Anxiety Therapy
Overcome your anxiety and find peace with anxiety treatment today.
Has Anxiety Kept You From Living The Life You Dream Of?
Do you feel like your worries and fears are constantly replaying in your mind?
Has your anxiety left you with low self-confidence or impacted your self-worth?
Anxiety involves intense worry or fear that manifests via thoughts, feelings, and/or physical sensations. While occasional worry and stress are simply part of being human for most of us, it can be harmful when you experience persistent discomfort on a regular basis, rather than only in high-stress situations once in a while. If you are ready to overcome the cycle of anxiety, therapy with someone who can truly help you get to the root of your struggles can be life-changing.
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It's Important To Identify When Anxiety Is Hindering Your Wellbeing
Anxiety can be part of the human experience. Worry, fear, and physical unease are natural reactions during stressful or threatening situations. Sometimes, a little worry or nervousness before a high-stakes exam or important meeting can even help motivate you to prepare and perform your best.
However, for some of us, anxiety can also cause severe symptoms like panic attacks, when fear, worry, or physical symptoms are persistently overwhelming or so alarming that we may consider seeking out medical treatment to rule out a physiological issue. It's important to be able to differentiate between typical or circumstantial worries versus more severe levels of anxiety that a specialist could best help you address.
Anxiety can manifest in physical, emotional, and/or cognitive symptoms including:
Increased or rapid heartbeat or shallow, irregular breathing, as well as muscular tension, tightness, or pressure
Stomach discomfort or gastrointestinal issues as well as sweating, shakiness, and physical restlessness
Frequent and intense worries that can feel constant or uncontrollable, along with difficulty relaxing
Sleep disruption, especially due to racing thoughts or difficulty ‘turning off’ thoughts, as well as difficulty concentrating
Feeling fearful and worried about the past, present, or future, as well as irritability and anger.
When you struggle with anxiety, it can be hard to trust yourself, so you may constantly doubt your decisions, feelings, or instincts or fear nothing you do is good enough. You don’t have to live like this—a therapist can help you manage your anxiety and build inner strength to work through it.
Anxiety Is Common And Can Feel Like A Heavy Weight On Your Shoulders
Anxiety disorders are very common, with over 3 million people in the US being diagnosed each year. (1) Anxiety can creep into your mind and body, impacting your ability to navigate life’s stressors and perform at school or work. Social anxiety can make you feel disconnected and fearful of those around you, and without counseling or someone to share this pain with, this pattern can continue for a long time.
Many factors can impact the development of anxiety symptoms, including family stressors related to your family of origin. A history of unresolved trauma in childhood can lead to anxiety in adulthood that is hard to understand, especially if you lack a support system or resources for identifying stressors and coping with negative emotions.
Some of us struggle with perfectionism, have an intense fear of making a mistake, or find ourselves avoiding anxiety-provoking scenarios or situations that feel risky. Many of us have numerous and intersecting identities, some of which are impacted by systemic pressures or marginalization that can contribute to compounding anxiety as well as burnout.
If you are feeling stuck, paralyzed, or depleted from anxiety in your life, or are struggling with the pressures of perfectionism, you are not alone, and counseling can help.
Align Therapy Services Will Help Get To The Root Of Your Anxiety
Counseling within my practice can help you develop tools to cope with discomfort as well as uncover the roots of your anxiety to make way for true healing and peace. However, overcoming your worries and fears can feel like playing a game of whack-a-mole at the fair if your focus remains exclusively on treating symptoms rather than their root causes.
As your therapist, I can help you relate to your anxiety experiences differently, change and broaden your perspective, and find empowering ways to remain grounded in your daily life. Through treatment, you will build confidence and develop your sense of self-worth without constantly second-guessing yourself. Anxiety counseling will help you to learn coping tools as well as to experience embodied healing that will support you in living a fuller, more engaged life aligned with your goals and values.
Evidence-Based Treatment Modalities
At Align Therapy, you can expect therapy that is tailored to your unique needs and goals. I integrate evidence-based anxiety treatment modalities with compassion and warmth to help manage symptoms and target the root causes of your struggles.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety is based on the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. CBT provides tools for you to identify and better understand the connections between your thoughts, feelings, and negative behavioral patterns, helping you to find ways to shift and reframe your mindset to generate increased flexibility and balance.
Emotionally-focused therapy (EFT) for anxiety provides a safe, non-judgmental space for you to better connect with your emotions. You’ll get the chance to make sense of your experiences and coping patterns that have defined how you relate to yourself, others, and the world around you. Connecting to your emotional needs and experiences with this form of psychotherapy will allow you to address the roots of your anxiety and fears, and to build a new sense of balance, worth, and connection to yourself and others.
Acceptance-and-commitment therapy (ACT) can help you change your relationship with your anxiety by providing alternative strategies to respond to unhelpful feelings and thought patterns. When integrating ACT into treatment, you learn how to acknowledge and accept the presence of anxious thoughts or feelings, and break cycles of avoidance or fear in spite of your anxiety. ACT strategies incorporate mindfulness-based exercises that help you increase present engagement and move toward your goals and values, especially if you feel you have reached a plateau using traditional CBT strategies.
You are so much more than your anxiety. As your therapist, I can help you build confidence and strengthen your sense of self-worth so you can live your life without anxiety standing in your way. I look forward to helping you live a fuller, more engaged life aligned with your values, goals, and dreams.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Have you experienced unwanted thoughts that leave you stuck, scared or full of doubt? Do you feel compelled to perform behaviors or mental acts in order to lessen your anxiety? You may have these thoughts or engage in behaviors, but also know that they do not align with what you want or the image you have of yourself. You try your best to get rid of them, but they keep coming back.
Do you ask others for reassurance about your thoughts or behaviors which temporarily relieves you, but the worries continue to come back?
Do you feel trapped by constantly seeking certainty?
OCD can leave us feeling doubt about whether our scariest, most unwanted thoughts will come true or if we actually want them to occur in the firstplace. We may feel like we have to engage in certain thoughts or behaviors in order to quiet or get rid of the intrusive thoughts, images or urges. OCD can even leave us feeling ashamed of the thoughts we have, causing us to not express them to others and internally suffer in silence. In therapy for OCD, we can learn how to quiet the voice of shame, not engage with the thoughts, reduce our compulsive behaviors and learn to live a life in alignment with our values.
What is OCD?
While OCD is categorized separately from anxiety disorders, it often includes features of anxiety.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is characterized by obsessions (recurrent or persistent thoughts, urges or experiences that are unwanted and intrusive which may cause distress or anxiety) and compulsions (thoughts, urges, images or actions that an individual uses to suppress, ignore or neutralize an obsession). Compulsions can be physical, mental or a combination of both. Obsessions and compulsions take more than an hour a day.
Many of us can experience intrusive thoughts, but when the thoughts are obsessive, go against what we want or our true character, or are accompanied by physical or mental actions to undo, get rid of or neutralize the obsession, this may be more in line with OCD.
Though OCD can latch onto any topic, it tends to fall under certain specific themes:
● Contamination (fear of catching or transmitting a disease or getting ill/contaminated, can also include emotional contamination)
● Harm (centered around thoughts of harm to self or others)
● Scrupulosity (moral or religious concerns)
● Doubt/false memory (uncertainty/doubt around certainty of own
memories/actions/prior experience)
● Sexual identity/orientation (fear that sexual identity/orientation is wrong or doubts around whether one is attracted to same sex)
● Relationships (uncertainty in relationships, such as concern over whether you are attracted to your partner, if your partner still loves you or if you partner is the one) ● Somatic/body-based (concern around body-based sensations)
● Existential thoughts (thoughts about our existence, the meaning of life or other topics)
● Pedophilia (concern around being or becoming a pedophile)
● Just “Right” (fears around something being not right or incomplete, needing exactness or perfection)
● Racism (concern about being racist or being canceled for being racist) ● Mental illness (conern around developing mental illness, such as schizophrenia) ● Responsibility (feeling responsible for life events or experiences)
Individuals with OCD will often engage in safety behaviors/compulsions in order to keep distress over obsessions low. Examples of compulsions may include:
● Checking (such as checking the stove was turned off multiple times) ● Mental rehearsal (such as replaying conversations in your head to make sure your obsession did not come true)
● Mental rituals (such as counting)
● Reassurance-seeking (such as asking others for signs that your anxiety is justified) ● Avoidance (such as avoiding areas or objects associated with your obsession) ● Attempting to undo obsessions via thoughts or actions (such as washing your hands multiple times)
● Rumination (such as looping thoughts)
Align Therapy Services Can Help You Become “Unstuck” From The Tangles of OCD
Intrusive thoughts associated with OCD often become “sticky”, meaing that it is hard to get rid of them. The reason for this is because OCD is ego-dystonic, meaning it goes against your true character or self-image. OCD also latches onto your values, or what you care about most. Therefore, it can be hard to get rid of something that attacks our core values, core beliefs about ourselves and parts of our core being.
At Align Therapy Services, we help you “unstuck” from your intrusive thoughts by shifting the narrative. Treating OCD is often less about getting rid of the intrusive thoughts and more about learning how to not engage with them, allowing you more space in your life to engage in thoughts and behaviors that do align with who you are and your core values.
Our treatment approach to OCD combines Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the evidence-based gold-standard treatment for OCD, with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help you in moving towards a life driven by your values rather than by your OCD.
You Might Still Have Concerns About Therapy For Anxiety…
I am concerned about the cost of therapy.
I completely understand, and your concern is very valid. Many of my clients receive reimbursement for their sessions using their out-of-network benefits if eligible, and I'm happy to help you with navigating this process. I also have flexible scheduling options (weekly, bi-weekly) to best suit your scheduling and financial needs. Many of my clients reduce session frequency over time as they begin to feel better.
I am worried that talking about my issues in therapy will make things worse.
Addressing your pain in therapy allows you to accept, cope, and heal, rather than continue to suffer from anxiety. The truth is that you might feel worse before you start to feel better, especially if you have been avoiding your pain. Often, avoiding pain is what contributes to suffering in the first place. While it's possible that you may experience discomfort facing some of your challenges, please remember that there is always darkness before the light.
I had a bad experience with a counselor in the past and I am afraid of my anxiety being judged or misunderstood.
It is completely understandable to have concerns about restarting therapy if you have had a bad experience in the past. My goal is to create a safe and warm environment where you feel accepted and capable of rebuilding trust in the therapy process and in yourself—judgment has no place in our space. We will move at a pace that feels safe and comfortable for you and our process will be collaborative so that your needs, preferences, and feedback are continuously integrated into our work.
Let’s Start Your Healing Journey Today
Together through therapy, we can help you find peace and a more confident, empowered you despite your current anxiety challenges. Start your journey by scheduling a free 25-minute consultation by calling me at (646) 493-8084 or using my contact form to learn more.
1. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/syc-20350961
Other SERVICES
In addition to therapy for anxiety, As a New York City therapist, I offer mental health services for teens and adults including therapy for depression, and PTSD therapy, as well as therapy for those who want to improve their relationships and disordered eating treatment, among other speciality areas. I specialize in therapy for women who want to find fulfillment, build self-worth, and become the best version of themselves. I provide online therapy to residents of New York, Connecticut, and Washington D.C.
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