Is Your Anxiety Trying To Tell You Something? Anxiety Therapy San Francisco

As an anxiety therapist in San Francisco who treats anxiety and depression, potential clients often want to get rid of their anxiety completely.  As convenient as it would be to never feel anxious again, our anxiety serves a purpose in our lives.  Oftentimes anxiety is acting as a messenger and often shows up through physical symptoms.  When the heart starts beating faster or thoughts start racing, this is anxiety saying slow down and pay attention. 

But why is anxiety trying to get our attention? Anxiety can appear for a variety of reasons but the most common reason I have seen is when clients ignore their feelings and don’t let themselves feel them. 

In an attempt to function on the day-to-day, sometimes people ignore or try to push down feelings that they don’t want to feel or that make them uncomfortable.  Over time those emotions build up and the more they are ignored, the more anxiety appears.  The larger the anxiety becomes, the less inclined a person may be to slow down and feel emotions.  Some signs someone may be avoiding feeling are needing to be busy all the time, thinking that feelings are “stupid,” and/or having a constant feeling of worry or anxiety that a person can’t quite place.

Over months and years, the anxiety becomes more and more pronounced until it affects many aspects of life such as work and relationships. It is at the point where anxiety feels overwhelming that many people seek out therapy.  

The good news is that whatever the reason for your anxiety, therapy can make a huge difference in your life.   A good therapist can guide you to help find the root of your anxiety and help you find ways to cope with anxiety in your day-to-day life.  You can start to feel better pretty quickly and instead of dreading your anxiety, hopefully come to realize that this is your body’s way of telling you something is off.. You may even learn to listen to the messages that come from connecting with and befriending your anxiety instead of trying to annihilate it.

 If you have questions about anxiety therapy in San Francisco, please contact me, Lisa Manca, MA, LPCC, BC-DMT at lisa@lisamanca.com or via phone at (415)212-8780.  I am happy to provide resources or information about what treatment for anxiety might look like and possible benefits to starting therapy.