087 063 0948 info@anxietyireland.ie

“Anxiety’s like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t
get you very far.” ~Jodi Picoult

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“Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you
respond to it.” ~Dorothy M. Neddermeyer

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“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” ~Arthur Somers Roche

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“People tend to dwell on negative things more than good things. So the mind becomes obsessed with negative things, with judgements, guilt and anxiety produced by thoughts about the future and so on.” ~Eckhart Tolle

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Why Are We Here?

Our Vision

Covid-19 update: Anxiety Ireland remain open to providing all our clients with therapy and psychological services throughout the current public health emergency. All our counselling sessions are online video sessions and phone sessions. 

For individuals who would like to self fund for online or phone support during this time please feel free to get in touch today.

Anxiety Ireland provides information, encouragement and expert psychotherapy to those suffering with anxiety in Ireland. Our founder Michael Ledden MIACP, MIAHIP, 087 06 0948, set up Anxiety Ireland with the goal to reach out to people with anxiety and to inform and empower them to change. We provide online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and connect clients to our  network of accredited therapists to manage, transform and overcome their anxiety.

We set up Anxiety Ireland because in our consulting rooms we meet and encounter a silent anxious epidemic happening every day in Ireland. We want an Ireland where in this epidemic people no longer must suffer in silence. Our vision is of a time where anxiety is talked about openly, accepted, and understood and where treatment is easily obtained.

We continue to practice helping those who suffer with General Anxiety, OCD, Panic Attacks, Social Anxiety Disorder, Phobias and PTSD. Call or email us today to explore how we or one of our experts could help you overcome what troubles you! 087 063 0938/ info@anxietyireland.ie. Get Anxiety help here!

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety Comes in Many Shapes and Forms

Anxiety comes in many shapes and forms and doesn’t just strike one kind of person, it strikes people of all ages, genders and ethnic groups. No child is born with anxiety. Partially, this is determined by biology but there are also other factors that can greatly affect a person’s propensity to anxiety. What the infant learns from society, conditioning, parenting, and experiencing influences a unique development in everyone. No one also wakes up one day completely anxious for the first time, unless a serious incident or series of incidents put enough stress on them to make them go to an anxious place. Generally, anxieties are built up over time and as such can be treated over time.

Anxiety has a function for humans, it is our natural stress and nervous symptom response to danger. This has been critical in terms of our survival as a species. Imagine stepping in front of a bus, or being chased by a tiger. These events trigger the central nervous system, particularly the sympathetic nervous system, into a response that floods the body with hormones that induce anxiety.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety Comes in Many Shapes and Forms

Anxiety comes in many shapes and forms and doesn’t just strike one kind of person, it strikes people of all ages, genders and ethnic groups. No child is born with anxiety. Partially, this is determined by biology but there are also other factors that can greatly affect a person’s propensity to anxiety. What the infant learns from society, conditioning, parenting, and experiencing influences a unique development in everyone. No one also wakes up one day completely anxious for the first time, unless a serious incident or series of incidents put enough stress on them to make them go to an anxious place. Generally, anxieties are built up over time and as such can be treated over time.

Anxiety has a function for humans, it is our natural stress and nervous symptom response to danger. This has been critical in terms of our survival as a species. Imagine stepping in front of a bus, or being chased by a tiger. These events trigger the central nervous system, particularly the sympathetic nervous system, into a response that floods the body with hormones that induce anxiety.

How Does it Make You Feel?

You Will Feel a Sense of Danger

When under physical threat your body automatically will respond to the sense of danger. Blood will flow into your major muscles as you prepare for fight or flight. Your stomach may rumble as that blood flows away from it. You may feel tension in the shoulders, jaw and face. Your thinking will speed up as a means of escape. Now just imagine feeling stressed or anxious in work, the body reacts in the same way as if danger is in the vicinity. You will have the same physiological response.

Normally when a fear response is evoked, it goes away when the physical or imagined danger passes. This is when the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in and releases hormones that level us out from this heightened state. However, what if we are triggered by something constant in our environment or even if we don’t know what is triggering us? If the thing that triggers us is so everyday that we can’t help but be faced with it?

What if what makes us anxious is our emotions, our bodies, our living situation, our fears in our relationships? Then we end up hijacked into a heightened state all the time. When the central nervous system is hyper vigilant to threats we end up in the stressed anxious state all the time, held back and miserable.

You feel what you think?

How Beliefs Are Crucial To Anxiety

When under physical threat your body automatically will respond to the sense of danger. Blood will flow into your major muscles as you prepare for fight or flight. Your stomach may rumble as that blood flows away from it. You may feel tension in the shoulders, jaw and face. Your thinking will speed up as a means of escape. Now just imagine feeling stressed or anxious in work, the body reacts in the same way as if danger is in the vicinity. You will have the same physiological response.

Normally when a fear response is evoked, it goes away when the physical or imagined danger passes. This is when the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in and releases hormones that level us out from this heightened state. However, what if we are triggered by something constant in our environment or even if we don’t know what is triggering us? If the thing that triggers us is so everyday that we can’t help but be faced with it?

What if what makes us anxious is our emotions, our bodies, our living situation, our fears in our relationships? Then we end up hijacked into a heightened state all the time. When the central nervous system is hyper vigilant to threats we end up in the stressed anxious state all the time, held back and miserable.

Why does it happen?

Beliefs are Very Important with Anxiety

However, unlike things that are universally, physically dangerous to humans, what makes people stressed and anxious can be quite relative to each of us. Few people like to look stupid in front of others, but we all may dislike public embarrassment for different reasons. The reason for this is that we each take a different mental approach to the situations that face us. These differences are based on our unique world views, experiences and fears, which constitute our beliefs.

Beliefs are very important with anxiety. Anxieties often build because our beliefs begin to change over time or become more extreme. That which was once seen as harmless, and maybe still is to others, becomes unbearable for us. We can feel like people are looking at us, thinking things about us or would judge us if they knew certain things about us.

Thoughts like “Things have to be so so or else”, “If I get embarrassed it will be so awful that I won’t be able to cope”, “The street is so dangerous you could get killed at anytime” or “Every time these attacks happen I feel like I’m dying” are all just beliefs and not facts, but they can be profoundly physically upsetting.

Distorted Thinking styles are also extremely important for how we deal with and suffer from anxiety. Distorted thinking styles include: Filtering, Polarized Thinking, Over-generalization, Mind Reading, Catastraphizing, Personalization, Control Fallacies, The Fallacy of Fairness, Emotional Reasoning, The Fallacy of Change, Global Labeling, Blaming, Shoulds, Being Right and Heaven’s Rewards Fallacy.

Why does it happen?

Beliefs are Very Important with Anxiety

However, unlike things that are universally, physically dangerous to humans, what makes people stressed and anxious can be quite relative to each of us. Few people like to look stupid in front of others, but we all may dislike public embarrassment for different reasons. The reason for this is that we each take a different mental approach to the situations that face us. These differences are based on our unique world views, experiences and fears, which constitute our beliefs.

Beliefs are very important with anxiety. Anxieties often build because our beliefs begin to change over time or become more extreme. That which was once seen as harmless, and maybe still is to others, becomes unbearable for us. We can feel like people are looking at us, thinking things about us or would judge us if they knew certain things about us.

Thoughts like “Things have to be so so or else”, “If I get embarrassed it will be so awful that I won’t be able to cope”, “The street is so dangerous you could get killed at anytime” or “Every time these attacks happen I feel like I’m dying” are all just beliefs and not facts, but they can be profoundly physically upsetting.

What Can we do about it?

Challenge Those Beliefs

The thoughts and pictures we paint in our head can have a massive effect on our bodies, emotions and behaviors. If you conducted an experiment by showing someone a series of upsetting images or videos, while hooking them up to a machine to check their stress levels, you would find a noticeable rise in their heart rate, stress hormones and general anxiety.

The same thing is happening when you have anxious thoughts, predictions and beliefs about yourself, others and the world. Thoughts and beliefs come into all levels of anxiety, whether that is ruminating about the past, misinterpreting what’s happening in the present or predicting some terrible imagined future. Emotions are crucial to anxiety too. If we have a high level of fear, sadness, anger, etc. and we are uncomfortable with this, then we convert that to anxiety, to thinking and to nervousness. Many of us never learn to tolerate our feelings.

But have you ever believed something and then changed your mind when you get more facts or evidence? Have you ever gotten more comfortable with something with practice? Probably yes! Just like the time you changed your mind about something, realised you were wrong when you got more evidence or became more comfortable exercising or driving, the same can happen with your anxiety. When you get anxiety help to challenge those beliefs, you gain comfort and knowledge of your emotions, body, mind and actions. Then anxiety lessens.

What can we do about it?

Challenge Those Beliefs

The thoughts and pictures we paint in our head can have a massive effect on our bodies, emotions and behaviors. If you conducted an experiment by showing someone a series of upsetting images or videos, while hooking them up to a machine to check their stress levels, you would find a small rise in their heart rate, stress hormones and general anxiety.

The same thing is happening when you have anxious thoughts, predictions and beliefs about yourself, others and the world. Thoughts and beliefs come into all levels of anxiety in some way, whether that is thinking about the past or some imagined future.

But have you ever believed something and then changed your mind when you get more facts or evidence? Probably yes! Just like the time you changed your mind about something, realised you were wrong when you got more evidence or became more comfortable exercising or driving, the same can happen with your anxiety. When you get anxiety help to challenge those beliefs, you gain comfort and knowledge of your emotions, body, mind and actions. Then anxiety lessens.

Where Do I Start?

You’re Not Alone

Information is so important for you to understand that you are not alone or going crazy. Making sure you look after your body correctly by what you put into it, how you relax and rest it and how you connect with it. Good behaviors help keep us well, as does minding and respecting our emotions.

Sometimes Counselling and Psychotherapy is a wonderful way of getting help when anxieties overrun us, despite our best efforts. Anxiety Ireland is here to give information and support, to normalize talking about anxiety and, for those who need it, to arrange counselling for them with trained professionals.

To chat with a professional click on Anxiety Help. Michael can be contacted on 087 063 0948 for a consultation or to chat about who in the country could work with you to transform your anxiety.

Where Do I Start?

You’re Not Alone

Information is so important for you to understand that you are not alone or going crazy. Making sure you look after your body correctly by what you put into it, how you relax and rest it and how you connect with it. Good behaviors help keep us well, as does minding and respecting our emotions.

Sometimes Counselling and Psychotherapy is a wonderful way of getting help when anxieties overrun us, despite our best efforts. Anxiety Ireland is here to give information and support, to normalize talking about anxiety and, for those who need it, to arrange counselling for them with trained professionals.

To chat with a professional click Anxiety Help. Michael can be contacted on 087 063 0948 for a consultation or to chat about who in the country could work with you to transform your anxiety.

Our Specialities

We can help in many areas. Get in touch for a free consultation.
GENERALISED ANXIETY DISORDER

SOCIAL ANXIETY

PHOBIAS

POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER

PANIC ATTACKS

Find Out More

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Who We Are

Anxiety Ireland is a part of Abate Counselling and EAP Ltd.

Michael Ledden

Founder, Manager and Clinical Lead

Michael is our Founder and main Psychotherapist. He is fully accredited with the Irish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP) and the Irish Association of humanistic and integrative psychotherapy (IAHIP).

Michael is the chief blog writer and manager for the page and does press and interviews on behalf of the service . He sees clients in Glasnevin, Dublin 11 and online and charges €60.00 per session. Michael uses CBT integrated with his personal style of counselling. Available for one to one CBT counselling and psychotherapy.

Peter Ledden

Supervising Director

Peter serves as a main advisor to Anxiety Ireland and is the Managing Director at Abate Counselling & EAP Limited. He is a registered Psychiatric Nurse, IACP, Accredited Psychotherapist and Supervisor and has worked with individuals and groups in the public and private sector for thirty years.

He has undergone training in Stress Management, CISM, Counselling and Psychotherapy, Bereavement Counselling, Mediation, Personnel Management and Health Services Management.

Work With Us

If you are a fully accredited counsellor/psychotherapist working with anxiety in the Republic of
Ireland and feel you would have something to offer our panel of counsellors, feel free to email info@abatecounselling.com or call us on (01) 830 1699 to chat with Michael.

Information on referrals, fees, standards, philosophy and ethics available on request.