalized anxiety counseling. We are based in the Las Vegas, NV area, We also have telehealth for all of Nevada, California, and Virginia. Please feel free to reach out if you have a question or want to scheduled a free consultation session.
Dr. Philip B. Gnilka is the Clinical Director and Founder of Sequoia Counseling Group, a boutique mental health practice that serves clients in Las Vegas, NV. His experience as a tenured professor in mentoring students about counseling approaches and theories reinforced his passion for helping individual clients directly. He specializes in anxiety, stress management, and perfectionism.