Counselling for anxiety London Harley Street (UK)

Counselling for anxiety can be useful to explore the meaning and history around what you are experiencing. Understanding these areas allows a treatment plan for anxiety to be agreed.

Counselling is a talking therapy that can be short or longer  term. Within these sessions the focus is on the areas you wish to discuss, enabling you to develop the skills for effective change and deeper understanding. Both are extremely useful therapies to alleviate psychological distress and anxiety.

There are many conditions where anxiety is the main symptom, sometimes focussed around a significant or specific event and anxiety is  classed into a number of categories. For example, panic disorder, phobias/fears, post traumatic stress disorder (ptsd), body dysmorphic disorder  and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

However, when there is an unspecific  event and the anxiety consists of uncontrollable worry, stress or fear, this can be classed as a general anxiety disorder. The feeling of anxiety is general, and arises for no specific reason. 

Anxiety is a bodily and mental reaction to threat (real or imagined), therefore naturally biology does not allow anxiety to be completely removed. However if anxiety is temporary and occasional. We could say this makes the anxiety more acceptable and manageable for daily life.

The common debate arises in this field: Nature or nurture? Anxiety can be characterised by the events of growing up, where people are influenced by the family dynamic. The anxiety could have therefore been learnt from significant others, hence nurture. There is a lovely book called ‘Why love matters’ written by Sue Gerhardt. Sue illustrates how a baby’s brain is regulated and shaped by significant others in the family environment, including the neurobiology.  To provide you an illustration of where Anxiety counselling and psychotherapy could be useful I have provided an example below.

 A child could also have learnt to be anxious in order to gain attention from significant others. The child can manipulate their behaviour for ‘’attention’’. Without knowing, the anxiety behaviour becomes acknowledged by significant others, where as other positive behaviours may not be, thus reinforcing the anxiety.

This behaviour is adaptive as the child is moulding the environment to satisfy their needs. This type of behaviour in later life becomes maladaptive, affecting relationships, work and general life. As an adult we do not need to behave in this way to satisfy our needs, we can learn assertiveness and develop higher self esteem and self belief.

The assessment is key as naturally each experience is unique for every individual. For more complex issues, anxiety counselling and psychotherapy can begin to unravel these complex dynamics, whilst building  the types of thinking styles, beliefs and behaviours that are more beneficial. 

If you would like to know more details about anxiety Counselling and Psychotherapy then please know you can contact the London Anxiety clinic