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Anxiety is a normal human response — but when it starts to take over, therapy can help you break free from the cycle.
We will all experience anxiety at various points — it's a normal human response and its function is to keep us safe.
Anxiety is what mobilises us in response to threats, prepares us to fight, flee, freeze or fawn. From an evolutionary perspective it's what's helped humans survive for millions of years. The problem is that the dangers now aren't quite what they were all those years ago, and thoughts or worries can trigger similar responses to actually being faced with a grizzly bear, or a speeding car when we're crossing the road.
Anxiety becomes a problem when we find ourselves feeling anxious or on edge constantly, and when it starts to impact on our day to day functioning. We might find ourselves unable to switch off and unable to stop worrying, preoccupied by thoughts and experiencing strong physiological responses as the fight or flight system kicks in. This can make it harder to focus as our thoughts race and our perception of danger increases.
Naturally this impacts on our behaviour and we might find ourselves doing certain things to try and reduce our anxiety and may even start to avoid certain situations so as not to feel anxious. Before we know it we can find ourselves unintentionally trapped in a vicious cycle of worries or intrusive thoughts, difficult feelings and trying to do anything possible to reduce our distress.
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The Happiness Trap — understanding avoidance
Struggling with anxiety can be exhausting. It can put a strain on our relationships, impact our self esteem, drain our energy levels and generally make life difficult. That's when therapy can help.
Making sense of how your anxiety developed and what keeps it going for you specifically.
Identifying and gradually reducing the safety behaviours and avoidance that maintain anxiety.
Developing a different relationship with worrying thoughts so they have less power.
Learning to tolerate uncertainty and difficult feelings without being overwhelmed.
Just like we all experience anxiety and worries, we will all experience intrusive thoughts — but for some people they can become increasingly distressing.
The more we try to 'not have the intrusive thought' the more they seem to pop into our mind. Intrusive thoughts impact on how we feel about ourselves, or our belief that something bad will happen, either to ourselves or others. We can then find ourselves feeling responsible and doing something to prevent the bad thing from happening.
The content of intrusive thoughts varies significantly between individuals, but the thoughts have a common theme — and that is the meaning that we attach to the thought, that danger or harm will occur as a result of it.
Intrusive thoughts can be experienced as shameful, and that can be a barrier to seeking help. Therapy focuses on understanding the meaning we attach to thoughts, attempts to control thoughts and trying to reduce the behaviours that we do to keep ourselves or others safe but that unintentionally serve to maintain our difficulties.
Struggling with OCD can be exhausting. It can put a strain on relationships with others, impact self esteem, drain energy levels and generally make life very difficult. Reaching out is an act of courage — and it works.
CBT (and specifically ERP — Exposure and Response Prevention) is the most evidence-based treatment for OCD. Together we work to break the cycle.
Making sense of how your particular intrusive thoughts and compulsions developed and are maintained.
Developing a different relationship with intrusive thoughts — so they carry less weight.
Gradually reducing compulsive behaviours in a safe, supported way.
Working towards the life you want, rather than one shaped by OCD.
Reach out for a free 20 minute consultation — we can talk through what you're experiencing and decide together what might help.
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