Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Foster City, CA.

Becoming aware of your habits and choosing to do things another way is an unfolding process. With mind-body approaches and awareness of how stress is held in the body we will uncover the source of your anxiety and stress while practicing practical and accessible tools to help you find an ease in your life and a comfort in your body. You can find calm in the stillness!

Anxiety and stress are the symptoms I treat most often in my practice. Some people are not aware, but trauma is deep-rooted anxiety that is held within our body. We can feel anxious about work, children, relationships, or family. We can feel stressed about work or relationships and friendships. A highly effective tool for treating these symptoms is mindfulness. Mindfulness is a way that you can learn to relax the anxiety that is held within your body and your mind. I love this technique because it is not only highly effective, but it is very easy to learn. You can walk away from your first therapy session with a start to your mindfulness journey and have real tools at your disposal.

We hold our anxiety and stress in our body. We feel tension, gut problems, hot flashes, disrupted sleep and more. I work with anxiety and stress by helping individuals learn and develop tools to re-regulate their nervous system. When we have a coherent and fluid nervous system, we can do difficult things without feeling paralyzed by overwhelming fear.

Anxiety is a debilitating disorder that deprives people of their happiness and sense of well-being. I work with children and adults to help alleviate their suffering. Together we explore their anxiety "triggers" e.g. what brings on their anxiety, and work with question those assumptions. Next I help my clients learn how to use tools to combat the thoughts that can paralyze and torment them and bring their negative thoughts back under their control, helping them to feel happy and confident once more.

While most treatment approaches for anxiety and stress are effective on the surface, they dont treat the real problem. Mantras, deep breathing, and rational dialogues about your fear being irrational rarely work---for most people dont believe it or you!. Imagine if you can trick the brain into changing without you telling your conscious mind that you are changing it? Problem with anxiety and stress is that the brain in this state knows you want to change it and it resists. Contact Kevin@kevinfleminphd.com for the ultimate stress and anxiety solution that will literally change your brain's autonomic nervous system patterns while you sit on your butt. 877-606-6161

Experiencing occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. However, anxiety disorders and ongoing chronic stress can appear as repeated episodes of worry & fear, or develop into sudden feelings of intense anxiety with physical sensations, known as panic attacks. Your anxiety may feel related to an event or thought, and other times appear to occur randomly and without cause. Anxiety can develop at any age, when left untreated it may develop into depression. In therapy we will explore how anxiety is affecting your life. You will learn how your physical, emotional and mental health are connected and together create an effective treatment plan specific to your goals to improve your well-being.

I help men, women, and teens who are feeling anxious and stressed out, develop the skills they need to succeed. I understand that we in the Bay Area live in a "high expectations" environment. As a clinical psychologist with more than 10 years of experience, I have treated countless individuals for anxiety and stress-related concerns. My approach to therapy is client-centered, authentic, and based on current research. Psychotherapy can be transformative and life-changing. I am happy to offer a free initial phone consultation and to answer any question you may have. Give me a call today!

I begin by understanding how you experience anxiety/stress because how you experience them is unique for you. Then we begin to increase your tolerance for how you experience anxious/stressful thoughts, feelings, memories, and/or situations. This is necessary so the anxiety/stress stops being an overwhelming experience that interferes and gets in the way of your life. It's crucial to be able to become more comfortable when you experience anxiety/stress because they're a part life. The problem is the distressing and limiting to debilitating effect they have on you. As you learn to be able to do this, you will begin to experience more peacefulness, calm, hope, self-confidence and self-esteem.

You don't have to go at this alone. Anxiety is difficult to manage because sometimes our mind and body do not appear to agree. When you are dealing with the physical symptoms of anxiety or stress, your heart rate may increase, you may sweat, you may breathe a little more shallow, or you might find yourself holding your breath altogether, while your mind may be confused as to what and why you feel as you do. As your therapist, I will offer you exercises/tools, somatic perspectives and grounding to help you regulate your nervous system. I will hold space with you and I will approach your anxiety with compassion and curiosity, honoring the defenses that keep us going.

I can teach you specific tools to help with anxiety and stress reduction on the physical level. We may also explore the deeper causes of anxiety, your history, and how to find ground in the midst of uncertainty. It is easy to become anxious when our minds are consumed with thoughts of the past or future speculations. By guiding awareness, I will help you to return to the present moment even as we talk, to feel your body and senses in the here and now. Building your capacity to be aware in the present moment greatly reduces anxiety.

Anxiety and stress come in all shapes and sizes and can be thought of as acting on different levels, including the physiological, cognitive, and behavioral levels. These levels often interact with each other and can make it difficult to function in life. I can help you gain an objective understanding of your anxiety and stress and teach you skills to help you cope more effectively with future stressful events.

I take a practical approach to treating anxiety and stress. I help you identify the sources of anxiety if you do not already know them. I support you in learning skills to regulate your emotions and increase awareness of body sensations and experiences in order to help you be able to control and reduce feelings of anxiety. I also use a combination of exposure therapy, if appropriate, and adjustment to lifestyle to help you reduce or eliminate sources of anxiety or stress. I know that every experience of anxiety or stress is unique and I will work with you to develop a plan of support tailored to your needs. I will provide a safe environment for you to challenge and overcome your fear/stress

With the current times, stress and anxiety may be heightened and affecting various aspects of your life such as: work, relationships, sleep, and every day responsibilities. Anxiety can be overwhelming but it can be treated and you will get better. I will help you learn tools to manage and decrease your anxiety by developing an awareness of your triggers.

Anxiety in all of its forms (social, panic attacks, fears and phobias, PTSD, health-related anxiety, and performance anxiety) are concerns that I have helped adults and children overcome for over 22 years. It is a specialized area of therapy I work with using approaches that bring somatic awareness and resolve the underlying trauma that has led to activation in the body and worried mind. My aim is to help you learn tools to help you cope better and empower you to understand the causes of anxiety leading to resolution and lasting change.

Anxiety in my experience works similarly to depression. If depression is caused by unexpressed feelings, anxiety is caused by unexpressed fear. It may be a therapist cliche to talk about creating safety and trust, but this is especially true of helping to heal anxiety. It really is about helping the client feel safe to express their fears and worries and to learn to feel safe to have the full range of our emotional expression.

Anxiety and stress are not just clinical diagnoses. They are pervasive to the human condition. If you are alive, you are feeling them. They play a role in relationships, work, eating, sleeping... everything! However, it is not enough to simply "manage" them. We need to understand what scares us, what keeps us awake at night, what it is that matters to us. Because anxiety is experienced to some degree whenever something matters, it also points us to our desire and helps us to learn about what we want. Therapy can help us make use of our anxiety to give us a better sense of what we want from our lives and how to confront the fears that are on the way.

Are you worried and stressed to the point of where the quality of your life is suffering? I am delighted to offer assistance in calming and soothing your thoughts and emotions of anxiety and frustration, even panic and avoidance of things that lead to disruption of an otherwise more enjoyable existence. You can find a whole new way of living through being assisted in coming to a gentle awareness(not forced) of what is feeding your anxiety or stress, and together we can create a plan for you to start softening the anxiousness and its effects on your system. Your body can come down into a more calm place and the mind loves to learn different, expansive ways of soothing yourself.

Working through anxiety in therapy involves developing and using coping tools such as mindfulness, grounding, deep breathing, meditation, creative self-expression, relaxation techniques, and emotional regulation skills. Therapy can help you create a healthy work life balance to buffer stress and understand what triggers your anxiety. Relief from anxiety will allow you to navigate life’s ups and downs without becoming overwhelmed. Working through anxiety leads to feeling calm, confident, centered, and present.

While most treatment approaches for anxiety and stress are effective on the surface, they don’t treat the real problem. Mantras, deep breathing, and rational dialogues about your fear being irrational rarely work---for most people don’t believe it or you! Imagine if you can trick the brain into changing without you telling your conscious mind that you are changing it? Problem with anxiety and stress is that the brain in this state knows you want to change it and it resists. Contact Kevin@kevinfleminphd.com for the ultimate stress and anxiety solution that will literally change your brain's autonomic nervous system patterns while you sit on your butt. 877-606-6161.

Anxiety is an internal alarm system that gives us information about our internal state as well as possible danger in the external world. Often, anxiety is a signal of deeper, more intense emotions such as sadness, anger, and fear. It can also be a consequence of not living authentically. Once these deeper feelings are identified and expressed, they can be readily released. For example, when we say "Yes" when we really mean "No," we will often experience anxiety. In this case, the anxiety is providing us with a warning that we are not being honest (living authentically) with ourself and/or another. Therapy is the perfect place to explore this common emotion.

Are you worried about things going out of your control? Do you experience overwhelming anxiety and panic attacks? Are you obsessed about someone or something that is driving you crazy? I can help you find the roots of your fears, worries and anxieties, identify destructive patterns, work through inner conflicts, and move on to peace, and a calm state of mind that you deserve.

Anxiety falls along a continuum from acceptable to crippling, debilitating anxiety requiring professional intervention. The major forms that anxiety takes are: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder, Phobic Disorders, Social Anxiety Disorders and Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD). A variety of proven therapeutic interventions are well established now, eg., Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Yoga, Tai Chi, Breathwork. By diving into therapy clients regain a sense of optimism, courage and confidence in relationships, workplace and career, driving, aging, life transitions and more.

Recent studies show that moderate stress can actually make us more productive and successful. But when stress and anxiety become too much to handle, they can make life miserable. I use mindfulness-based therapy to help you increase your own innate ability to decrease anxiety and keep stress manageable. If your symptoms are related to past experiences such as painful or difficult childhood experiences, abuse or trauma, I offer Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. EMDR therapy is a highly effective for relieving symptoms of PTSD and improving performance. Come experience it for yourself!

Everyone experiences anxiety at some point, but for some the anxiety is so frequent or intense that it interferes with their lives or even triggers panic attacks. I use Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to help my clients get a sense of control over their own anxiety. We collaborate to learn skills to reduce the frequency or intensity of the anxious feelings, to tolerate the anxiety when it does occur so they can still function through it, and to practice habits that reduce stress and improve general mental health.

In anxiety treatment sessions with me, you will learn to identify, feel, and let go of fear so that you can live more fully in the present. By better understanding your own unique anxiety process, you will feel more in control of the experience of this emotion. You will also be able to get through tense feelings more quickly. I will teach you valuable relaxation, stress management, and relapse prevention skills so that you can stay calmer in triggering situations even after completing therapy. You will enjoy the freedom of living more peacefully as well as feeling more confident in previously uncomfortable situations. Call me with any questions or to schedule an initial appointment.