An individual and couples therapist, Randi Rotwein-Pivnick offers effective advice to clients dealing with a wide range of issues.
Good information for anyone experiencing anxiety, she offers the following advice to Anxious Andy:
Dear Randi,
I have struggled on and off throughout my life with anxiety, but have been able to control it.
Recently, however, some things have happened, and I find that my anxiety is out of control. My mind won’t turn off, and most nights I toss and turn as thoughts race through my head. Needless to say, I am exhausted. I am having problems focusing at work. As a result, I am falling behind in my work, which results in even more anxiety. I feel like I am on a bad treadmill and I can’t get off. Help! What can I do to make it stop?
—Anxious Andy in Arizona
Dear Anxious Andy,
Anxiety can happen to anyone, and sometimes, it feels like it is coming out of nowhere and for no reason, which at times, can be very scary (hearts race, hard to catch your breath, racing thoughts, dizziness and sweats). The thing about anxiety is it has to do with control. When you experience anxiety, it is because you don’t feel in control, or you feel out of control.
The more you focus on what you cannot control, the more intense the anxiety becomes. So, the first thing you want to do is focus on what you can control. By doing this, you should start to feel calmer and notice a decrease in the physical affects of anxiety (shortness of breath, racing heart, running thoughts, dizziness and sweating).
Another tool I teach my clients is to find a distraction, so they can’t continue to focus on whatever it was that was creating the anxiety. Sometimes, singing a song or focusing on a project does the job. One of the most effective distraction tools I teach my clients is to count backward from 100, while simultaneously saying the alphabet backwards. So, 99, Z, 98, Y, 97, X and so on. There’s just no way you can focus on anything else while trying to do this task.
Lastly, do some relaxing breathing by simply closing your eyes, and focusing on taking a deep breath in through the nose. Hold for a count of four, and exhale for a count of four. Repeat until you feel a sense of calm and relaxation, and/or a reduction in the anxiety.
If all else fails, you may want to consider some hypnotherapy.
To contact Randi Rotwein-Pivnick, please email her at Emotion4You@aol.com, or call her at (480) 707-8291.