Do you feel overwhelmed with anxiety?

Nervous about being in a crowd;

Worrying someone does not like you and trying too hard with that person;

Dreading family birthday or wedding celebrations;

Worried about health and checking online instead of seeing your GP;

Anxious how you look and comparing yourself to others;

Leaving the house and then going back to check everything is switched off;

Needing constant reassurance from partner or friends;

Scared you will say the wrong thing and be shamed or ridiculed;

and the list goes on and on.

Anxiety and panic attacks have become normal for a lot of people

Today, anxiety is a constant for many people because life has become so fast-paced. We have so many ways to distract ourselves.

For instance, distractions such as food, alcohol, drugs, tv, gaming, pornography, sex, etc are very good ways of avoiding thinking or feeling.

Moreover, while these distractions can help and give relief in the short term they do not help the cause of the anxiety and indeed can make the problem worse.

Counselling and therapy for anxiety is unfortunately quite hard to obtain through the NHS. If you are lucky enough to go privately or through your insurance company find a therapist through the BACP.

Look for a therapist that you feel comfortable working with and someone who can give you tools to help you understand and manage your anxiety.

I am a Psychosynthesis Counsellor and EFT/Matrix Reimprinting practitioner and I have found that Psychosynthesis and EFT combined will help you to understand the roots of your anxiety and help you to alleviate stress.

Therapy for Anxiety and panic attacks in London

What causes a person to be so filled with anxiety so that they rarely have a peaceful moment?

A difficult childhood with parents that were traumatised because of war, alcohol/drugs, violence, or domestic violence

Past emotional and/or physical abandonment or rejection by parents or caretakers

Parenting, or being a single parent so having to work and look after the children

A traumatic incident(s) that was not understood, processed, or acknowledged

Caring for elderly parents or relatives whether you have good relationships or not

Anxiety Counselling London and fear of overwhelm and panic attacks

Here is an example of someone who is aware of his anxiety but realised that this was hiding deeper fears. This person has an adult rational part of him that knows that he can work through this problem. He is also aware of a part or parts of him that are terrified.

“I received a letter telling me I was being audited. At first I was fine. But as time went on I found myself getting more and more anxious.

It felt that I was slipping into a deeper place of not just anxiety but a very deep fear and terror.

What had I done to feel that I had committed a serious crime?

I felt like a little child that had no one to protect him. I really was on my own and no one was going to help me.“

Client was then able to disidentify and be curious as to what was going on

“Somewhere in my mind, I know the depth of despair was not in balance to what had triggered this.

In my more rational moments I knew I had an accountant to help me. I also had the money to pay for it. So what was the problem here?

The problem was that physically I felt that I was drowning and the panic was trying to keep my head above water.

Not only that, I realised I felt raw inside like someone had been scraping the inside of my body. The feeling was horrendous.

This was deep anxiety and fear and I had no escape”.

Does this sound like something that happens to you? In a way, this experience has shone a torchlight into this person’s psyche. It has shown that there is a part that as a child felt deeply unprotected and fearful.

But as uncomfortable and frightening as this is it is also an opportunity to reconnect with this young part and as odd as it sounds form a connection.

Moreover, when we connect with these younger parts of ourselves and our internal conversation becomes one of kindness and compassion it is life changing.

Re-visiting childhood anxiety and fears

Throughout our childhood, we experience things that we have no way to understand or process.

As a result of that experience, we have parts of ourselves that we have to split off or bury as they are too painful.

These parts that are in distress, angry, sad, worried and stressed and they inform the way we react to others.

How often are you aware of feeling unable to understand a situation and just feel vulnerable?

Or given a job at work and feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start? Our adult self is nowhere to be seen and we just feel very young.

For example, have you ever witnessed a child being spoken to with people watching that is harsh, with anger or shamed?

Firstly, for most of us it is disturbing and upsetting because it triggers some old memory that we can still feel the ramifications of in our body.

Secondly, perhaps we can recognise the resulting damage that is done.

These memories can inform how we are at work, in our relationships with family and friends.

We may avoid conflict, we may not ask for what we need or want, we may not feel good enough and we go through life with many inhibitions.

“Guilt says I’ve done something wrong;
shame says there is something wrong with me.”

John bradshaw

Can we begin to understand ourselves through counselling and therapy for anxiety?

Working with Psychosynthesis techniques we can break down and focus on the different parts or sub-personalities.

For example, are you aware of the highly critical internal voice?

The judgemental voice who judges what you are wearing, eating, saying, thinking?

Or perhaps there is a part that feels unworthy or not good enough?

When we start to work towards compassion and acceptance towards these parts we can start to feel better.

This may take some time and some practice but it is possible to change the way we treat ourselves.

We can learn how to have a relationship with all these parts that carry uncomfortable feelings and emotions like shame or guilt.

It is also possible to give these parts a voice so that they can express themselves and their needs.

In time these parts become integrated and we become more secure in ourselves because our emotional foundation becomes more sturdy.

Many people who come to counselling and therapy for anxiety are determined not to follow the same path as their family.

It can be a hard road to walk but life can become easier when we start to understand and to unravel the complex feelings.

Therapy For Anxiety In London has very

effective tools that help manage anxiety

I have tools to help you build a framework within which to work. Moreover, I have an understanding of anxiety and depression stemming from family dysfunction.

I can also help you understand how you survived your childhood.

With this understanding, you are then able to move more into the more adult parts of you.

You can reclaim the the younger parts of you that you had to suppress.

First step contact

I offer a 15/20 minute conversation by phone.

We can see if you would like to come for an initial consult and if I think I can be of help to you.

If not, then I might be able to recommend someone who may be more suitable. If I can, great and we can proceed.

Either way that first conversation comes at no cost and with no obligation.

Disclaimer: These links are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Cynthia Rao Counselling.

Tel: 07947 071908

Email: cyndash3@gmail.co.uk