How Do You Know If You Need Therapy For Anxiety?
What’s a big reason why many people don’t recover from anxiety the way they need and deserve?
Because they don’t have hope!
Tell me if this makes sense…
Some people get scared at just the thought of anxiety. They worry about not knowing what to do if they mess up. This fear is totally natural and normal because it’s hardwired in. If you can relate, I want to say you’re part of a big group of people who experiences anxiety. Many people in that group worry about trying to get help and where to start.
The fact is, when I was a client seeking therapy myself, I had to deal with this worry coming up for me too!
And after being part of many experiences where therapy for anxiety helped someone, I’ve learned that the relationship between counselor and client can heal through hope.
Yes, you can find hope in other ways. But the opportunity of working with an anxiety therapist like me is you get a professionally trained focus on your anxiety and finding your hope.
Now here are psychologist Aaron Beck’s 5 “criteria” for how to distinguish states of anxiety:
1. A Cognitive, Dysfunctional Rush.
A great way to tell if someone might benefit from therapy is if they’ve ever felt threatened by a situation that others might not feel threatened by… and if it had such an impact that their thinking got temporarily shut off.
Here is Beck’s example:
People with “nonclinical” anxiety might be justifiably scared by an oncoming Rotweiller. But the person with “clinical” anxiety who needs help, Beck says, might be that same level of scared by an oncoming poodle. (This is called animal phobia.) So a person’s anxiety might be based on very real experiences in the past, it’s just that sometimes this can lead to beliefs like “I’m in danger” that may mismatch with the present.
Anxiety is so powerful that the past can be very real. And it’s so powerful that your ability to think clearly is shut off until the rush of anxiety attack passes. Therapy for anxiety can help you see the hope here by exploring with you how:
This information immediately helps you by making you aware this experience could come up again, so if it does then you can catch it (and now you have that extra split second to assess the situation).
Bonus: if you’d like to work on what to do next, read this.
2. Functioning Is Impaired.
I’ve probably seen 100 different symptoms of anxiety, and I’ve found that the most basic ones can usually be some of the most challenging. That’s why anxiety can make trouble in your daily, social, or professional life. And anxiety also prevents good coping.
Someone might freeze, another person might start obsessing.
If anxiety interferes with your ability to live a fulfilling life, then it deserves to be looked at. Consider working with an anxiety therapist like me to explore how you can cope differently and what hope can be found from here.
Why is this important?
Because untreated anxiety can significantly interfere with your job, family, and social life. So turn this fact to your advantage.
Use this as an opportunity to protect yourself from the possibility of it happening or, if it’s already happened, to find out how you can pick up the pieces.
3. Persistence.
One of the everyday experiences for people with anxiety is how persistent it is. Other people might be surprised how long anxiety can last. But the person with anxiety is likely to be always looking at the future for any oncoming threats. This person probably lives in the anticipation of danger.
If this is similar to your experience, this instantly joins you with most people who have anxiety and experience some form of it on a daily basis. Thankfully, it also shows a perspective about the future to investigate in anxiety treatment. You can get comfort while you see if another future is possible, bringing you immediate hope and encouragement.
4. Fear That Comes Out Of Nowhere.
Another sign you might benefit from anxiety therapy could sound incredible to some, but it’s actually a very real and scary experience for people with anxiety:
Maybe sometimes all you have to do is start the day and an anxiety attack hits without any triggers or threat cues. An “uncued” panic attack is Beck’s classic example.
In other words, a person who struggles with anxiety can have fear come up “for no reason.” (More troubling… when you combine this spontaneous fear with the other criteria on this list, you can see how challenging the daily life of someone with anxiety can be!)
One crucial thing:
Since this shows anxiety can happen spontaneously in the absence of any trigger, then if it ever does happen like this for someone, it means they didn’t have anything to do with it. Anxiety like this happens on its own and people don’t cause it to happen. Fortunately, you can build a skillset to cope with anxiety in therapy so if it ever does come up spontaneously you’ve got hope already on your side.
5. “Hypersensitivity.”
Anxiety can make you hypersensitive in 2 ways:
1) A bigger range of things make you worry.
And:
2) A bigger range of situations make you worry.
Overall, people with anxiety worry about life in a way that people without anxiety do not. Someone with anxiety is “hypersensitive” to negative future outcomes. Bad events can bring up negative thinking and threatening images.
But you can find comfort and healing in anxiety therapy.
It’s up to you to choose. Keep working at this in therapy for anxiety until hope becomes easy for you. Learn more by reaching out to me.
Find out more about Anxiety Treatment.
About The Author
John Younes, JD, MA, LPCC, NCC is a trained counselor who owns a private practice in Denver, CO. In general, he specializes in depression treatment and anxiety treatment using existential and cognitive therapy practices.
If you’re thinking about suicide and are in immediate danger, please call your local emergency number. For Denver, Colorado, call 1-844-493-8255 or text TALK to 38255. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Footnote: for Aaron Beck’s 5 criteria of the anxiety state, see his Cognitive Therapy of Anxiety Disorders, p. 6-7.