Anxiety

How We Treat Anxiety

The Anxiety Triangle illustrates how thoughts, physical sensations, and avoidance work together to keep anxiety going. When we have anxious thoughts like "What if something goes wrong?", our bodies respond with uncomfortable physical symptoms—such as a racing heart or sweating. In turn, it's common to try to avoid situations that trigger these feelings. However, avoidance can strengthen anxiety in the long run, as it stops us from learning that our fears are often unfounded.

Acceptance Principles:
Acceptance principles encourage clients to acknowledge and allow anxious thoughts, sensations, and emotions, instead of struggling to suppress, fight, or change them. This approach is rooted in therapies like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which teaches that discomfort is a normal part of human experience and does not need to control our actions.

Skills Taught:

• Grounding techniques

• Breathing exercises

• Progressive muscle relaxation

• Mindfulness and movement activities