Case Study - Anxiety
Agatha (name and details changed for confidentiality) is a client I had this year that presented with ongoing anxiety that she had suffered with since a teenager. This is a common issue clients come to me with. However it had become worse for her this year with repeated covid lockdowns and the unknown exacerbating it. She is mid 30s, married, with two kinder-aged children. She had taken time off paid work and normally worked in telco marketing.
A bad day at the time for Agatha included constant self-defeating chatter (thoughts) going on in her mind, at least one panic attack and nausea whenever she needed to speak to new people. I really felt for her, this is no way to live. Firstly we did a couple of talk sessions where she was given the chance to unload a lot of the burden and get thoughts and feelings out in the open. She had never admitted some of these feelings to anybody, not even her husband.
Each session after that she continued to talk worries through, and she did the deep work of being truly honest with herself and with me. And then we also started discussing a healing plan.
We discussed ways of managing her anxiety attacks and nausea in the moment they happen through relaxation techniques. She did some exercises with me and accepted she also needed to do the work at home. Relaxation techniques work, but they do feel foreign to begin with. You can feel like a bit of a weirdo sitting to the side doing some tapping (EFT) at the park! But if you practice them, they feel second nature and become instinctive after a while -and you are not embarrassed about it at all.
Throughout our time together Agatha also did some Q&A exercises with me I have developed for my clients in order to increase self-awareness. This is in order to begin to control the negative thoughts and bring acceptance to the way you are. There is a fair bit of ACTherapy work involved here over time. But you need to trust that it is possible to see change soon if you can catch those thoughts, accept them and let them go, and come up with thoughts to replace the defeating ones and take charge.
As I describe to my clients - its about getting into the drivers seat of your mind. YOU are not your thoughts. There is ego at play here and auto-habits to break down. Remember, thoughts lead to actions so if you can change the self talk you can change your days :)… and with high anxiety it’s day by day to begin with. For some, it is hour by hour goals.
Around session three Agatha shared with me what her ideal day would look like, and how she would like to feel in the future. I recommended journalling to get those visions down and slowly let them boil away, permeate into her mind and eventually those peaceful visions could manifest.
With on-going talk sessions and a multi pronged approach in her plan Agatha began to move past this high anxiety suffering.
Session Progress: At session seven: (17 weeks into therapy)
Agatha had really taken to journalling- even coming up with multiple Mantras. (a powerful tool to beat down negative thoughts)
She had increased her self-awareness around her own anxiety inducing triggers.
She was better able to self-regulate during times of struggle and anxiety.
She said the defeating self talk was no longer dominating her days, she had learned to switch them, and was still practicing this.
Agatha felt strong enough to take a break from our sessions after 7 sessions.
On her healing path