Anxiety Therapy in Oakland
Is Anxiety Impacting Your Self-Esteem & Quality Of Life?
Anxiety can show up in a lot of different ways for people. For some, anxiety takes the shape of worry and intrusive thoughts. For others, it means painful or uncomfortable physical symptoms, such as headaches, digestive issues, and trouble eating or sleeping. While anxiety has a way of affecting everything from relationships to work performance to daily goals and routines, it often boils down to the concern that I am not enough.
This can become a debilitating inner monologue to live with, especially as you try to manage your responsibilities. You may feel overwhelmed or paralyzed by decisions big and small, held hostage by obsessive ruminations and thoughts on loop that make you question yourself. You may seek outlets to manage your symptoms, such as numbing yourself through substance use, eating, gaming, scrolling on your phone, or withdrawing from the people, places, and situations that trigger your anxiety.
You are not alone in this experience, and in fact, most of the people I work with in counseling struggle with some form of anxiety that has become disruptive to the point of needing professional support.
For some, anxiety may be related to a physical condition or imbalance in the body (i.e., hormonal changes, thyroid issues, etc.), which are important to rule out by a medical professional when seeking treatment. Often, however, these symptoms stem from emotional and mental distress that can be helped with counseling.
In therapy, we will collaborate to thoroughly examine your experiences, putting your anxiety into words and finding solutions that offer lasting relief. Through this process, a new, more healed relationship with yourself and your thoughts is possible.
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Anxiety Is The Mind And Body’s Way Of Signaling That Stressors & Expectations Have Become Too Much
There’s a reason anxiety is one of the most common mental health challenges worldwide, and it has to do with the highly demanding capitalistic world we live in that prioritizes productivity over wellness. The system is designed to keep you performing and achieving no matter the cost, such that the goalposts are always moving and nothing you do feels like enough. Even when a goal is reached or an achievement is accomplished, feelings of lack and dissatisfaction often overshadow feelings of pride, success, and happiness.
Furthermore, anxiety can stem from specific, personal experiences that may have caused us to feel emotionally and/or physically unsafe. These experiences are sometimes rooted in trauma, systemic oppression, family of origin issues, and the ever increasing collective challenges we face in our society.
Unfortunately, what starts out as a whisper of self-doubt quickly becomes a thunderstorm of anxious inner thoughts, as these symptoms have a way of taking over without us fully realizing it. And while it may be tempting to treat these disruptions as surface-level inconveniences, anxiety can be effectively managed when targeted at its source through treatment. Therapy helps us trace anxiety back to its origins so that we can make sense of our pain—and move toward healing it once and for all.
Therapy Helps You Get To The Root Of Your Pain,
Anxiety, & Self-Doubt
As a seasoned therapist who takes a highly relational, collaborative, and psychodynamic approach in counseling, treatment for anxiety is not a one-size-fits-all experience. Depending on your goals for therapy, I will individualize the process to treat your unique symptoms and experience of anxiety.
As I learn more about you throughout early counseling sessions, I will help you spot themes and patterns that are likely to offer valuable insights into your anxiety. Together, we will examine your internal narratives, existing coping skills, and relationship to change, gently challenging unhelpful beliefs that may not serve you along the way. At the same time, we will work on developing a sense of self-kindness as you expand your reflective capacities, validate difficult experiences, celebrate your wins, and take in good experiences.
My Psychodynamic Approach To Treating Anxiety
I view each individual I work with in therapy as just that: an individual with specific needs, wants, and desires. My philosophy is to meet clients where they are. We then collaboratively identify and refine treatment goals over the course of our work together.
I tend to go beyond skills-building and support clients in the deeper work of nurturing a new, more compassionate relationship with the self. Depending on what’s needed, I may incorporate methods that enhance emotional regulation and the ability to tolerate stress. We may also work on assessing sleep hygiene and setting boundaries in service of your overall mental health. And for acute, physical symptoms of anxiety, as well as more stubborn and fixed negative core beliefs, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) may be used in therapy to calm the nervous system and rewire neural pathways.
My extensive work in this field has shown me that positive change is possible. The ability to heal and develop feelings of love for yourself is an amazing, life-changing power to possess. In order to create lasting change, vulnerability, openness, and a sense of willingness are necessary in treatment. On the other side of this process is hope, ease, and more satisfying, connected relationships in life—including the one you have with yourself.
A greater sense of agency and efficacy in your life is possible. Through our work together, you can feel more effective in navigating everyday life.
Common Concerns About Therapy
I’ve had a negative experience with anxiety treatment in the past—how will counseling through your practice be any different?
Many of my clients have been in treatment before, and some of them have unfortunately felt judged or had a therapist-client connection that did not feel like a good fit. It’s foundational to the work we do together that you feel safe, encouraged, and not judged in therapy.
To ensure that this process aligns with your goals, I will check in regularly and invite dialogue about how I can better support you. I welcome all types of feedback, acknowledging that a strong client-clinician relationship is essential to the way I operate as a psychodynamic therapist—which is why I prioritize these conversations and welcome honesty.
Will I become reliant on therapy to manage my anxiety?
I do not believe that therapy should go on indefinitely. While I work with clients on a range of issues for varying lengths of time, my intention is to encourage therapy for only as long as it is helpful to you.
As you experience improvements in your anxiety levels, relationships, and daily functioning, you may decide that you feel ready to end or pause therapy, or you may decide you want to explore deeper issues in ongoing treatment. Whatever the case may be, this process is designed to help you internalize new insights and abilities in a lasting way.
What if I don’t have enough time to devote to consistent therapy sessions?
Psychotherapy is a commitment of your time, your energy, and your resources. While I aim to be flexible with clients regarding scheduling concerns, I believe treatment is only effective when you have the time and space in your life for it.
My approach works best when clients can commit to weekly sessions so that we can build momentum while simultaneously doing the deep work of healing and personal transformation. If you can’t find the time in your life to devote to this work now, that is okay and there is no judgment here—perhaps you will find that, in the future, you have more time and space to commit to therapy.
Develop A Kinder Relationship With Your Thoughts & Feelings
If anxiety is making you feel like you are not enough, therapy can help you overcome self-limiting patterns and form a new relationship with yourself. Together, we can foster more insight and compassion in your life.
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