ANXIETY
Anxiety is a natural response to a perceived threat. It helps us detect and respond to danger. However, our brains can sometimes turn this response into something debilitating and unnecessary. The good news is that we can unlearn our anxiety triggers and change our responses.
General Anxiety Treatment
My Approach
As your therapist, I work with you to identify your symptoms and triggers. I provide strategies to quickly reduce anxiety, such as distress tolerance skills, mindfulness techniques, and somatic strategies. We also focus on restructuring unhelpful thoughts and beliefs and can use exposure therapy to address avoidance behaviors. My role is to guide and support you in changing the patterns that contribute to your anxiety.
Social Anxiety
There is a misconception that people with social anxiety are unable to socialize. I have many clients with social anxiety symptoms who not only can be very social but also enjoy socializing. Symptoms Avoiding social interactions Ruminating before/after social interactions, People pleasing behaviours Difficulty setting boundaries Fear of criticism
Social Anxiety Treatment
My Approach
There are many treatment options for addressing social anxiety. I always start by assessing a client's symptoms and determining the causes.
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​Relaxation
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Treatment options can include learning relaxation strategies or distress tolerance skills to manage physical symptoms caused by the sympathetic nervous system response (fight/flight).
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Cognitive Restructuring​
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Eventually, we concentrate on cognitive restructuring, which involves learning to recognize negative beliefs and replacing them with more realistic ones.We focus on cognitive restructuring to help you identify negative beliefs and adopt more realistic ones.
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Exposure Therapy​
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Avoidance is difficult because our brains seek to maintain calm and happiness, viewing anxiety as a threat. This encourages continued avoidance, which increases anxiety over time. Exposure therapy helps to unlearn these responses through gradual exposure, allowing us to tolerate triggers better.
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Social Skills Training​
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Generally includes such skills as introducing oneself,
choosing appropriate topics of conversation, active listening, empathy,self-disclosure, initiating social activities, initiating and maintaining friendships, expressing disagreement, assertion, and public speaking.​​​
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
OCD is a complex but highly treatable disorder marked by obsessive thoughts and time-consuming compulsions. With the right treatment, there is hope for managing and overcoming these symptoms.
Types of OCD Sexual OCD Religious OCD False Memory OCD Relationship OCD Hoarding Contamination Fear of Harm OCD Pedophilia OCD
OCD Treatment
The goal of OCD treatment is to help you feel more comfortable with uncertainty, adjust extreme. thinking, and reduce compulsive behaviors. We will focus on understanding and challenging the beliefs behind your OCD. You’ll learn mindfulness and acceptance strategies to avoid getting caught up in obsessive thoughts. Gradually, we will work on increasing your tolerance to triggers, sonegatively impact your daily life and happiness.