I want to start by saying, feeling judged by your therapist is tough. It's like bringing your vulnerable self to a place you hope is safe, only to feel like you're being sized up. That stings, and it's okay to acknowledge that pain. You're not alone in this.

Let's chat about therapists and judgment for a moment….

Anxiety can serve as a way to keep us safe, as it signals alarm bells to our body that help us avoid or get out of life-threatening situations. The feeling of anxiety can also serve as a tool that helps motivate us to accomplish things that we care about in life. For some of us though, our body regularly rings those anxiety alarms in situations that aren’t necessarily life-threatening throughout the day. Therefore, it makes sense that we find ourselves googling “How to get rid of my anxiety” or have started therapy with the initial hopes of saying goodbye to anxiety altogether. However, since the feeling of anxiety is a part of this whole human experience thing we are all embarking on, what if we gave ourselves a break from working so darn hard to get rid of anxiety, and instead focused on how we could relate to the feeling of anxiety in a different way?

Can grief cause anxiety? Grief related anxiety can present itself as panicking, excessive worrying, difficulty concentrating/focusing, trouble sleeping, restlessness, irritability, and with intrusive thoughts. Feelings of grief and anxiety can manifest in physical symptoms like nausea, stomach aches, fatigue, body aches/back pain, increase in heart rate, and trembling/shaking. Anxiety can also manifest in spiritual ways where you may be questioning reality, have fears around death and what happens next, or simply seeking answers through religious and or spiritual practices to find answers and a sense of hope.