Support for Anxiety in Armadale
What’s Here
Information about anxiety, including its symptoms, potential treatments, useful tips you can try now and into the future, and how to seek professional help.
OverviewAnxiety is more than nervousness, and it does not always have an obvious cause. While stress will often ease once the pressure has passed, anxiety can remain, bringing persistent worry, a sense that something may go wrong, or thoughts that are difficult to step away from.
It can also be felt physically, through restlessness, tension, difficulty concentrating or a racing heart. When anxiety begins to shape your choices or interfere with everyday life, it may be worth taking a closer look at what is keeping it going.
Despite anxiety conditions affecting 1 in 4 Australians, many still feel alone in their experience.
The symptoms of anxiety can differ from person to person, and often build slowly over time. This can make it hard to know when to seek support.
You might notice:
worry that circles without reaching an answer
a sense of dread, fear or unease that is difficult to shake
racing thoughts, catastrophising or repeatedly imagining what could go wrong
restlessness, irritability or feeling constantly on edge
a racing heart, tight chest, shallow breathing, headaches or hot and cold flushes
difficulty sleeping or switching off
panic attacks or sudden surges of intense fear
avoiding work, social situations, travel or everyday responsibilities because they feel too difficult
Anxiety can look different from one person to the next. For some, it is loud and immediate. For others, it appears as overthinking, perfectionism, reassurance-seeking or quietly arranging life around what feels safest. The common thread is that anxiety begins to take up more room than you want it to.
What can anxiety feel like?
What can anxiety feel like?
Working with a psychologist can offer space to understand what is happening and explore practical, evidence-based ways of responding. Havenbrook Psychology provides anxiety therapy in Armadale and via Telehealth across Australia.
How can we help?
Treatments for Anxiety
Though living with anxiety often feels like there are problems around every there is help available and a wide range of evidence-based treatments for anxiety conditions.
Anxiety therapy at Havenbrook Psychology is collaborative and shaped around your experiences, needs and goals. You can work with your mental health professional to find the most effective treatments for you:
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) explores the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviour. It can help you recognise patterns such as catastrophising, persistent worry and avoidance, then practise more balanced and workable ways of responding. Where appropriate, gradual exposure may be used to help you approach feared situations carefully, at a pace that feels manageable.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) takes a different view of difficult thoughts and feelings. Rather than spending all your strength trying to silence anxiety, ACT helps you loosen its hold, make room for discomfort and keep moving towards the relationships, work and experiences that matter to you.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) can be useful when anxiety arrives quickly or feels difficult to contain. Mindfulness, distress-tolerance and emotion-regulation skills may help you stay present, understand what your nervous system is doing and respond with greater steadiness.
Havenbrook Psychology offers anxiety treatment with a psychologist in Armadale, Melbourne, as well as Telehealth appointments across Australia.
Tips and Tricks
Responding to your anxious mind
Step back from anxious thoughts
When a thought feels convincing, describe it as a thought:
I am having the thought that I will make a mistake.
This small shift can make it easier to observe what your mind is saying without becoming completely absorbed in it. You can then bring your attention back to the room, the person in front of you or the task you have chosen to complete.
Drop into your body
Try slowing your breathing without forcing it. Breathe gently into your abdomen, then allow the breath to leave at an unhurried pace. Continue for a minute or two if it feels comfortable.
If focusing on your breathing feels uncomfortable, press your feet into the floor and notice the support beneath you. Feel the weight of your body in the chair and let your shoulders lower. The task is simply to return your attention to what your body can feel here and now.
Do some of what matters to you
Where it is safe and appropriate, choose a manageable step towards something that is important to you. Keep the step small enough to be realistic.
It’s easy to feel out of control in life when dealing with an anxiety disorder. Regular sleep, movement, meals and time with supportive people can improve how well you manage stress, and remind you of what you’re capable of.
Work out what kind of worry you are having
Is this worry real right now? Or is this a worry about something that could occur in the future?
If the problem is happening now, decide whether there is an action you can take. Write down the next step and when you will do it. If the worry is hypothetical, acknowledge that there is nothing to solve at present. Trying to find a definite answer to an uncertain question usually creates more questions.
When to seek professional help
It may be worth seeking support when fear, anxiety or worry has become persistent, difficult to control or out of proportion to the situation. You may notice significant distress, increasing avoidance, or an impact on your work, study, relationships, sleep or other areas of daily life.
A psychologist can assess your symptoms in the context of your health, experiences and circumstances, and consider whether they are consistent with an anxiety disorder or may be better explained by something else. From there, you can develop a treatment approach suited to the particular form your anxiety takes.
Claire Landsberry
General Psychologist
Claire is an AHPRA-registered Psychologist, and is dedicated to helping individuals lead full and valued lives.
Looking to speak to someone about support for Anxiety?