Berkeley Anxiety Help Psychotherapist

A normal reaction to a stressful or fearful situation is anxiety. Just like sadness, joy, and fear, anxiety is an adaptive emotion.  It can help a person begin to prepare physically to deal with a stressful situation. In general, a healthy amount of anxiety is good. However, when the intensity of the anxiety becomes too much to be considered helpful or occurs for little to no reason, it can become a debilitating.

Anxiety is a complex and complicated combination of emotions. It usually includes fear, worry, dread and is often accompanied by physical sensations such as heart palpitations, chest discomfort, nausea and short breaths, along with feelings of nervousness.

With Anxiety, individuals frequently worry and have excessively focus on future events and past behaviors, family matters, social acceptance, personal abilities, and performance.

Often one feels anxiety even in social situations. The anxious person avoids taking any perceived risk, feels significant anticipation long before an event, and continues experiencing anxiety and worry through the social event.

When the anxiety builds a panic attacks can occur. Panic attacks often make a person feel closed in because no one can predict when or where an attack will occur; the person often worries and dreads the next attack between episodes. Symptoms of a panic attack are:

• Sudden bought of terror
• Heart palpitations
• Sweatiness
• Weakness, Faintness, Dizziness
• Chills
• Feeling flush
• Tingling or feel numb
• Nausea
• Tightness in the chest (often misperceived as a heart attack)
• Smothering sensations

Anxiety can be treated and many people have found relief from their symptoms. Successful treatment for anxiety commonly combines psychotherapy (usually cognitive-behavioral therapy) and possibly medication. I will work with you to understand the underpinnings of your anxiety and develop an effective strategy to reduce the level of anxiety you experience. Together we will work to help you increase your coping skills and move forward with your life.

About my practice

I offer a confidential office for you to open up about your feelings of anxiety and any other concerns you might have. My therapeutic style of working involves compassion, non-judgment, and interaction in helping you find the tools to living a more satisfying live.  Click to learn more about my practice.

It is so important for you to find a good fit with a therapist. I offer a free 30-minute phone consultation so you can decide if psychotherapy would be helpful and if I am a good fit for your needs.

To schedule an appointment in San Francisco or Berkeley call (415) 567-9194 or send me an E-mail.