Anxiety Therapy

The Hallmark Of Anxiety Is Avoidance And Isolation

You might cancel dates at the last minute and turn down opportunities to meet new people. Perhaps you’re too anxious to ask for a promotion at work or try your luck at a new job, even though you know it would make you happier. In this way, anxiety tends to go hand in hand with avoidance and isolation. And although isolating can feel comfortable in the short term, it can ultimately lead to loneliness and depression in the long run.

When anxiety becomes chronic, the most common response is to try and cope with it in maladaptive ways—drinking, drug use, and other forms of escapism. In the end, however, these behaviors only reinforce the cycle of anxiety that’s keeping you stuck.

Thankfully, there is another way to live. At Hope Healing Counseling, our therapists are trained and equipped to help you manage anxiety more effectively and live a more empowered life. By integrating evidence-based therapeutic approaches with faith-based principles, we are confident that we can help you achieve long-term healing and growth.

Anxiety Is A Normal Response To A Stressful World

While we tend to think of anxiety in a purely negative light, the truth is that it’s a valuable survival mechanism. God created anxiety to help us navigate perilous and stressful situations. Just as a prey animal knows to run or hide when it sees a predator, we, too, have an internal alarm that helps us stay safe in dangerous times. In that sense, we all have valid reasons for experiencing anxiety, as it often stems from trauma and difficult life experiences.

The problem arises when anxiety stops being a basic survival tool, however, and starts to bleed into every part of your life. This is the case for approximately 20 percent of Americans today. For them, anxiety is a chronic feature of everyday life, one that impacts their work, social life, and overall health.

The prevalence of anxiety is hardly surprising. Few of us in the Western world have a healthy work-life balance—all day long, we are bombarded by various responsibilities and time constraints. On top of that, social media has fostered a culture of endless comparison where we are always comparing ourselves to the selfie-happy lives other people project all over Instagram and Facebook.

Anxiety Is Often Viewed As A Taboo Subject—Even In Christian Circles

As a faith-based practice, many of our clients come from Christian backgrounds where talking about anxiety was frowned upon. For many, it was a source of shame. They were often told to “just pray about it” or “have faith,” as if anxiety is a moral failure or character flaw rather than a very real mental health disorder.

The truth is that God deeply cares about the anxiety His followers experience, but sometimes the church doesn’t do the best job of rallying around those in need of support.

The good news is that in anxiety therapy, you have a space where you can express your deepest fears and insecurities without any fear of judgment. We’re here to create a safe haven for you, allowing you to be your beautiful God-created self with no reservations.