Stress, PTSD and Anxiety Therapists in Irvine, CA.

There’s a fine line between stress and anxiety. Both are emotional responses, but stress is typically caused by an external trigger. The trigger can be short-term, such as a work deadline or a fight with a loved one or long-term, such as being unable to work, discrimination, or chronic illness. People under stress experience mental and physical symptoms, such as irritability, anger, fatigue, muscle pain, digestive troubles, and difficulty sleeping. Anxiety, on the other hand, is defined by persistent, excessive worries that don’t go away even in the absence of a stressor. Anxiety leads to a nearly identical set of symptoms as stress: insomnia, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, muscle tensi

I create a transformative experience that emphasizes your personal growth and well-being. My approach to anxiety recovery prioritizes the unique needs and goals of each client, fostering a safe and supportive environment where you can explore and overcome anxiety-related challenges. By focusing on practical strategies and personalized interventions, clients will gain the tools and insights needed to manage anxiety and stress more effectively. This tailored approach of somatic, emotion-focused, and attachment-focused therapeutic techniques will empower you to build resilience, enhance quality of life, and achieve a more balanced and fulfilling existence free from painful anxiety.

Free 30 minute zoom call - Anxiety can arise from several places - one is the mind - people can think & imagine scenarios in their minds that create anxiety, when their thoughts and imagination may not even be true. Anxiety is also common in people who did not have a safe & secure experience with caregivers as they were growing up. The brain ends up being wired in a way that reproduces anxiety. Fortunately, due to new research in the field of neuropsychology & neuroplasticity, this can be changed!

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.

I specialize in helping people who struggle with never feeling quite “enough" and want freedom from shame and anxiety. The torment of living with an inner critical voice is exhausting. Achieving more is not the answer. Looking better and trying harder are not the solutions. You deserve to trust yourself and feel comfortable in your own skin. I would like to help you discover self-acceptance and find liberation from anxiety.

Everyone feels anxiety at some point in their lives but when it starts to interfere with your life, counseling can help. Although anxiety can feel debilitating, it is treatable. People with anxiety don’t always share the same symptoms, they vary from person to person. Therapy will help you to reclaim your life and function in a chronically stressful world.

Dr. Laura Adams (949) 244-1992 www.SouthOCTherapist.com, is a marriage and family therapist and Psychoanalyst with offices in Newport Beach and Mission Viejo. Dr. Laura Adams specializes in psychodynamic psychotherapy for long-term depression, stress and anxiety issues for individuals, couples and families. Dr. Adams works with patients by listening for unconsious communications that contain understandings that can bring to light the underlying roots of the symptoms. Dr. Adams has been in private practice in South Orange County since 2004 and can be verified on the Psychology Today website.

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.

Stress and anxiety can be extremely uncomfortable but at the same time these are actually areas that therapy is the most able to help relieve. An important step is to help my clients learn how to transition the nervous system out of the fight/flight/freeze response into a state of relaxation. That alarm state is good for helping the individual respond to an emergency but it greatly reduces flexibility. Once out the reactive sympathetic nervous system state my clients can then find new ways of thinking and responding. In order to help them to get out of the alarm mode, I teach a variety of skills both directly and indirectly.

People rarely come to counseling when their anxiety first starts causing them problems. Most people try to handle it on their own and try the “white knuckle” approach until they are exhausted and overwhelmed. Often life becomes unmanageable and depression sets in when anxiety is not dealt with. Anxiety commonly focuses on illogical things that may seem foolish or kind of crazy, so you have kept these to yourself. Don’t keep struggling alone. Call me so I can help you reduce the hold anxiety has on you and restore freedom to live your life fully again. Contact me at 714-751-0888 and I promise I won't think you are crazy.

Anxiety affects your whole being. Physiologically, you may experience rapid heart beat, muscle tension, queasiness, and sweating. Behaviorally, anxiety can sabotage your ability to deal with certain everyday situations. Psychologically, it can cause great apprehension, uneasiness, and fear. In our counseling sessions, we will address all of the way that anxiety is affecting you. I will teach you methods to reduce physical symptoms, eliminate avoidance behaviors, and change the "self talk" that helps to perpetuate the worry. Through the use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), we will work towards changing the thought and behavior patterns that add to your distress.

Anxiety and Stress are both rampant in our modern society. It is my belief that relationships are both the root cause as well as the solution to struggles with anxiety. I take a family systems approach to address these issues by raising the functioning of the relationships in my clients' lives and allowing them to regulate and feel more peace day to day.