Anxiety can show up in so many different ways.
There is anxiety that comes from feeling unsafe in the world. You might experience a shame-based anxiety that constantly activates feelings of “not good enough.” Anxiety that appears to cover a sense of guilt. Then, there’s anxiety that results from fears of feeling unseen, unimportant, and unable to have an impact.
There is also performance anxiety, fear of public speaking, or stage fright – that stems from an unmanageable craving for others validation. And, there’s also the anxiety that comes from losing your connection to your sense of self and needing to please or impress others.
Then there are the panic attacks that hide irrational fears. And the phobias that emerge from unique unconscious fears that you don’t even have access to. Or, there’s the generalized sense of anxiety of never really feeling rooted enough.
Needless to say, anxiety can come in many different shapes or forms, with their unique roots or impact on one’s life.
As difficult as anxiety can be, it’s important to remember that anxiety is a normal response to life challenges. When you learn how to cope with anxiety in a healthy, empowered way, you develop resilience. You learn to benefit from anxiety. It’s possible to tune into and trust anxiety’s messages. You can learn how to respond to anxiety in a way that promotes safety, connection, or growth.
Where does anxiety begin?
Emotional trauma is often the root cause of anxiety.
This means that anxiety is a product of your past experiences. When you experience a difficult moment in your current, everyday life, the trauma of your past will emerge as feelings, beliefs, or a bodily sensations. Those old emotional states sourced from the past, when triggered by current events, will emerge and feel every bit as real as when you experienced them in the past.
To find your emotional freedom from anxiety is to heal the underlying trauma.
Yes, you can heal the underlying emotional trauma that is at the root of your anxiety.
An effective, lasting anxiety treatment requires the support of a psychotherapist – who can stay present with you and help you. Help you uncover the unique layers of your emotional traumatic experiences. So you can see and understand how your anxiety manifests in your life and shapes how you feel and think.
It’s important to find a therapist who can create an emotional environment in which your mind and heart can relax and the repressed parts of your being can unfold and show up, so you can start the healing process.
During my seventeen years in private practice I have had the privilege of creating such an environment for countless people. As a professional who specializes in treating early trauma and its lifelong impact, I’d come to believe that trauma requires work form inside-out. But, it can take years to get to the underlying emotional trauma – the root of anxiety. With that awareness, I became interested in finding ways to speed the healing journey. So, I found and pursued EMDR training.
When I had the chance to use EMDR and witness the changes with my clients, I really understood that EMDR is not just another trauma therapy tool. Instead, it’s a systematic, in-depth, complex approach to healing that offers long term healing and builds emotional resilience.
Now, I see EMDR as an essential aspect of trauma treatment. This is trauma healing and resilience building that combines is science, art, and soul work all at the same time.
To do all this, a therapist needs to know when and how to blend EMDR with other psychotherapy approaches. And, how to work together to help you return to a sense of wholeness and recovery.
As an EMDR therapist now, I am honored to participate in the creation of a work of healing art that is grounded in the scientific approach and led by the callings of your soul. When a client comes to me, all of who they are – past, present, and future dreams – is acknowledged and woven into the treatment. We discover and design a path, step by step, based on the unique needs. Honoring your own experience, personality, hopes, dreams, and talents.
Healing anxiety with EMDR gets you to the root of emotional trauma. You can heal from feeling unloved, unseen, or unsafe. This kind of psychotherapy can help you address: feelings of not knowing who you are, not feeling fulfilled by your relationships and experiences, not feeling effective enough, not being able to trust, or not feeling you can have an impact on others.
This is work from inside-out. It doesn’t focus on symptoms. It focuses on healing and building you in a holistic, complete way. This is true healing, resilience, and character building.
If you’d like to know if EMDR is the right treatment for your anxiety symptoms, please contact me for your 15-20 min free phone consultation.
I am Mihaela Ivan Holtz, Doctor in Clinical Psychology. I help creatives and performers with their life struggles, depression, anxiety, performance anxiety, creativity, relationships and love, PTSD, and addictions – to become their own best version. You can read more about Therapy for Creatives here.
