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Based in Beaverton, Oregon, serving clients across Oregon and Washington, in person and online.
PSYCHOEDUCATION
Anxiety
Anxiety is more than feeling afraid or stressed.
Anxiety often lives
in uncertainty
and anticipation.
Fear usually has something specific to point to. For example, there is a threat and your mind and body respond to it. Stress also has an identifiable source: a deadline, a difficult conversation, too many demands and not enough time.
Anxiety can be less straightforward. It often lives in uncertainty and anticipation. What if something goes wrong? What if I can't handle it? What am I missing? Your mind may start trying to solve problems that haven't happened yet or even try to prevent them from happening at all.
Anxiety can show up in different ways including:
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Worry that feels difficult to turn off
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Feeling nervous, restless, or on edge
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Irritability
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Difficulty concentrating or staying focused
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Muscle tension
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Avoiding situations, people, decisions, or experiences
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Replaying conversations or decisions
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Feeling like you always need to be prepared for what might happen next
Why does anxiety happen?
There isn't one explanation for anxiety.
Our brains are very good at learning what might be dangerous and trying to protect us from it. Biology, temperament, past experiences, trauma, current events, relationships, stress, and learned patterns can all play a role.
Sometimes, those protective responses are useful and serve a purpose. Sometimes, these responses stick around long after they're needed. They become so good at protecting us from uncertainty that they also begin limiting our lives.
Avoidance is a good example.
Avoiding something that makes us anxious often brings immediate relief. That relief can teach the brain, Good! We escaped something dangerous. Next time, avoiding it may feel even more necessary. Before long, something that started as a way to feel safer can begin making your world smaller.
This doesn't mean you've done something wrong. It means the strategy worked well enough for your brain to keep using it. But as our lives change, the strategies we learned along the way don't always change with us. Sometimes, we need some help figuring out what still works and what doesn't.
Something that started as a way to feel safer can begin making your world smaller.
Anxiety can show up in more ways than we realize.
Worry that feels
difficult to turn off
Feeling nervous, restless or on edge
Irritability
Difficulty concentrating or staying focused
Muscle tension
Avoiding situations, people, decisions, or experiences
Replaying conversations
Feeling like you always need to be prepared for what might happen
What can therapy do?
What would you choose to do if anxiety was not in control?
At The Eisenmann Clinic, we don't assume the goal is to never feel anxious again. Anxiety is part of being human and, sometimes, it has something important to tell us.
Instead of trying to "fix it," we may start by getting curious about it. What is your anxiety trying to protect you from? What keeps it going? What has it cost you? And what would you choose if anxiety didn't always get the deciding vote?
Therapy may include looking at patterns in thoughts, emotions, and behaviors; learning different ways of responding to uncertainty and discomfort; exploring avoidance; and identifying the values and relationships that matter to you.
Our psychologists draw from evidence-based approaches including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Solution-Focused Therapy, self-compassion, psychoeducation, and humanistic approaches.
The goal isn't to become someone who never feels anxious.
It's to understand yourself and your own needs for safety, clarity, and direction.
The goal isn't to make anxiety disappear.
It’s to understand why anxiety is there, what it’s trying to protect, and what you want to do next.