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Therapy for Anxiety

The therapy world is a confusing one.  The aim of this page is to give you the information you need to make an informed choice about your therapy. ​  

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I talk here in general about anxiety.  Whether the anxiety is driven by self-doubt, low self-esteem, imposter syndrome, OCD, stress or other labels, the end result is anxiety.  The path to anxiety is different but the result is anxiety. 

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Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) aims to make you your own therapist.  CBT looks at how we think (C of CBT) and how this affects what we do or our behaviour (B of CBT) and how this makes us feel, emotionally and physically.  CBT guides us to explore more helpful ways of thinking, behaving and feeling and leaving the vicious cycle of negative thoughts and feelings behind.  It is very normal for people with anxiety (in whichever form, eg OCD, GAD, Stress, low self-esteem etc) to go through CBT multiple times. We learn different things from different therapists and the point we are at in our lives, this is entirely natural.

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CFT (compassion-focused therapy) help us deal with the guilt and shame we feel.  It helps us deal with the self-critic (that nagging voice that is always criticising you) that disables our ability to look at ourselves in a balanced and fair way.  The self-critic makes us doubt ourselves. Most of my clients cringe at the word compassion, so I think of it, more as being fair to ourselves.  You are fair to others?

You deserve that when you think about yourself.

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Mindfulness is very helpful for any form of anxiety among many other things. Worrying is all located in a catastrophic imagined and hypothetical future.  All the worst things that COULD happen. Things that have not yet happened. As I say to all my clients, 'shit' happens, of course it does. But not to the extreme your mind is leading you to believe the majority of the time.  Mindfulness helps us ground ourselves in the CURRENT moment where, most of the time, everything is ok. Imagine what that would be like, to be in the current, safe moment?  It might seem impossible to you when reading this, but with commitment and practice, very possible.   
I know, I learned to do it too and it can still be a challenge at times, which is also, totally natural.

Psychology Session

CBT is the recommended talking therapy for many anxiety disorders (as recommended by NICE, see below for who they are).   I have seen CBT have amazing results for clients over the years.  You are here because you are considering getting some help for your anxiety. Therapy is very rewarding and is also hard work, for us both. To get the best out of therapy you need to feel motivated and have time to put in some practice between sessions. 

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You will see, what I call ‘practice’, referred to as homework elsewhere. To me, homework can have unhelpful reminders of years gone by from school!  The reason I use the word practice is that you have been ‘practising’ the use of anxiety for, probably, a long time.   In order to learn more helpful ways to respond to anxious thoughts, you will need to practice these new ideas, to make them your new default.   This is why I think of therapy as a ‘team effort’.  I bring a new way of thinking about and managing thoughts and will help you to claim your life back from anxiety.  You bring your expertise of being you all the helpful coping strategies you already have, even if. you are not aware of them at the current moment.  Put these together with some hope, patience and practice, and you can claim your life back from anxiety and start living your life the way you choose.

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Young Man in Therapy

Therapy for young people

from 14 years old

I have worked with young people right from the start of my career in mental health.

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Our self-esteem is formed in childhood and so dealing with any difficulties early on is so important for a resilient and balanced adult.

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I use the same therapy as for adults but adapted to the developmental stage of the young person in therapy.  CBT is recommended for treating anxiety in children and young people. 

 

Young people, just like adults, first of all need to want to have therapy or someone to talk to (to use their language) and be motivated to make some changes.  If you are a parent reading this, please do discuss this with your child first.  If they are really against it, it probably is not the right time for them.   

 

For me, it is better to wait if these two things are not present in a young person.  If they are forced into therapy, they will not engage and walk way thinking therapy is rubbish for the wrong reasons and may never return for the rest of their lives.

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Sometimes, waiting can be the most powerful thing to do.  They also of course, feel heard.

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NICE logo

What are NICE Guidelines?

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NICE stands for National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

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It is independent organisation that looks at all the evidence in relation to treatments for physical and mental health.  It then provides evidence to the NHS for the most effective treatments.  It is where we get our ideas

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for the most evidence based therapies available (for physical health, mental health, in terms of both medication and other treatments including therapy).  Sometimes their evidence is based on cost-effectiveness in relation the NHS.

 

​It is the independent organisation that looks at all the evidence in relation to treatments for physical and mental health.  It then provides evidence to the NHS for the most effective treatments.  It is where we get our ideas for the most evidence based therapies available (for physical health, mental health, in terms of both medication and other treatments including therapy).  Sometimes their evidence is based on cost-effectiveness in relation the NHS which can cause storms and you may have seen in the news.

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CBT has this evidence base for so many mental health difficulties, for example (not limited to):​​​​​​

  • Anxiety

  • Low self-esteem

  • Self-confidence

  • Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

  • Worry

  • ​Perfectionism

  • Stress

  • Panic

  • Phobias​

  • Social Anxiety​

  • Imposter Syndrome​​

  • ​Health Anxiety

  • Eating Disorders (specialised version)

  • Sleep difficulties

  • Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) also referred to as trauma

  • Bipolar Disorder (specialist teams)

  • Psychosis (specicialised verson)

  • Anger

  • Pain

  • ​Depression

  • Some physical Health Problems

  • Addictions

  • Bereavement

  • Agrophobia​​

I specialise is working with the first column.

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I think it is also worth knowing that not all of the above are a 'classified' disorders but are almost like 'symptoms' of low self-esteem.  For example, someone who believes they are not good enough (a feature of low self-esteem) might become very perfectionist in their job.  They do this so no-one will 'find them out'.  If they attempt to do everything perfectly to hugely high standards they feel that they will be seen as good enough - just as a very general example.  A lot of things are so linked together and overlap.  This example is also a feature of OCD, perfectionism, lack of self-confidence, worry, GAD and probably others things!

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I am more interested in you and what you see as the things you want to work on, rather than looking at you as label (labels can be helpful) and a disorder.

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In our first session, we will explore, in depth all the things you find difficult along with your strengths (yes you do have them!) to make a plan about what we work on in therapy.

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