Anxiety counseling by Empower Counseling to prevent depression in Birmingham, Alabama.
Definition of anxiety:
Anxiety has been defined as a nervous disorder characterized by a state of excessive uneasiness and apprehension, often with compulsive behavior or panic attacks.
What happens when you expereince anxiety?
It starts with feeling nervous. You might expereince physical symptoms, like a rapid heartbeat, sweating, and tightness in your chest. You might think to yourself, “There is no way I can do ________________(whatever it is that is making you so nervous).”
Your thoughts and feelings in this moment are so uncomfortable you may feel like you just cannot handle them. So you rush away from, or avoid at all cost, whatever it is that is creating this anxiety within you. Then you feel better. You have at least avoided the discomfort for a short time. The problem is that whatever it was that you were so anxious about, that you avoided, is actually important to you, and you couldn’t do it.
Yes, I said it. What you are anxious about is actually important to you. It might be a social gathering you want to attend. It might be a speech or a presentation that you need to make at work or for work to forward your career. It might be walking into the gym to start an exercise program. Whatever it is, that thing, you feel like you just can’t do, that you must avoid at all cost because it makes you so uncomfortable just to think about it, it is important to you.
You would not have anxiety about it if it was not important to you. So, if that thing you are anxious about is important to you, and we know it is, and you don’t do it because of your anxiety, what happens next?
After a while of avoiding what it is you want to do but are too anxious to do, you will most likely become depressed.
How any why anxiety can lead to depression:
Because what causes the anxiety within you is actually something important to you, if you don’t do that thing because of your anxiety, you begin to lose faith and trust in yourself. You may become down on yourself, insulting yourself, saying negative things about yourself like, “I’m lazy”, “I keep messing up”, “What is wrong with me?”, “Why can’t I just do what I need to do?”
This negative self-talk only makes your situation worse. You feel badly about who you are and what you are not doing.
That is how anxiety becomes depression.
Anxiety Counseling to prevent depression by Empower Counseling.
If you are expereincing anxiety, it is time to reach out for help. Do not wait until anxiety becomes depression as well.
Reach out to Empower Counseling in Birmingham, Alabama. Kathryn and all of our counselors, are trained in Acceptance Commitment Therapy, a proven effective anxiety treatment. ACT is also a proven method of depression counseling. Empower Counseling serves the entire Birmingham area, including Homewood, Vestavia, Hoover and is conveniently located in Mountain Brook. Empower serves teens, college students, young adults and professionals with only the most knowledgeable and professional counselors, offering in-person and online counseling for anyone living in the state of Alabama.
Call Empower today ay 205-730-6570