How to Treat Anxiety With Counseling

Anxiety is a perfectly natural human response to stress. It's a physical response to a situation in which you need to take action--and likely don't want to. It doesn't always mean you need any kind of therapy. But if this anxiety is getting between you and accomplishing those goals or affecting your life, consider the available options.
If used correctly, counseling can be a very powerful tool in fighting anxiety. But it requires work, and counseling won't cure all of your problems on its own.

Instructions

Getting the Right Counselor

• 1

  Look up counseling centers in your area, using the Internet or your phone book. If there is a website, look around for areas of expertise and staff biographies. Most sites have a list of areas they specialize in, such as anxiety disorders or adult or child psychology. Many also include biographies for all of their staff counselors.

• 2

  Create a list of the centers you want to speak with, based on your personal situation. Select counselors within those centers who you think will be most helpful for your situation, and pose important concerns or questions--matters such as religious affiliation, experience with certain family types, or policies on prescribing medications.

• 3

  Contact those centers and learn about their Insurance and payment policies. Determine which counselors have availability, and ask any questions you may have. This is not the time to start talking about your anxiety concerns but to figure out whether or not this is the right counselor for you.

• 4

  Choose your top two or three counselors from the list, and make an appointment with them. Attend the first few sessions and pay attention to how you interact with the counselor and whether or not you feel safe with her. If you don't feel you mesh well with the counselor after a few sessions, stop going. It's important to find someone you are comfortable working with--and when you do, sticking with him.

Beginning Counseling

• 5

  Set goals. These should be conceptual and specific. For example, for a student anxious about testing, the conceptual goal is to feel less stressed; the specific goal could be the SATs.

• 6

  Find out what triggers your anxiety. Some people feel anxious in social settings or because of an outside stimulus, such as heights or animals. Perhaps your anxiety comes up in a situation you have now come to avoid. You know yourself better than your counselor, so let him know what you suspect these triggers are.

• 7

  Be open and honest. The counselor can only help if you will allow it. You must let her into your thought processes and feelings for her to best understand you. Most counselors can detect when you're being reserved and will gently encourage you to speak if there seems to be something on your mind. Anxiety can be connected to a past traumatic event. If that's something you can't eventually talk about, this will slow your progress.

• 8

  Use the time in a way that helps you most. For different people, therapy can take different shapes. It's not a one-size-cures-all process. For some, it helps to explore specific moments in day-to-day activities and, with the help of a doctor, dissect them for understanding as to why you feel as you did then.

• 9

  Meet milestones on the path to your goals. Remember that counseling is a process, and that although you won't get there overnight, you'll start to see its effects after you make some breakthroughs and begin to understand yourself better. If you feel the moment is right to test your progress, do so--but get out of your comfort zone. If you're anxious about something like crossing bridges, make and meet a goal to get across a short, low, and sturdy one--then share the results with your counselor. He'll be excited to hear about it.

• 10

  Be patient. Counseling does rely heavily on you, and you may reach a point--or several points--where you feel like you're stuck. It's not always a linear progression; you won't always feel steady improvement. Be willing to take feedback from your counselor for these moments. Perhaps you're holding back without realizing it, or perhaps you aren't as aware of your actions and consequences as you perceive yourself to be.