Living with high levels of anxiety can be overwhelming and affect various aspects of your life. Our dedicated team of experienced professionals is here to provide you with compassionate support and effective strategies to manage your anxiety symptoms.
Whether you’re dealing with the symptoms of generalised anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, OCD, or PTSD, our evidence-based approaches will help you regain control and improve your overall well-being. We offer personalised counselling sessions, tailored treatment plans, and practical tools to help you challenge negative thoughts, cope with triggers, and build resilience.
Take the first step towards a calmer and more fulfilling life by contacting us today.
Stressful life events, such as divorce or large work-load, can cause anxiety due to the disruption they bring to one’s sense of stability and predictability. They can overwhelm coping mechanisms, trigger fear of the unknown, and create a heightened sense of vulnerability, leading to increased anxiety levels. Learn more about the neurobiology behind stress here.
Traumatic experiences can leave a significant and long-lasting emotional impact. The intense fear, helplessness, and horror associated with trauma can result in a heightened sense of vulnerability, intrusive memories, hypervigilance, and a persistent sense of threat, leading to anxiety disorders like Post-Traumatic-Stress (PTSD).
Chronic health conditions can cause anxiety due to the physical and emotional burden they impose, as well as the uncertainty and impact on daily functioning. Genetic factors contribute to anxiety by influencing the brain’s chemistry and the body’s stress response system, making individuals more susceptible to developing anxiety-related disorders.
A cognitive response refers to the thoughts and mental processes triggered by anxiety, including excessive worry, negative self-talk, low self-esteem, and distorted perceptions of threat. It often leads to interpreting situations negatively, catastrophising and having unhelpful thoughts such as “this is really bad” or “I can’t cope with this”.
A behavioural response refers to the actions and observable behaviours exhibited due to anxiety, such as avoidance, restlessness, aggression, seeking reassurance, or engaging in repetitive behaviours as a means of coping.
An emotional response refers to the intense and distressing emotions experienced due to anxiety, including fear, worry, unease, restlessness, irritability, and a heightened sense of vigilance or hypervigilance.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is characterised by excessive and persistent worrying about various aspects of life, including everyday situations such as health or finances, without any specific trigger. These fears and worries are very real and often keep individuals from concentrating on daily tasks.
Panic Disorder is a form of anxiety characterised by recurrent and unexpected panic attacks. These attacks are intense episodes of fear or discomfort, accompanied by physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, chest pain, and a fear of losing control or having a heart attack. People who suffer from this disorder generally develop strong fears about when and where their next panic attack will occur.
Phobias are a form of anxiety disorder characterised by an intense and irrational fear of objects, situations, or activities. Specific phobias may involve encountering certain things (EG. snakes, spiders, holes), while social phobias involve fear of social settings or public places. It can lead to avoidance behaviours and cause distress and impairment in functioning in daily life.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is characterised by recurring, uncontrollable, and unwanted intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviours or rituals (compulsions) in which individuals engage to rid themselves of these thoughts. Examples of common compulsions include washing hands or cleaning the house excessively for fear of germs, checking work repeatedly for errors, and constant ordering and rearranging.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a form of anxiety that develops after a person is exposed to severe physical or emotional trauma. Thoughts, feelings and behavioural patterns become seriously affected by reminders of the event, such as intrusive memories, flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance, and emotional distress, sometimes months or even years after the traumatic experience.
Social anxiety disorder is a mental health condition where individuals experience extreme fear and avoidance of social situations due to concerns about judgement, embarrassment, or humiliation.
Anxiety is a mental health condition characterised by excessive worry, fear, and physical symptoms. It can significantly impact daily life by causing distress, interfering with relationships, work or school performance, and affecting overall well-being and quality of life.
It’s natural to experience temporary feelings of anxiousness in certain situations, however, it’s important to seek professional evaluation if these feelings persist, interfere with your daily life, or cause significant distress.
Counsellors can conduct a comprehensive assessment, taking into account various factors and symptoms, to determine whether you may be experiencing an anxiety disorder. Remember, reaching out for support is a courageous step towards understanding and managing your well-being.
Anxiety counselling and treatment can help you manage symptoms by providing a safe space to explore underlying causes, develop coping strategies, challenge negative patterns, learn relaxation techniques, and gain tools to effectively manage anxiety in daily life.
During an anxiety counselling session, you can expect to engage in open and supportive discussions about your concerns, emotions, and experiences. Therapists will listen, provide guidance, offer coping techniques, and help you develop strategies to manage your anxiety.
Common approaches used for treating anxiety disorders include Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Exposure Therapy (including Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing (EMDR)), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness-Based Therapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). The choice of approach will depend on individual needs and preferences.
Anxiety counselling commonly teaches strategies like relaxation skills, mindfulness practices, breathing techniques, and challenging irrational thoughts (cognitive restructuring) to help individuals manage, build resilience and develop coping skills. Your counsellor will tailor techniques to your individual needs.
Yes, medication prescribed and managed by a doctor can be an effective component of anxiety treatment. It is often used in conjunction with therapy to alleviate symptoms and help individuals manage their anxiety more effectively, but does not ‘fix’ the underlying causes of anxiety.
The frequency and duration of anxiety therapy will depend on the individuals’ needs. As a rough guide, a session generally lasts up to one hour and it is recommended to attend at least 1-2 times per month until improvement is experienced.
Everyone’s journey is unique, so the length of treatment depends on factors such as severity, responsiveness to therapy, and personal circumstances. It can range from a few months to years.
Anxiety management is an ever-evolving psychotherapeutic field. The practitioners attending this Centre are appraised of the latest research and clinical-based advances through an ongoing and rigorous program of professional development.
To determine whether Brisbane Counselling Centre is right for you. Please feel free to contact us if you have an interest in a particular therapeutic approach or desire useful feedback regarding a past counselling experience.
Symptoms such as extreme fear, shortness of breath, racing heartbeat, insomnia, nausea, trembling and dizziness are common in these anxiety disorders. Although they may begin at any time, anxiety disorders often surface in adolescence or early adulthood. There is some evidence that anxiety disorders run in families; genes as well as early learning experiences within families seem to make some people more likely than others to experience these disorders.
The anxiety disorders differ considerably, so anxiety treatment should be tailored to the person’s specific symptoms and concerns. If an individual has an obsessive-compulsive disorder, their anxiety treatment will be different from that of someone who is receiving counselling for anxiety attacks. The length of therapy will also depend on the type and severity of the anxiety disorder. In most cases significant improvement can occur within 8 to 10 sessions.
Although medications can often be the first line of defence in the treatment of anxiety disorders, anxiety therapy (unlike anxiety medication) treats more than just the symptoms of the problem. Therapy for anxiety can help identify the underlying causes of the person’s worries and fears as well as empowering them with strategies to cope with future episodes.
If you think that you or someone you know could benefit from anxiety counselling, please give us a call on 07 3831 4452, fill out an online enquiry or learn more about how to help someone with anxiety.
The practitioners provide anxiety counselling and treatment from our Brisbane (Wickham Terrace) rooms, with the option of Zoom or phone consultations also available. Our receptionists are very kind and friendly and are always keen to assist you with any questions you may have. We look forward to being of help!
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