Work Anxiety Counseling and Therapy – San Jose and California
At the Cognitive Behavior Therapy Center, we offer evidence-based counseling and therapy for work anxiety and stress management for professionals, managers and executives. The approach to counseling for work anxiety and stress is compassionate, practical and goal-oriented and will help you make positive changes in your personal and work life. We serves professionals, managers and executives in San Jose/Silicon Valley and other parts of California including San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego. Our Center Director, Laura Johnson, LMFT, LPCC, has worked with more than hundreds of clients with work anxiety and is a specialist in this area with an MBA and first hand business experience.
How is Counseling Different than Coaching for Work Anxiety?
In counseling and therapy, we look at the underlying causes and background issues related to work anxiety and stress. Cognitive Behavior Therapy is past, present and future focused yet goal-oriented and practical. In addition, with a diagnosis of generalized anxiety, you may get some reimbursement for counseling session (but check with your insurance to be sure).
As an added benefit, Laura Johnson has an MBA and 20 years of previous workplace experience in marketing jobs before she became a counselor. She understands workplace issues that affect professionals, managers and executives face from first hand experience. Combining her work experience with her counseling and psychology background, Laura has helped many professional, managers and executives make positive changes at work and cope more effectively with anxiety, worry and stress at work.
In contast, coaching focuses on work issues and how to handle them. Coaching may focus on communication, dealing with interpersonal issues, performance improvement or stress management without getting into why you keep repeating the same patterns. Coaching is never covered by insurance although it might be paid for by your employer if they have a coaching budget. Usually coaching is reserved for executives and that is why workplace coaching is often called executive coaching. Also, you can’t be guaranteed confidentiality if your company sponsors work coaching for you. For these reasons, many people prefer counseling for workplace issues.
What is Work Anxiety?
If you find yourself getting stressed at work, know that it happens to everyone and it’s completely normal. Workplace anxiety is common—about 40% of Americans report feeling stressed during their workday. But if your stress is constant, overwhelming, and prevents you from living your life, it could be an anxiety disorder.
Situations that can cause workplace anxiety could include anxiety about job performance, deadlines, interactions with authority figures or co-workers, giving presentations, participating in work meetings, imposter syndrome, interviewing for a new job and many other work issues. See the list below about Types of Work Anxiety.
While a some work-related stress is normal, excess anxiety may negatively affect your overall health and well-being and cause problems both in your personal and professional life if you’re not able to address it.
Types of Work Anxiety
Below are common types of stressors that can lead to work anxiety.
- Perfectionism
- Performance Anxiety
- Lack of Confidence or Self Doubt
- Trouble with Decision Making
- Public Speaking or Making Presentations
- Participating and Speaking Up in Meetings
- Social Situations at Work such as Networking, Business Social Events, Work Parties, Corporate Retreats, Lunches and Casual Conversations or Small Talk
- Work-Life Balance and Self Care
- Business Travel such as Being Away from Home or Traveling on Airplanes
- Interpersonal Conflict
- Feeling Stagnant or Dissatified in your Job or Not Getting Promoted
- Interacting with Authority Figures
- Developing Effective Relationships with Co-Workers
- Managing Staff, Employees and Cross-Functional Teams
- Imposter Syndrome or Not Feeling Like You Deserve or Have Earned your Career Success
- Interviewing for a New Job Internally or Externally
- Returning to the Workplace after an Extended Period of Time Off
- Toxic Workplace such as a Bad Boss, Poor Corporate Culture, Workplace Bullying or Harassmant
Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Work Anxiety
Cognitive behavior therapy for work anxiety and stress management typically includes some or all of the following cognitive behavior therapy components:
- Education: Learn about the cognitive, physical, and behavioral components of work anxiety, stress and worry, and the difference between helpful and unhelpful strategies you may be using.
- Self-Monitoring: Track the details of your work anxiety and work stress episodes (triggers, thoughts, action responses, and frequency, intensity, duration of anxiety and worry) to identify your patterns and guide the CBT plan.
- Relaxation: Diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, yoga and other relaxation exercises can help relieve some of the physical symptoms that accompany work anxiety. Over time, regular practice of relaxation exercises can bring down your baseline state of work anxiety and work stress so, when you do become physically aroused, it doesn’t feel as intense or out of control.
- Cognitive Strategies: Identify and change the thinking patterns that are maintaining your work anxiety/stress cycle, evaluate work situations more realistically, solve day-to-day work problems, tolerate uncertainty and decrease your use of unhelpful strategies to control negative outcomes. For long term change, you’ll need to test the beliefs you have about the workplace itself — such as “worry leads to greater certainty and control,” “stress is uncontrollable,” and “worry decreases the likelihood of bad events.”
- Behavioral Strategies: In a planned and gradual manner, start confronting your workplace triggers (in your imagination and in real life) to learn to cope better with work situations and to fully experience your emotions. By exposing yourself to your work triggers without avoiding or escaping from them, you will, paradoxically, gain more control over them and it will decrease your work anxiety over time.
How to Get Help for Work Anxiety
The Cognitive Behavior Therapy Center provides therapy and counseling for professionals, managers and executives with work anxiety in San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Orange County, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Roseville, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Cupertino, Los Altos and anywhere in California through our Online Video Program. Click to send an email for more information on how we can help you manage work anxiety.
Silicon Valley Communities We Serve
San Jose Therapy and Counseling • Saratoga Counseling and Therapy • Los Gatos Therapy and Counseling • Monte Sereno Therapy and Counseling • Cupertino Therapy and Counseling • Campbell Therapy and Counseling • Mountain View Therapy and Counseling • Los Altos Therapy and Counseling • Sunnyvale Therapy and Counseling • Santa Clara Therapy and Counseling • Palo Alto Therapy and Counseling
Other California Communities We Serve
San Francisco Therapy Counseling • Sacramento Valley Therapy Counseling • Carmel CA Therapy Counseling • Santa Cruz Therapy Counseling • Monterey Therapy Counseling • Los Angeles Therapy Counseling • San Diego Therapy Counseling • Orange County Therapy Counseling
CONTACT