The following cases initials and details have been changed and used with the permission of the former client.
CASE 1
Anxiety about an angry boss
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R.J. worked in a high demond office setting. He was a hard worker but his supervisor was very demanding. He goften spend time in his day double checking his work to ensure he was working successfully.
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Usually, he was able to handle the pressure of the situation, but after a recent performance review he learned his supervisor was not happy about R.J.'s work effort. Now, R. J. was super conscious about how his supervisor viewed his work. He became extremely fearful of making mistakes and turning assignments in late. Being worried and nervous became second nature to him and it make it difficult for him to relax and even sleep. As he was impacted by his body being in this state, it started to impact his concentration. Now, he was really having difficulties completing his work and started making more errors. This is when he contacted us.
We assessed his situation and in our assessment we learned about prior experiences where he described "failures." We learned he was so afraid of ever going through a situation like that, he would avoid ever feeling like that at all costs. We helped to develop a plan where...
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a) he talked about the prior situation and decreased the power of this experience on him
b) changed his thought processes about past and the possibility of present failure
c) helped him learn strategies to assess when he was anxious
d) learn strategies to decrease the intensity of the anxiety.
E) LEarn strategies to calm himself down
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He altered his thoughts and behaviors about his work and his fears of his supervisor over time, and changed how he felt about failure.
CASE 2
Anxiety IN A RELATIONSHIP
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T.R. Has been in a long term relationship with her boyfriend for several years. Although she described a good relationship she has trouble due to certain of his behaviors. She explains he does not discuss problems and has a tendency to avoid dealing with problems. She explains that the situation makes her feel very uneasy and she feels anxious about the distance in the relationship. Since he does not want to talk about problems she does not bring any problems to him and even this is difficult because she feels things do not get resolved (which creates even more anxiety).
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SHe explains she has to pretend things are ok and she always has to avoid even appearing like something is bothering her. She explains that at times she feels resentful towards her boyfriend about the situation and is starting to feel more alone.
We assessed her situation and we learned she grew up in a family that talked about their problems and "got to the bottome" of situations. Her challenges about not knowing how her boyfriend was feeling made her feel uncertain about the relationshiop and this created a great deal of anxiety.
We helped to develop a plan where...
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a) She was able to explore her uncertainities about the relatoinship and learn to soothe her concerns.
b) adapt methods to cope with the anxiety in a practical manner
c) helped her learn strategies to assess when she was anxious
and decrease the intensity of the anxiety.
E) explore how to learn to discuss with him the benefits of discussing problems and create a place where he would feel comfortable confronting problems.
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sHe altered her thoughts and behaviors about her boyfriend's
approach to relationships while learning how to impove their communication.
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CASE 3
Anxiety about what others think
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G. A. Has recently had difficulties connecting with others.
She does not feel comfortable talking to others.
She explains she is very conscious of her behavior in the presence of others.
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After her assessment we learned she tries to figure out what others are thinking about her. Being so aware of how others see her has created a lot of anxiety and made it difficult to be comfortalbe around others. Now that she finds it difficult to be comfortalbe in front of others even thinking about talking to others creates anxiety for the G. A.
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been in a long term relationship with her boyfriend for several years. Although she described a good relationship she has trouble due to certain of his behaviors. She explains he does not discuss problems and has a tendency to avoid dealing with problems. She explains that the situation makes her feel very uneasy and she feels anxious about the distance in the relationship. Since he does not want to talk about problems she does not bring any problems to him and even this is difficult because she feels things do not get resolved (which creates even more anxiety).
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SHe explains she has to pretend things are ok and she always has to avoid even appearing like something is bothering her. She explains that at times she feels resentful towards her boyfriend about the situation and is starting to feel more alone.
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We helped to develop a plan where...
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a) She was able to explore what was guiding her fears about what people thought about her.
B) learn methods to calm her fears when she is talking to others.
c) helped her to learn strategies to change her expectations about about speaking to others.
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sHe altered her thoughts about what she was thinking others are thinking. The change helped her calm her anxiety and she took a different outlook about speaking to others.