Anxiety is a growing issue in North American society. Even among children, anxiety symptoms increased during the COVID-19 pandemic1 and haven’t returned to previous levels. For children and young adults, the pressures of social media and the threats posed by climate change2 are new sources of anxiety. Worldwide instability and financial stresses are also leading to higher rates of anxiety in adults. In addition to these anxiety-provoking events and trends, many people have anxiety that doesn’t have a well-defined source; this type of anxiety is also becoming more common.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a feeling of worry, fear, or apprehension, usually about something that has an uncertain outcome. Although we all experience anxiety from time to time, it can affect our quality of life and our ability to function normally if it is severe or persistent.
In general, anxiety has three types of symptoms:
- Physical, which can include restlessness, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, muscle tension, dry mouth, nausea, tingling in your hands or feet, and insomnia or other sleep disturbances.
- Emotional, including feeling fearful, uneasy, or irritable.
- Cognitive, including having trouble concentrating, focusing on the worst possible outcomes, and being unable to rationally evaluate how threatening a particular situation or event is.
When to Seek Treatment for Anxiety
Getting an official diagnosis of an anxiety disorder isn’t necessary before you start looking for potential ways to reduce your anxiety symptoms. You know when you are not yourself. Rather than relying on a checklist, ask yourself if your anxiety is distressing to you. If it’s interfering with your relationships, physical health, work life, or overall feeling of well-being, that’s all you need to go forward.
Treatments for Anxiety
Common treatments for anxiety include therapy and medications such as antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications (benzodiazepines), and beta blockers. Therapy is always recommended if medication is prescribed because research has shown that medication is much more effective alongside therapy than without it.
For many people, therapy on its own can be extremely effective. It can be a good way to start exploring the nature, severity, and causes of the anxiety you’re struggling with.
Online Therapy for Anxiety
Psychotherapy is now delivered online as well as in person. Counselling can take place through virtual meetings like Zoom and FaceTime, over the phone, and even via text message or e-mail.
Advantages of Online Therapy for Anxiety
If you’re used to thinking of therapy as face-to-face meetings, you may be surprised to learn that online therapy can be just as effective and that it has advantages when it comes to treating anxiety.
Connect with a Therapist Anywhere in The World
Online therapy allows you to choose a therapist who lives in your town or on the other side of the world. Having a good match with your therapist is very important to getting care that is helpful to you and to making progress in your treatment. Finding someone you can easily connect with takes a great deal of the anxiety out of the process; being free of geographic restrictions means that you’ll have more options and that you’ll be more likely to find the right therapist for you.
You also don’t need to worry about missing appointments if you have to travel for work or will be on vacation. All you need is a reliable Internet connection to attend your sessions.
Increased Comfort
Anxiety can make it difficult to feel comfortable in unfamiliar environments. With online therapy for anxiety, you can attend your sessions in a setting of your choosing, whether that’s at your home, in a quiet space at work, or even outside.
If you have social anxiety, online therapy can feel much less intimidating than face-to-face therapy. You don’t have to worry about how you’re dressed or how you move if those are things that exacerbate your anxiety. You can even start your program of therapy with phone calls or text messages if video meetings are challenging for you. If you like, you can switch to video when you feel more comfortable.
Decreased Stigma
Some people with anxiety worry about what others will think of them if they’re seen walking into a therapist’s office. With online therapy, that concern is eliminated. You can attend your appointment without anyone knowing that it’s anything other than a regular meeting.
Flexibility
Scheduling your therapy appointments is much easier with online therapy; you don’t have to leave time for travelling to your sessions, and many therapists can see you after normal office hours. This reduces the anxiety of fitting your therapy into your day or having to move other things around.
Access to Resources
Your therapist may want to direct you to additional resources such as online journaling apps, sources of information about anxiety, or groups that you can join. This is much easier with online therapy because your therapist can send you these resources directly, and you can even explore them together. With face-to-face therapy, you would have to write them down and look at them later, which poses an additional set of barriers to you getting the help you need.
Final Thoughts About Online Therapy
Online therapy has significant advantages for people dealing with anxiety, but only you can decide if it is the right type of counselling for you. If you try it and find that it’s not effective, you can always start there and switch to face-to-face counselling.
The team at Kari Walton Counselling has helped hundreds of people just like you, both face-to-face and online. As counsellors and as individuals, we all understand the challenges that people with anxiety face in their daily lives, and our only goal is to help you move through your life with more confidence, free of the fears and worries that are holding you back.
We offer a wide range of treatment options, including person-centred counselling, psychodynamic therapy, humanistic counselling, integrative therapy, cognitive-behavioural therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, hypnotherapy, group therapy, neurofeedback, and couples and family therapy, depending on your preferences and needs.
Contact us today to make an appointment. Let’s work together to get your anxiety under control and your life back in your own hands.
References
- Depression and Anxiety Among US Children and Young Adults. JAMA Network Open. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.36906
- Anxiety, Worry, and Grief in a Time of Environmental and Climate Crisis: A Narrative Review. Annual Review of Environment and Resources. org/10.1146/annurev-environ-012220-022716