When Anxiety Runs Deeper: Understanding Therapy and EMDR

Reducing Anxiety Through Therapy 

Anxiety can be tough, and therapy provides a space to talk through your stressors, learn and practice new skills, gently lessen avoidance, and identify your needs. There are many different types of evidence-based therapy for treating anxiety, such as mindfulness, CBT, ACT, DBT, and so on. These types of therapy are often the first in line, used when someone is seeking therapy for the first time. The goal of these therapies is to manage or reduce symptoms, change behavior, and building better skills. 

Working Through Anxiety with EMDR

While many people benefit from traditional talk therapy, I speak with people regularly who feel like they need something different than skill building or talking through their problems. Many people have incredible insight into their patterns and "intellectualize" things, making talk therapy not always the most effective route. EMDR provides another way.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based therapy for treating anxiety, particularly anxiety that is part of a pattern and that skills just don't seem to reach. Examples of this includes relational anxiety, emotionally "stuck" memories, negative views of oneself, and negative relational experiences such as shame, embarrassment, feeling rejected, or overwhelm. EMDR works through what therapists call "negative self beliefs", which are negative views/beliefs someone holds about themselves. Examples of negative self beliefs are "I'm not good enough", "I am worthless", "my needs are less important than others' needs", "I'll never get better", "something is wrong with me", "I always mess up", and the list goes on. 

EMDR helps people reprocess emotionally "stuck" patterns or negative memories, reconnect with their confidence, and have a healthy, stable, and realistic view of themselves.

I prefer to take a non-pathologizing approach and focus on building a positive, therapeutic relationship with you, making therapy an emotionally safe place.