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Anxiety Can Be Beaten!

Counselling Can Help…

Anxiety disorders can seriously impair your daily functioning and take away from your enjoyment of life. The good news is that anxiety can be overcome with specialized anxiety therapy.

Does any of this sound familiar?

  • You have panic attacks where you are short of breath, experience heart palpitations, obsessive worry and/or intense fears or phobias.
  • You’re terrified of having another anxiety attack.
  • You’re feeling like you are going crazy as you’re overwhelmed by your fear.
  • You’re afraid to go out or engage in certain activities for fear that you will have an anxiety attack.
  • You might be nervous in social settings, or anxious about work-related tasks…or just anxious and fearful in general?
 Anxiety

Anxiety May Feel Like it’s Ruining Your Life!

From Self-Hate to Self-Love

I started seeing Gina a year ago. I was struggling with past traumas that were leaving me emotionally drained. The shame, anxiety and self hate that I felt was overwhelming and crippling. It was torturous to be questioning everything I did and automatically blaming myself for the result of my interactions with people. My life was made up of shame and responsibility that left me with very little energy for myself.

Along with this was a nagging feeling that this life was not me, but I was losing the fight and realized that I needed some help if I was going to live the life that I wanted.

In counselling with Gina, I learned to look at my past experiences with the eyes of an innocent child that had no support and no compassion in her life. Therapy assisted me in breaking down the walls of self-hate that I had built up and in creating assertive and flexible boundaries. The self-confidence I gained was often surprising. 

In many instances my reactions were natural responses to situations that before would have brought about shame and unrealistic responsibilities. EMDR assisted me in getting to the pain that I was carrying and in building positive feelings about myself. In addition, the exercises that I was asked to do were beneficial in showing me how irrational my thinking, my behavior and feelings about myself were.

January 26, 2014

Anxiety disorders can take a number of different forms:

  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder occurs when normal concerns or worries become more intense, more frequent, and more unreasonable over time. If you are suffering with this type of anxiety, you probably are obsessing and have difficulty getting unpleasant thoughts out of your mind. It is interrupting your concentration, your sleep, and normal activity.
  • Panic Disorder occurs when panic happens suddenly, with a triggering event or seemingly from out of nowhere. You feel worried, anxious and fearful.  This experience is accompanied by uncomfortable physical symptoms—shortness of breath, dizziness, heart palpitations, trembling, sweating, shaking, and sometimes a fear of going crazy or of losing control. 
  • Social Anxiety interferes with your ability to enjoy social situations. It can include symptoms such as shortness of breath, tension and worrying that others will judge you negatively or that you will say something stupid.
  • Phobias are irrational, intense fears accompanied by uncomfortable physical symptoms—shortness of breath, dizziness, heart palpitations, and shakiness.
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder stems from experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event that involved threat of injury or death that causes an extreme stress reaction.

It Doesn’t Matter Whether You Know Which Kind of Anxiety
You Have – All Anxiety is Treatable With Therapy

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I Overcame Anxiety and Grief Due to Not Having a Relationship and Children

When I first saw Gina for counselling, I had difficulty even talking about my feelings of grief due to not having a spouse and the possibility that I might never have children of my own. My emotions were so close to the surface, I needed to find some way to overcome the outpouring of emotions that would happen spontaneously when someone talked to me about the subject. Gina’s therapy treatments helped me to work through the old thoughts and feelings in a supportive environment. I still hold the dream of having my own family one day, but I’m no longer consumed by negative emotions. I feel more confident, balanced and optimistic.

January 26, 2014

Anxiety and depression disorders often operate together in people’s lives. Some people only experience depression while others only experience anxiety. Again, all combinations can be overcome through specialized counselling for anxiety.

If you are experiencing anxiety and depression you are probably feeling the effects of “trauma energy” that is stuck in your nervous system. This type of energy can be treated effectively through a counselling technique called Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR). You can find out more information about overcoming the symptoms of trauma on my trauma counselling page.

Worry and fear-based thinking can also be alleviated with mindfulness therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

When I work with you in therapy, we begin by exploring when and how you become anxious. We will work gently together to get right to the root of the problem. This will help us determine what exactly is going on in your mind that is leading to overwhelming fear and worry. When we know that, we know exactly what to change, so you can feel calm and confident no matter what!

As Your Counsellor, I can help you:

  • Eliminate fears and worries.
  • Decrease anxiety, eliminate panic attacks and phobias.
  • Become more efficient at feeling calm and in control.

Allow yourself to imagine…

  • Living with clarity of mind and having strong, peaceful thoughts & feelings.
  • Waking up feeling rested, calm and excited to start your day.
  • Feeling TRULY free again.
  • Feeling alive and energetic.
  • Doing the things you love to do with passion, drive and confidence.
  • Feeling in full control of your mind, emotions and your life!

Overcoming Depression, Anxiety and Addiction

I came to therapy completely broken and hopeless. I was suffering from depression, anxiety and chemical dependency. I thought life would always be this way until I began therapy with Gina and learned that I didn't have to be depressed for the rest of my life. With patience and determination I'm learning to overcome my depression and ease my anxiety, while remaining sober for over a year now. Life is gradually getting better. I couldn't have done this without Gina's help.

January 26, 2014

If you are ready to get started with counselling for your problems with anxiety, please contact me in Vancouver, BC to set up an appointment.

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