Does counselling help with anxiety?

Anxiety is a natural human response that we all experience, but it can sometimes become overwhelming and hinder our daily lives. In this article, we chat about the nature of anxiety, its benefits, and how it can sometimes become too much. We will also explore five ways in which counselling can help you manage your own anxiety.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety can be described as a feeling of unease, like fear or worry, that can be mild or severe.

It’s an emotion characterised by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure.

Anxiety is our body’s natural response to stress. It’s a feeling of apprehension about what’s to come, such as the first day at a new job, giving a speech, or moving to a new place.

The Benefits of Anxiety

Anxiety isn’t always a negative phenomenon.

In fact, some level of anxiety can be helpful. It can alert us to dangers, help us prepare for important events, and can even motivate us to solve problems. Essentially, anxiety helps us cope with challenging situations, keeping us alert and ready for any potential threats.

The problem is when we become anxious regularly, our body can “get used” to being in this state, and the anxiety become overwhelming, and our flight, fight, freeze, responses can kick in when we don’t want them to, or they become difficult to deal with.

When Anxiety Becomes Overwhelming

When these feelings of anxiety become constant, excessive, and interfere with your everyday activities, it may have crossed from normal anxiety into the realm of an anxiety disorder.

Or at the very least something that we feel that we need to help to manage better, so that this doesn’t happen to us.

People with anxiety disorders frequently have intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations.

This can be debilitating for those that experience these intense feelings on a regular basis, stopping them fro experiencing joy in everyday things.

How Can Counselling Help Manage Anxiety?

Counselling can be a highly effective approach for managing anxiety. Here are five ways counselling could help you with your anxiety:

  1. Creating a Safe Space: Counselling provides a safe, confidential environment where you can express your feelings openly. This helps to reduce the feelings of fear and worry that accompany anxiety.
  2. Understanding Your Anxiety: Through counselling, you can gain a deeper understanding of your anxiety, its triggers, and how it affects your life. This awareness is the first step towards managing that anxiety more effectively.
  3. Developing Coping Strategies: Counsellors can help you develop effective coping strategies, such as exploring what helps you to calm yourself, relaxation techniques, mindfulness, and different ways of thinking. These can help you manage the physical symptoms of anxiety, as well as changing your approach to it.
  4. Improving Self-Esteem and Confidence: Anxiety can often lead to feelings of low self-esteem and confidence. Counselling can help to improve these, enabling you to face challenging situations with more resilience.
  5. Addressing Underlying Issues: Often, anxiety is a symptom of other underlying issues, such as past trauma or unresolved emotional conflicts. Counselling can help address these underlying issues, which can significantly reduce anxiety levels.

While some anxiety is natural and can even be beneficial, it becomes a problem when it interferes with your daily life. Person-centred counselling can play a crucial role in managing and overcoming anxiety, helping you to live a healthier, happier life. If you or someone you know is suffering from anxiety, seeking professional help from a counsellor could be a crucial step towards recovery.


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