Anxiety

Anxiety - it affects most of us at some point in our lives and it's a normal human reaction to a perceived threat, like being evaluated by others, going into an unknown situation or being confronted with conflict. Our anxiety response goes way back to early humans when we had to be aware of threats such as animals and other humans that might hurt or kill us. It was also important to remain accepted as part of our social group because if we were cast out, we'd be vulnerable. So, our anxiety response persists today but the trigger situations look quite different.

Although anxiety is a normal emotion, it causes problems when it becomes triggered in situations that don't warrant it, and when it leads to panic attacks, which can be extremely debilitating. At Psychology Works NZ, we can help you to manage your anxiety more effectively, and re-train the anxious mind.

The first step is to calm your mind and body. You can do a few minutes of mindful breathing. You can tense and release the muscle groups affected by anxiety, which releases tension. Once your anxiety feels a bit more under control, you can then work on the thoughts which drive anxiety. Common thoughts include “I can’t cope”, “I will lose control”, “I’ll make a fool of myself”. Psychology Works NZ can help you re-train your brain and gently challenge these unhelpful (and often unrealistic) thoughts through Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT).

Get in touch today if we can help you with anxiety.