Anxiety: Your Journey from Turmoil to Tranquility

If you’ve ever felt the grip of anxiety, you know this feeling isn’t just a fleeting moment; it’s an experience that can echo through every aspect of your life. You’re not alone in this.

At Marsh Psychotherapy, we see you and understand the depth of your struggle. Led by Dr. Catherine Marsh, our team is here to guide you from the chaos of uncontrolled worry and fear to a place of calm strength.

We’re committed to transforming these overwhelming waves into ripples that no longer dictate the course of your life.

Doesn’t Everyone Get Stressed? How Do I Know if it’s Anxiety?

It’s true that stress and worry are normal parts of life.

Everyone experiences them, and they can even be beneficial in small doses, helping us to react to dangers or prepare for upcoming challenges. However, when these feelings become overwhelming, constant, and disruptive, they may cross into the realm of clinical anxiety or even panic. Some key differentiators include:

Symptoms of Anxiety

  • Intensity and Persistence: Normal worries are generally temporary and specific to certain stressors. Anxiety, however, is more pervasive and persistent, often lingering even in the absence of direct stressors.

  • Physical Symptoms Beyond Normal Stress: Anxiety can lead to chronic symptoms such as restlessness, fatigue, or sleep disturbances.

  • Impact on Daily Functioning: While everyday worries don’t significantly impede your life, anxiety disorders can disrupt your ability to work, maintain relationships, or carry out daily activities comfortably.

  • Excessive and Uncontrollable Worry: If your worries are difficult to control and consume a large part of your day, it’s indicative of an anxiety disorder.

Woman feeling anxious in need of a therapist for anxiety and panic

Unraveling the Roots of Anxiety with IPT

We believe that understanding the deeper psychological roots of anxiety is key to effective treatment.

  • Exploring Relational Patterns: IPT provides insights into how your relationships, both past and present, shape your experiences of anxiety. By identifying and understanding these patterns, we can pinpoint triggers and stressors, leading to more targeted and meaningful therapeutic interventions.
  • Interpreting Emotional Responses: Through IPT, we explore the complex emotional responses that contribute to your anxiety. This exploration fosters a deeper self-awareness, helping you recognize how specific feelings and reactions are linked to these conditions.
  • Transforming Interpersonal Dynamics: Managing anxiety often involves reevaluating and altering how you interact with others and how you perceive yourself. IPT offers strategies to modify these dynamics, paving the way for healthier interactions and stress responses.
  • Utilizing the Therapeutic Relationship: A critical aspect of IPT is using the therapeutic relationship as a reflective tool. For example, if discussing certain topics elicits strong reactions, we explore these responses in the context of the therapist-client interaction. This exploration helps you understand and change deeply ingrained interpersonal behaviors, such as projecting past judgments onto current interactions, leading to insights about broader patterns in your life.
Middle aged woman doing deep breathing exercises to help with anxiety and panic

Clinicians with Diverse Skill Sets

In addition to our practice’s focus on Interpersonal Therapy, our clinicians are trained in a number of other highly effective, evidence-based techniques. These include:

Young woman on the couch having an online therapy session in New York
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT helps you identify and challenge negative thought patterns and behaviors that contribute to anxiety. By developing healthier thinking habits, you can significantly reduce anxiety and improve your overall well-being.
  • Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP): ERP is particularly effective for treating anxiety and panic disorders. This therapy involves gradually exposing you to feared situations while preventing your usual response, helping you build tolerance and reduce anxiety over time.
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): DBT combines cognitive-behavioral techniques with mindfulness practices to help you manage emotions, reduce anxiety, and improve interpersonal relationships. It focuses on building skills in distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and effective communication.

Harnessing the Power of Creativity in Healing

At Marsh Psychotherapy, we integrate Creative Arts Therapy as a vital component in treating anxiety. This form of therapy, encompassing visual arts, drama, and dance, offers a unique and effective way to address the complexities of these conditions.

  • Expressing the Inexpressible: Often, feelings associated with anxiety are challenging to articulate with words. Creative Arts Therapy provides an alternative means of expression. Through artistic creation, you can externalize and visualize your emotions, leading to a deeper understanding and processing of these feelings.

  • A Path to Emotional Release: Engaging in creative activities can be incredibly cathartic. The act of creating art, whether it’s painting, sculpting, or performing, allows for a release of pent-up emotions, offering relief from the intense internal pressure that anxiety can create.

  • Building Self-Confidence and Agency: Anxiety can often leave individuals feeling powerless. Creative Arts Therapy empowers you by putting you in control of the creative process. This empowerment can translate into other areas of your life, helping to build self-confidence and a sense of agency.

Deepening Self-Understanding and Support

Our therapists are trained to delve into your personality and defense mechanisms, uncovering deeply ingrained vulnerabilities that may be at the root of your anxiety. In addition to our foundational approaches, our therapists are specialists in other evidence-based treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing, Humanistic Therapy, and more.

Whether it’s addressing deep-seated patterns or providing immediate support and coping strategies, our team is equipped to tailor the therapy to your unique needs.

Woman with hands on heart trying to regulate anxiety

Building Resilience Against Anxiety

Our goal at Marsh Psychotherapy is to build long-term resilience.

We focus on equipping you with skills to manage stress, respond to anxiety-provoking situations effectively, and maintain a sense of control over your emotions.

Our therapists work collaboratively with you to develop coping strategies that you can use outside of therapy sessions, ensuring sustainable progress.

What People Are Saying

“It felt like we really rolled up our sleeves and delved  into my thoughts, beliefs, fears together. It was a truly collaborative experience.”

Take the First Step

If you’re struggling with anxiety, remember that you’re not alone, and help is available. At Marsh Psychotherapy, we’re dedicated to guiding you towards a life of calmness, control, and peace. Reach out to us to start your journey towards recovery and empowerment.