Struggling with Anxiety?

Anxiety is ongoing fear and nervousness that is difficult to control and disrupts life. It can take many forms, from fear of social interaction, to panic episodes, to flashbacks and nightmares indicative of PTSD. Living with chronic anxiety can lead to numerous physical problems, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), gastric reflux, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, chronic pain and migraines. Roughly 70% of the time, anxiety accompanies depression; the two often run together.

There are restorative practices that can help manage anxiety, such as meditation/mindfulness, massage, and deep breathing. However, just like with depression, the why’s behind anxiety need to be dealt with in order to experience lasting relief. Anxiety has been linked to the effects of trauma, which is defined as any stressful event that is prolonged, overwhelming, or unpredictable.

Experiencing trauma impacts our protective brain mechanisms. It’s as if our brains bookmark traumatic experiences so that if we encounter any similar event in the future, we’ll be prepared and ready to react. Unfortunately, the net result of our brain’s protective mechanisms can be ongoing anxiety, the overwhelming fear of the “what ifs” of life.

Anxiety often takes the form of “what if” as our brains try to anticipate the worst case scenario. Trauma teaches us that such worst case scenarios are possible. Effective treatment for anxiety includes treatment for trauma. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a research-based, effective trauma treatment that helps the brain to process through traumatic events, so that our brains no longer ruminate on the “what ifs” that lead to anxiety. For more information on EMDR, see our page and the instructive video.