What is anxiety?
Anxiety is an alert system that arises in situations requiring preparation for a challenge. However, when it is not resolved adequately it can lead to constant feelings or thoughts that something is going to go wrong, which ends up causing avoidances or compulsions that condition the person's life and interfere with several areas of it.
Anxiety in the right measure is useful and necessary. The problem arises when it becomes a disproportionate or constant response that limits your daily life. With the right approach, it is possible to regain control.
Signs
When anxiety exceeds its adaptive function and starts to interfere with your daily life, it typically manifests in the following ways:
- Excessive and constant worry.
- Constant sense of danger without a clear cause.
- Feeling that something bad is going to happen.
- Intrusive thoughts.
- Excessive sweating, trembling or palpitations.
- Digestive problems.
- Increased consumption of alcohol, tobacco or other substances.
- Sleep difficulties.
- Constant avoidances and compulsions.
How we work at PSINCRO
First, we focus on your story, understanding how you arrived at this situation.
Secondly, there are different tools that have been well proven to work against pathological anxiety, such as systematic desensitisation or classic exposure.
What is important is to remember that every single approach proposed is agreed with you. Under no circumstances will anything be done that you do not agree with. The key is to find, together and by agreement, steps that are challenging but not impossible to climb.
When to seek help?
If anxiety has been conditioning your decisions for weeks or months, affecting your sleep or preventing you from doing things you used to do without difficulty, it is time to seek support. There is no need to reach breaking point. The earlier it is addressed, the shorter the process tends to be.
Frequently asked questions
Not necessarily. Psychological therapy works directly on the mechanisms that generate anxiety: thoughts, behaviours and personal history. In some cases a psychiatrist may consider medication as additional support, but it is not essential for most people.
It depends on the person and how long the anxiety has been present. In many cases significant improvement is seen within a few weeks. The goal is not to eliminate all anxiety, but to acquire management tools to prevent anxiety from conditioning your life.
Stress is a feeling of inability to achieve a goal due to an accumulation of tasks, lack of time or lack of competence, real or perceived.
Anxiety, on the other hand, consists of ruminating feelings or thoughts that something negative is going to happen about something specific; it prepares you for a fight-or-flight response.
Yes, the treatment is identical online and in person. The format adapts to whatever best suits your situation and preferences.