Anxiety & Depression
Anxiety
Things overheard on the tube, from a friend, in the therapy room…
‘I was always an anxious child’, ‘my mum had anxiety’, ‘it started after…’
Your anxiety might show up as intrusive thoughts and worries, perhaps you feel panic in social situations, or about your health, or life in general. You might have physical symptoms like a racing heart, feeling on edge, muscle tension, and headaches. Perhaps you strive for perfection, or fear specific things like bugs, buttons, or germs. You might fear failure or losing control and ‘going mad’. Your anxiety could be linked to a trauma, a relationship, ‘the way you are’, or it might have started in peri menopause.
Living with anxiety can be debilitating and limit your enjoyment of life and relationships. Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and EMDR are all evidence-based therapies that can help.Â
Reach out by emailing me here and I can try to support you with compassion, understanding, and expertise.
Depression
You probably know this but… depression and anxiety are more common in women than in men. Some types of depression can be related to hormonal fluctuations: menstrual cycles, pregnancy, menopause. Perhaps your low mood came on after baby arrived and you can’t work out why you feel so low, when you ‘should’ be filled with joy.
There are many factors that contribute to feeling like you are walking through mud, like life has turned grey, or that you are alone at the bottom of a deep dark well.
You might have persistent low mood or sadness, tiredness that sleep does not cure, up and down moods, irritability, RAGE and ANGER, social withdrawal, leaning on alcohol or drugs, and dark thoughts that you and your loved ones would be better off without you.
Therapy can feel like someone who ‘gets it and is motivated to help you’ has climbed into the dark well to sit beside you. You are certainly not alone.
Please reach out by emailing me here – I will listen and validate how you feel, and we can work together to find a way out of the darkness.