Coping with Anxiety
Chris Cowen – qualified and experienced Counsellor and Life Coach in Exeter
Anxiety is an instinctive response to any potential threat and the greater the threat the higher the state of anxiety. It is a necessary, if uncomfortable part of life, provided the level of anxiety is in line with the threat.
However this natural response can malfunction, leaving you with anxiety that:
- is out of line with the threat;
- lasts long after the threat has passed;
- occurs in non-threatening situations,
- is a permanent background state interrupted by bursts of high intensity.
This makes life miserable, but there are ways of dealing with it.
Sometimes a self-help approach will be sufficient. There is a wide range of books, workshops and material on the internet that can help you manage your anxiety and keep it at tolerable levels.
In more severe or persistent cases other forms of help may be necessary. For example certain medically recognised conditions, - e.g. Clinical Depression, Phobias, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, General Anxiety Disorder, - generally require some form of professional help that might involve medication, or a ‘talking therapy’ like counselling, or both.
But there are also many instances where factors such as stress, relationship difficulties, unhealthy lifestyle, significant life changes etc., can undermine your ability to cope. These can create doubt and uncertainty, take away self-belief and leave you open to high levels of fear and anxiety.
In these circumstances both counselling and life coaching can, in their different ways, help to lessen your anxiety and make day to day living a more pleasurable experience.
If you would like more information then please follow any of the links on this page or contact me directly. I always look forward to talking to new people and I’m very happy to answer any questions you may have about counselling or life coaching.
If I’m not available when you call then please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can.