Christian Counseling for Anxiety in Santa Monica

There is a wide spectrum of anxiety disorders, so being informed about your type of anxiety can help your counselor provide treatment in the best method possible. Some common anxiety orders are:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

While we all worry at times, if you worry obsessively or disproportionately in relation to the situation at hand, you might be experiencing what is called generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Any little thing you encounter during the day can trigger an episode of intense worrying. These worries can range from little things like “Did I interpret what he said to me correctly? Maybe I misunderstood” to larger concerns like “I don’t know how I can afford to both pay the rent and have a birthday party for my daughter next month.”

People with GAD don’t always worry about irrational things, but GAD causes them to get stuck in an unending state of worry. Feelings of being “on edge,” recurrent headaches and a tense body, uncontrollable fear, racing thoughts, difficulty concentrating, and irritability are some typical GAD symptoms.

Nearly four million individuals in the United States are affected by GAD, making it the most common anxiety disorder. Christian counseling for anxiety can effectively help you overcome anxiety by helping you to conquer it. Through recognizing, re-directing, and limiting exaggerated, ruminating worry, you can learn to live anxiety-free.

Social Anxiety Disorder

Say you’ve been invited out to a group dinner with friends. What are you feeling right now? The majority of people might answer excited, glad to be part of the group, or that they are looking forward to seeing their friends.

People with a social anxiety disorder, however, might say this scenario is a nightmare. Instead of enjoying the prospect of dressing up for a nice night out, people with social anxiety will worry about every little detail before the night gets started from whether their shoes are the right pair to wear, if people are going to think their outfit is appropriate, possibly saying the “wrong thing” later at dinner – or, even worse, having nothing to say at all.

Social anxiety disorder leaves sufferers worried about being judged, feeling inferior to those around them, and it makes it difficult to talk to new people or to be around strangers. Social situations can create scenarios where panic causes their heart to race, their body to sweat, their speech to stutter, and their head to feel dizzy.

Negative thoughts can overwhelm people with social anxiety disorder throughout the night and, through their fear of being judged, they force themselves to act “normal” all night. If this sounds like you, you could have a social anxiety disorder.

In order to learn to control your symptoms of social anxiety disorder, Christian anxiety counseling is here to teach you how to be able to overcome your condition and gain a life where you feel happy, confident, and are able to enjoy social relationships again.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Do you have repetitive unwanted thoughts that require physical action to prevent them from happening? If so, you might have obsessive-compulsive disorder. Someone with OCD, for example, may worry about turning the light off in their kitchen before they go to work so they have to check the kitchen several times before they can bring themselves to leave the house.

Other common urges for people with OCD involve cleaning, washing, counting, strict order for things, following a routine, or other similar manifestations. Not only do these urges feel compulsive, but the need to fulfill these urges is overwhelming and can seem impossible to control. Often, when someone with OCD attempts to stop their repetitive actions, the stress causes their condition to become worse.

Like other anxiety disorders, the severity of OCD can vary, but individuals with OCD can find healing through Christian anxiety counseling. Sometimes, in severe cases, a combination of medical intervention and counseling are required for treatment. A qualified counselor can help you to understand your unique situation and discuss your options. Imagine a life without overwhelming urges. We’re here to help you overcome your OCD so that you can control your life once again.

Panic Disorder

People who experience frequent panic attacks might be suffering from panic disorder. Symptoms of panic attacks can often be mistaken for heart attacks because people mistake the shortness of breath, feeling unable to breathe, fast-paced heartbeat, sweating, dizziness, and nausea of panic attacks for a heart attack.

While panic attacks are often accompanied by feelings of impending doom, not every panic attack will have these symptoms. As the name implies, these attacks can arise anytime, anywhere, and can devastate the people suffering from them. While some stressors are obvious to the person suffering from the panic attack, others can seem to manifest with no known trigger in sight.

Your Christian anxiety counselor will be there to teach you how to better handle your anxiety during an attack, work on solutions for reducing the frequency of these attacks, and eventually end your panic attacks once and for all. You will work together to find the causes of your anxiety and explore ways of managing your triggers to stop panic attacks before they happen.

Hoarding Disorder

People with hoarding disorder feel a strong connection to objects, and, because of this, the compulsive need to collect things. When asked to get rid of some items, these people feel overwhelmed by emotion and suffer intense bouts of anxiety – almost as if they are losing their best friend or a loved one.

Hoarding becomes an issue when too many items start to overwhelm the home, making people’s ability to function at home nearly impossible. People suffering from hoarding disorder cover their furniture, kitchen, beds, and bathrooms with items they can’t get themselves to dispose of. Objects that people suffering from hoarding disorder become attached to vary, but things like pets, memorabilia, or magazines are common.

Generally, people suffering from hoarding disorder feel like their life is out of control and seek the ability to gain control over something in their life. Because of this, eating disorders can develop alongside hoarding disorder. If this sounds like you or someone you love, help is available and you should seek it. This disorder not only causes severe anxiety, but it can affect a person’s physical health and hygiene, causing alienation from friends and family as well as more attachment to objects.

Counseling can not only help you come to terms with your condition and understand it, but also find relief and strategies for gaining control. Christian anxiety counselors are here to advocate for your health, both mental and physical, and to reconnect you to your home, your friends, your family, and your life.

Anxiety in Relationships

Every relationship has stressful moments. Even the best relationship can cause people to worry or get anxious, especially if you start to worry about your future or are overcoming painful past relationships. Anxiety can even be triggered at the idea of beginning a new relationship or by making a strong commitment to someone.

We all have a past, but sometimes those with painful past relationships can’t help but carry their fear of rejection and emotional consequences they have felt after such experiences. There is no single experience or source for relationship anxiety – the causes are vast and vary from person to person. One person might fear commitment after being cheated on in a past relationship while someone else fears commitment after seeing their loved one struggle with an abusive relationship.

Whatever the source of your anxiety about relationships is, counseling is available to try to help you. Happiness comes from the relationships we build around us, and it’s important to have fulfilling relationships within our lives. Anxiety shouldn’t get in the way of that, and counseling is here to help you overcome your relationship fears.

Santa Monica Christian Counseling is here to help you or your loved ones suffering from these anxiety conditions. Don’t hesitate to contact us and schedule an appointment if you feel that you or a loved one might have one of these or other anxiety conditions. Our counselors are highly-skilled and ready to help.