Articles to help manage anxiety and stress | Anxiety Therapy Buffalo Amherst WNY

How do you know if you have an anxiety disorder?

January 5, 2018 by Lesley

Now that the holidays are behind us, and we’ve moved into a new year, you might be finding yourself still feeling keyed up or stressed out, and you don’t know why.

One of the questions I’m asked, frequently, is “How do I know if I have an anxiety disorder?”

So I wanted to write this post to explore how you recognize anxiety in yourself or someone you love.

Anxiety is one of the most prevalent illnesses in the world- impacting about 34% of the world’s population at any time, according to the National Insitutes of Health.

Yet anxiety disorder is not something that is widely discussed, and many times people who suffer from anxiety don’t even know they have it. They just know they feel terrible.

So how do you know if you’re experiencing an anxiety disorder?

#1: You feel very distressed and upset; and you may feel you’re over-reacting.

Of course, it’s normal to feel worried and upset when you get bad news. Yet people who have an anxiety disorder are worried all the time- about many things. The stress and worry consumes you; you don’t have a lot of room for much else in your life.

#2: You are distressed most of the time; and it seems to be getting worse.

It started small, such as a discomfort of going out to crowded shopping malls, but it’s steadily progressing to the point where you don’t want to leave your house. Or you used to avoid one particular social event, but now you’re avoiding all social events.

#3: You go out of your way to avoid what you fear.

Your life is being impacted and changed by your anxiety level. Where you used to enjoy traveling by plane, now you only drive. Or you avoid taking on new challenges or having new experiences because the uncertainty and fear is just too much.

#4: Your worries begin to impact your daily life.

You start to have sleep or eating difficulties. You lose interest in activities you previously enjoyed. You have difficulty completing your work on time because you are worried it’s not perfect, or you worry that someone will criticize you. Gradually, you start to feel increasingly alone, just you and your worries.

If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, it’s important to seek out professional help.

Anxiety responds well to professional care, and a skilled therapist can help you navigate through your anxiety.

If you feel you could benefit from additional strategies to manage stress and lower your anxiety, we can help! Give us a call at (716) 926-6009 or click here to schedule an appointment.

The Power of Wondering

December 4, 2017 by Lesley

If you have anxiety, you are probably very familiar with feeling worried. You might go to bed and worry, you might wake up and worry, and you might find yourself worrying all through the day.

Getting ready for a presentation at work; you’re worried.

Driving home and trying to get dinner on the table; you’re worried.

Unexpected bills show up and you don’t know how you’ll pay them; you’re worried.

Life is always changing and those changes can be anxious. Sometimes, it’s not the big things which overwhelm us, but the small things, one after the other, that pile up.

If you are feeling anxious and worried, it’s very likely that you’re spending a lot of time in the past or the future- meaning either you’re looking ahead and really wanting something to happen (while being afraid that it won’t) or you’re looking behind at something you did or said (that you wished you hadn’t).

For people who worry, most of their life is lived moving back and forth between the past and the future. This is why learning how to be present and mindful of this moment, right now, and the next, and the next can be a powerful strategy for managing anxiety.

Another powerful strategy is the power of wondering. Susan Jeffers, Ph.D., in her book, Embracing Uncertainty, shares an exercise that can help reduce your worrying mindset.

It’s pretty simple to do; but will take practice.

All you have to do is when you wake up, or when you find yourself worrying about something, just ask yourself, “I wonder what will happen in my life today.”

You would state this, rather than saying something like, “I really need this to happen today” or “I really want this to happen today” or “I really hope this happens today.”

Replace any of those phrases with “I wonder…”

So, let’s say that you have a performance review meeting scheduled for today. When you wake up, instead of saying, “I really hope it goes well”, try replacing that with “I wonder how it will go today.”

Most people will feel a positive, and welcome, energetic shift when they move from hoping/needing to wondering.

In a way, this simple statement can help you better manage what life brings you, and can help reduce your need for control.

As we move into the holiday season, add “I wonder” to your skillset of worry management tools, and see what a difference it makes for you.

If you feel you could benefit from additional strategies to manage stress and lower your anxiety, we can help! Give us a call at (716) 926-6009 or click here to schedule an appointment.

Feel Better And Manage Your Stress With These Tips!

November 3, 2017 by Lesley

As we move into November, our thoughts naturally start to turn towards the holidays- a time where we might see more of our family, where we might spend more money on gifts and parties, and where we might experience more stress.

Add to that the time change in the United States, and you have a lot of possible stressors affecting your well–being.

In this article, I’d like to share a few tips for managing your stress over the holidays (and anytime, really.)

Does stress wear you out but you can’t sleep? Stress is one of the biggest sleep stealers there is. Even if you fall asleep, stress can prevent you from entering deep sleep for physical recovery or REM sleep for mental recovery. Experiment with different ways to relieve and release your stress, each day, so that your nightly slumber becomes more peaceful. Getting good quality sleep can go a long way to keeping you healthy both mentally and physically.

If you’re feeling stressed out, consider doing some intense exercise. Not only can high intensity exercise give you an outlet for any pent up anger or stress, but also it will teach you to focus your mind and body. You’ll learn effective ways to manage stress and clear your mind. It’s also a lot of fun and can be a break from the rest of your life.

Try reading a book to relieve some of your pent up stress. Losing yourself in another world, perhaps one of fantasy, or sci-fi or a romance, can be a great way for your mind to go on autopilot for a bit. You’ll be able to focus on the world inside the book, rather than on whatever is stressing you out.

Breathing works wonders for alleviating stress. Take a deep breath, this helps to oxygenate your blood and can help you relax instantly. If you breathe shallowly, it causes your heart to beat faster and your muscles start to get tense. Instead, breathe deeply, inhaling completely through your nose, then exhaling completely through your nose.

If you’re in a stressful situation, before doing anything rash, stop and count to ten. This will give you a moment to relax and cool down. It’ll prevent you from doing something you might regret and instead allow your mind to calm down enough to make rational choices.

Smile your way to being stress free. Smiling shows that you are happy. But did you know that smiling can also make you feel happy and relaxed? When you smile you transmit nerve impulses from your face muscle to the center of the brain that tells you that you are calm. If you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed take a minute to smile.

A great way to fight stress is to spend some quality time with people you love. If you’re feeling stressed out from the pressures of work, there’s really nothing better than spending some time with people you love in order to recuperate. Focusing on good times with the ones you love will keep stress at bay.

Adjust your vitamins and diet. For example, Vitamin B has been shown to help reduce stress. Minerals such as chromium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, molybdenum, zinc, manganese, and selenium may help you to better deal with stress. Talk to your doctor to see if vitamins could help you.

Now you should have a few new ideas to add to your “stress management” tool kit. Everyone needs to know different techniques to manage stress; because stress is tricky because the same techniques don’t always work all of the time. Try the above tips to see how they can become part of your stress-fighting arsenal, and help you better manage daily stress levels through the holidays and beyond.

If you feel you could benefit from additional strategies to manage stress and lower your anxiety, we can help! Give us a call at (716) 926-6009 or click here to schedule an appointment.

Autogenic Training to Reduce Stress

September 25, 2017 by Lesley

In your quest to manage stress, you’ve probably tried a variety of things. You’ve reduced caffeine. Tried to increase your sleep. Stopped checking email after 7pm. Maybe you’ve also been drinking more water, and you’re taking time off.

So you’re doing many things right, and maybe you’re looking for another level of stress management strategies.

This is why I’d like to share more about autogenic training with you. Developed in the 1920’s, autogenic training is a form of self-hypnosis. Using visual and verbal commands to yourself, you change your breathing, body lightness and heaviness, and your body temperature.

This is a medication-free technique you can learn to manage your stress and improve your relaxation. You may be familiar with aspects of autogenic training such as progressive muscle relaxation, or guided visualization.

Standard autogenic training consists of six exercises which make the body feel heavy, warm, and relaxed. For each exercise, you get into a comfortable position (usually sitting in a comfortable chair or reclining.)

You focus your attention and then use your visual imagination and verbal cues to relax your body in specific ways.

Here is one video, leading you a deep relaxation technique:

As you can see, the process is one of focused verbal commands, as well as visual imagining. You can instruct your body to relax, you can slow down your breathing, and you can make your body feel warm and heavy, with practice.

(This is an effective technique to improve your sleep, too!)

The overall goal of the commands is to achieve deep relaxation and reduce stress.

Like any meditative or self-regulation technique, autogenic training requires practice. It’s not an immediate fix. To get proficient with it, you’ll need to practice for at least a few minutes, several times per day. You can learn the specific sequence of exercises through online training or directly from a teacher of this method. It usually takes 4-6 months to master all the exercises.

While autogenic training has many benefits, you can only know if it will work for you after you try it. It does offer a natural way to calm your body and calm your mind, and can improve your capacity for focus and meditation.

You can never have too many strategies to better manage your stress; because what works for you today may not work tomorrow, or if you are in a particularly stressful period of your life, you might need more than one strategy to cope.

If you feel you could benefit from additional strategies to manage stress and lower your anxiety, we can help! Give us a call at (716) 926-6009 or click here to schedule an appointment.

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