Anxiety
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Feeling nervous or anxious from time to time is part of being human—but when anxiety becomes constant or overwhelming, it can interfere with your daily life and well-being.
Anxiety comes in many forms: social anxiety, panic attacks, specific phobias, body image concerns, or excessive worry about what others think, or struggles to manage racing thoughts.
Our Washington state-based anxiety therapists offer evidence-based counseling to help you manage anxiety, build coping tools, and regain a sense of control. Together, we’ll explore what works best for you—so you can feel more grounded, confident, and free to live the life you want.
Symptoms of Anxiety
- Racing Thoughts
- Difficulty Sleeping or Insomnia
- Fatiques or Feeling Drained
- Muscle Tension or Body Aches
- Difficulty Concentrating or Brain Fog
- Shortness of Breath or Tight Chest
- Constant Worry or Overthinking
- Feeling Detached or Disconnected
- Perfectionism
- Feeling Restles or on Edge
- Irritability or Mood Swings
- Nausea or Upset Stomach
- Avoiding Social Situations or Fear of Judgment
- Panic Attacks or Sudden Waves of Fear
- Rapid heartbeat or heart palpitations
When Anxiety Starts to Take Over
What is Anxiety? Anxiety is your body’s natural response to perceived threats or stress. It acts as an internal alarm system, alerting you when you’re feeling unsafe, stressed, or overwhelmed. In manageable amounts, anxiety can help you stay focused, motivated, and ready to take action. It can even sharpen your ability to solve problems. However, when anxiety becomes chronic or overwhelming, it can interfere with your mental health, relationships, and day-to-day life, making it harder to function or feel at ease.
What Anxiety can do to your body. Anxiety activates your body’s natural fight, flight, or freeze responses, which are not just emotional but also deeply physical. If you’ve experienced symptoms like muscle tension, headaches, fatigue, insomnia, heart palpitations, or shortness of breath, you may have visited your doctor thinking it’s a physical health issue. Often, these symptoms are linked to anxiety rather than an underlying medical condition. It’s common for people to feel confused, thinking something is physically wrong, when in fact anxiety is affecting their body in ways that can be managed with the right mental health support.
Anxiety Attacks. Anxiety attacks, also known as panic attacks, are sudden episodes of overwhelming fear or panic that can feel completely debilitating. These intense moments of anxiety can occur without warning, lasting anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. During an anxiety attack, you may feel as though you’re losing control or even as if you might die. The fear of experiencing another attack can create a constant sense of dread, making it feel like there’s no safe place to escape. Understanding and treating these intense feelings with professional support can help you regain control and reduce the impact of anxiety on your daily life.
Anxiety has a way of getting into your thoughts. Anxiety often makes its way into your thoughts, causing constant worry and overwhelming concerns. If you’ve ever tried to push these thoughts away, only to have them return even stronger, you’re not alone. Many people with anxiety find that their minds become consumed with negative thinking patterns, convincing them that they may fail, struggle to connect with others, or feel unworthy. These thoughts can lead you to avoid social situations, crowds, or events that trigger nervousness. The emotional toll can be intense—like a gut-punch—leaving you feeling trapped in a cycle of fear and self-doubt. Addressing these thought patterns with the right mental health support can help you regain control and improve your emotional well-being.
Understanding the Benefits of Anxiety Counseling
Change Is Possible: Treating Lifelong Anxiety. If you’ve lived with anxiety for as long as you can remember, it’s understandable to feel like nothing will ever change. But the truth is—anxiety is treatable. Whether your anxiety symptoms are new or something you’ve carried for years, effective mental health therapy and personalized coping strategies can help you feel more in control. It’s common to feel discouraged when a new technique doesn’t work right away. Learning how to manage anxiety takes time, practice, and support. When clients consistently apply therapeutic tools, many report feeling calmer, more grounded, and empowered to face daily stressors with confidence. You don’t have to live in constant worry—anxiety therapy can help you reclaim your peace of mind.
I worry that focusing on my anxiety in therapy will cause me to feel worse. It’s a common fear. The goal of anxiety counseling is not to increase discomfort, but to bring clarity and insight into what’s no longer working in your life. Often, anxiety is a signal that something is out of balance and needs compassionate attention. Yes, therapy may invite you to step outside of your comfort zone—but that’s where healing begins. With the right coping strategies for anxiety and support from an experienced mental health therapist, you can move through fear and into growth. Facing anxiety takes courage, but the freedom, peace, and self-understanding that come from doing the work are well worth it.
