Generalized anxiety therapy in LA
that quiets the worry.

The core of GAD is worry that is excessive, hard to control, and present more days than not for at least six months. It looks a lot like this:

• – Worry about a number of events and activities — work, school, health, family
• – Difficulty controlling the worrying once it starts
• – Restlessness, feeling keyed up or on edge
• – Irritability that feels out of proportion
• – Difficulty concentrating, or your mind going blank
• – Worry that interferes with day-to-day activities
• – A sense of dread with no single, nameable cause

Chronic worry is not only mental. A nervous system braced for danger shows up physically, and looks a lot like this:

• ✓ Extreme fatigue that rest does not fix
• ✓ Muscle tension — shoulders, jaw, stomach
• ✓ Difficulty falling or staying asleep
• ✓ Restless, unsatisfying sleep
• ✓ Feeling keyed up, unable to fully relax
• ✓ Headaches, stomach upset, a racing heart
• ✓ Symptoms that mimic physical illness — worth a checkup

GAD can surface from stressful events in your life — including trauma from early childhood that taught your nervous system to stay on guard.

• Major life stressors — loss, illness, a move, a breakup
• Early childhood trauma, large or small
• A home where vigilance was the only way to feel safe
• Chronic stress that never fully let up
• Anxiety is often the residue of trauma — we treat the root

Changes in how your brain regulates the chemicals and hormones your body releases under stress can play a role in GAD.

• + Nerve cell pathways linking the thinking and emotion centers of the brain
• + Neurotransmitters that carry signals between those nerve cells
• + When those pathways run inefficiently, mood and anxiety problems can follow
• + A stress response that fires too easily and settles too slowly
• + Nervous System-Based Therapy works directly on this regulation

GAD tends to run in families. A diagnosis is more likely if an immediate family member lives with the disorder.

• A parent or sibling with GAD or another anxiety disorder
• Inherited temperament — sensitive, vigilant, quick to brace
• Worry modeled at home and learned early
• Family patterns that reward over-preparing and catastrophizing
• Genes load the gun; therapy changes what fires

The use of — and withdrawal from — addictive substances can trigger a flood of anxiety and make existing GAD worse.

• · Alcohol — calming tonight, anxious tomorrow
• · Caffeine — even coffee can amplify the worry
• · Nicotine and the anxiety of withdrawal
• · Cannabis and stimulants, prescribed or not
• · Self-medicating that quietly feeds the cycle