
Anxiety is not all about being ‘anxious’. It’s about focusing on worry, avoiding situations, and uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts. Our treatment model will help you reduce the emotional sensitivity you may experience during a stressful situation, any anticipatory anxiety, and the avoidance behaviours associated with your anxiety.
The goal of therapy with a clinical psychologist is to teach you the techniques necessary to succeed in your recovery.
What Makes Us Different When We Treat Anxiety Disorders and OCD?
1. Psychologist-led—This isn't talk therapy! We want you to succeed by providing you with practical strategies to help you recover. This means that you will receive homework assignments after each session. A Clinical Psychologist will also assess whether any comorbid issues may influence your anxiety that you may not be aware of.
2. You are learning to tolerate uncertainty. When it comes to learning to tolerate uncertainty, it's useful to become aware of how you are already accepting fears in other areas of your life that could lead to the same consequences as what you are anxious about. Once you become aware of this, it's much easier to challenge your anxiety and lean into accepting the fear.
3. You will become aware of mental rituals that maintain the fear - The first educational piece you will learn is that your safety behaviours maintain the fear. If you become aware of those safety behaviours, you will have greater success with treatment. Some people perform mental rituals that also keep the fear alive. Having awareness of what those mental rituals are will only further support your recovery and get you better faster.
4. We have a proven track record of getting people better.
Our tailored set of interventions will help:
What’s Special about Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy?
There are many different therapeutic approaches that you may want to consider when choosing a counselling option. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is fairly new to the counselling realm, having only become more readily accepted in the mid-1950s. The approach has helped many people better understand how their thinking influences how they feel about a situation. Once people are better able to understand and challenge their thinking, they are better able to reduce their symptoms. The behavioural component helps patients by challenging them to perform behaviours that will help them reduce their symptoms of anxiety. This repeated exposure is needed to help patients challenge their thinking and feelings. This is sometimes done by persistently exposing patients to somewhat anxiety provoking situations. Careful attention is given to these situations so patients feel comfortable, confident and challenged when presented with an exposure exercise (i.e., having a client who fears elevators to step in and out of an elevator). A skilled psychologist will prepare a client for exposure by teaching them methods to help manage their anxiety in the moment.
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a form of therapy that helps individuals live the life they want to live despite the anxiety symptoms being present. The purpose of this therapy is to challenge emotional avoidance and to help clients live fulfilling lives. Our goal is to help you live a more full and meaningful life while managing your symptoms of anxiety. This type of therapy has helped many cancer patients in remission manage their anxiety about the cancer returning at a later time. This has also displayed effectiveness with individuals with specific phobias.
Mindfulness Therapy
Mindfulness is a way of managing and directing your attention. The techniques and learnings help patients better understand how to intentionally focus one’s attention on the experience of the present time. This is done without judgment and in an accepting way. There is evidence to suggest that if a person accepts their anxiety, symptoms tend to reduce. An example of this is when an individual performs a public speech and notifies their audience that they ‘should be forgiven if they make a mistake because they are anxious.’ This awareness and acceptance tends to bring forth relief. Similarly, if this type of positive, accepting self-talk is taught to the patient, they too may experience relief from their anxieties. This self-talk and practice often require the patient to meet their symptoms of anxiety with compassion, interest, friendliness, and an open heart. Being kind to yourself when anxious is important in this process.
What is Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy?
The goal of Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy is to expose yourself to your fears and do so until you habituate (lesson the fear). This is done through carefully crafted experiments that are done to help you expose yourself to a situation where you are comfortable and tolerable with the experience. We will never overwhelm you. The intent is to do what you are ready for, and we will help guide you through each activity with ease and care. As a Psychologist, I have personally led many people through exposure exercises. Not one person has described the experience as overwhelming. The goal is to make sure you are ready and willing to do it before beginning. Exposure and Response Prevention therapy is the gold standard treatment for anxiety-related disorders and OCD.
- Reduce your symptoms related to your anxiety
- Reduce the negative symptoms you experience when you do feel anxiety.
- Enhance your quality of life (as demonstrated in clinical trials - internet search 'cognitive behavioural therapy and anxiety' and 'mindfulness and anxiety')
- Help you challenge your fears.
- Separation Anxiety Disorder
- Selective Mutism
- Specific Phobia (i.e. animal, environment, blood, situational, other)
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Panic Disorder
- Panic Attack
- Agoraphobia
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
What’s Special about Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy?
There are many different therapeutic approaches that you may want to consider when choosing a counselling option. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is fairly new to the counselling realm, having only become more readily accepted in the mid-1950s. The approach has helped many people better understand how their thinking influences how they feel about a situation. Once people are better able to understand and challenge their thinking, they are better able to reduce their symptoms. The behavioural component helps patients by challenging them to perform behaviours that will help them reduce their symptoms of anxiety. This repeated exposure is needed to help patients challenge their thinking and feelings. This is sometimes done by persistently exposing patients to somewhat anxiety provoking situations. Careful attention is given to these situations so patients feel comfortable, confident and challenged when presented with an exposure exercise (i.e., having a client who fears elevators to step in and out of an elevator). A skilled psychologist will prepare a client for exposure by teaching them methods to help manage their anxiety in the moment.
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy?
What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a form of therapy that helps individuals live the life they want to live despite the anxiety symptoms being present. The purpose of this therapy is to challenge emotional avoidance and to help clients live fulfilling lives. Our goal is to help you live a more full and meaningful life while managing your symptoms of anxiety. This type of therapy has helped many cancer patients in remission manage their anxiety about the cancer returning at a later time. This has also displayed effectiveness with individuals with specific phobias.
Mindfulness Therapy
Mindfulness is a way of managing and directing your attention. The techniques and learnings help patients better understand how to intentionally focus one’s attention on the experience of the present time. This is done without judgment and in an accepting way. There is evidence to suggest that if a person accepts their anxiety, symptoms tend to reduce. An example of this is when an individual performs a public speech and notifies their audience that they ‘should be forgiven if they make a mistake because they are anxious.’ This awareness and acceptance tends to bring forth relief. Similarly, if this type of positive, accepting self-talk is taught to the patient, they too may experience relief from their anxieties. This self-talk and practice often require the patient to meet their symptoms of anxiety with compassion, interest, friendliness, and an open heart. Being kind to yourself when anxious is important in this process.
What is Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy?
The goal of Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy is to expose yourself to your fears and do so until you habituate (lesson the fear). This is done through carefully crafted experiments that are done to help you expose yourself to a situation where you are comfortable and tolerable with the experience. We will never overwhelm you. The intent is to do what you are ready for, and we will help guide you through each activity with ease and care. As a Psychologist, I have personally led many people through exposure exercises. Not one person has described the experience as overwhelming. The goal is to make sure you are ready and willing to do it before beginning. Exposure and Response Prevention therapy is the gold standard treatment for anxiety-related disorders and OCD.
For more information, please call us or text/iMessage us at 416-999-3437.
Resources:
Disorders Associated with Anxiety
Why am I Feeling This Way?
Resources:
Disorders Associated with Anxiety
Why am I Feeling This Way?