Do you feel out of control? Unable to breathe? Dread interactions or imagined outcomes? Anxiety can feel like something has hijacked your mind and body or put “ants in your pants” that makes you jittery. But anxiety can be mastered so that it’s wild energy can become controlled. Anxiety treatment requires being strategic, thoughtful, and employing resources. My preferred strategies are based in cognitive behavioral therapy.

Anxiety likes attention. Its job is to protect the human and it sees all attention as something it can feed on. It takes input and uses it to develop defense mechanisms which means the best way to treat anxiety is by circumventing it. Using this approach, I am treating you instead of only the anxiety. I’m not just looking at the medical systems which I believe is a more holistic approach.

To overcome anxiety, one must give an allowance of grace, surround yourself with support, and implement coping skills. To deal with anxiety, the coping skills involve relaxing the body and the mind. Physical activity is a useful coping skill because it is difficult for the mind to be anxious if the body is relaxed. Engaging the body can have a relaxing effect on the mind. In order to be beneficial in treating anxiety, the activity must be enthralling and involve both mental focus and physical movement, like a craft or joining a sports team.

Thoughts of anxiety can go from “I must keep rechecking my work” to “I will never be good enough” quickly. Anxiety therapy helps change those thoughts from “I am flawed” to “Everyone makes mistakes” or “There is always room for growth.” Treating anxiety doesn’t just treat the symptoms, but the core messages behind the anxious thoughts which is usually based in fear.