Anxiety and Depression Therapy
Compassionate Care for Managing Anxiety and Depression
Living with responses of anxiety and depression can be overwhelming; they can impact all aspects of the self and our relationships with others. I support clients with specialized anxiety and depression therapy to navigate and overcome overwhelming responses to help draw on their resources and strengths to move forward.
Understanding Anxiety and Depression
What is Anxiety
Experiences of anxiety and depression often guide us towards the desire or need to seek therapeutic support.
Anxiety is the alarm system in our bodies that causes us to become stuck in physiological arousal of terror or panic, feelings of being "wired" or tense, and cognitions of ruminating and distressing thoughts. Anxiety can hold us hostage in the future unknowns; meanwhile, in comparison, trauma can keep us trapped in the past.
Anxiety can severely impact daily life functioning, which can disrupt sleep hygiene, eating habits, job employment, and personal relationships. Experiences of anxiety can also be related to specific experiences and stressors, such as violence, family life, illness, financial security, poverty, racism, spirituality, and loss. Cognitive schemas of negative self-beliefs and negative views of others or the world also can create anxiety. Anxiety, perfection, performance, and self-identity are often intrinsically linked.
What is Depression
Depression can have detrimental effects seen through losing the desire to engage in activities of previous interest, disconnecting or isolating from loved ones, feeling hopeless about the future, and having suicidal thoughts or attempts. Depressive responses are often seen in daily functioning challenges, such as having difficulty with concentration, motivation, hygiene, eating, sleep, job performance, or school attendance.
Anxiety and depression can act as close friends, often being interconnected, which makes it difficult for us to understand and cope alone. Anxiety and depression are often linked with experiences of anger and sadness. Coping mechanisms for these difficult underlying emotions can often be through alcohol and substance use to numb, avoid, or dissociate from the painful feelings and experience. Traumatic or negative experiences throughout a person’s life can create negative self-beliefs creating guilt, shame, blame, anger, and sadness that can lead to anxiety, depression, and alcohol/substance use responses.
To read more about how anxiety and depression responses can be linked with responses of anger and alcohol or substance use, please visit my blog post.
How can Therapy Help with Anxiety and Depression
Therapy can support clients who experience anxiety and depression to be able to cope with emotional overwhelm, preoccupation with unknowns, feelings of isolation, thoughts of suicide, hopelessness, panic attacks, and difficulty connecting to others. Therapy provides a space to discuss experiences, gain insights to the causes behind mental health or coping responses, and develop coping strategies to move forward.
Types of therapy that can help are included below:
-
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based approach for anxiety and depression that helps a person identify and challenge their thought patterns that enhance anxious or depressive thought patterns to help move towards thought patterns that serve their strengths and resilience.
-
Approaches based in mindfulness can be beneficial in learning how to focus on the present moment to reduce the impact of anxiety or depressive thought patterns that may be repetitive in nature. A person gaining a greater awareness and separation from their thoughts and feelings without becoming overwhelmed and debilitated by them can be empowering. Mindfulness is rooted in meditation practices, awareness, and learning alternate ways to ground oneself or cope with challenging thoughts or experiences.
-
EMDR is another evidence-based and effective approach for those who are having anxiety or depression responses that have past or present experiences based in trauma or distressing events/relationships. EMDR helps process these distressing memories and experiences, as well as support moving away from negative self-beliefs to more adaptive self-beliefs focusing on ones resources, strengths, and adaptive experiences.
My Approach to Treating Anxiety and Depression
I have experience supporting people explore these mental health responses through multiple trauma-informed and evidence-based approaches. My approach is client-centered, meaning that those I support drive the therapeutic process and goals for therapy, which influences the direction and approaches used in therapy.
My goal as a therapist is to act as a compassionate witness present to explore painful experiences and responses to help support people find a pathway forward and towards meaningful engagement in their lives and relationships.
-
Beginning by developing an understanding of the unique experiences a person has faced and ways anxiety or depression comes up for them is essential. A customized treatment plan is created that addresses the goals of therapy and challenges a person would like reduced. Whether that be using approaches of safety and stabilization, CBT, mindfulness, EMDR, or a combination of approaches, a plan created that supports a person’s need is the primary goal.
-
My priority is to create a safe, supportive, non-judgmental, and compassionate environment to explore the challenges arising. Welcoming all thoughts, feelings, and emotions into the space is the goal to offer support with even the most challenging aspects of anxiety or depression responses arising.
-
I offer both in-person and online therapy sessions, which are driven by the preference and choice of those I work with. In-person sessions can be switched to online at anytime for any reason.
Please note:
If you require immediate emotional support, please call the 24-hour crisis line at 604-872-3311 or toll-free at 1-800-SUICIDE.
If you are afraid for your physical safety, please call the emergency number 9-1-1 for the police.
If you are feeling suicidal, please call 9-1-1 or go to your nearest hospital emergency department.
How to Begin
To discuss more about how to begin and ways therapy may be of support to you, please do not hesitate to reach out for a complimentary phone consultation with any questions you may have and/or intake session.