Anxiety is something that is inherent in all mammals and it speaks to the survival mechanisms that we all have within us when we are dealing with a perceived threat. Think of rabbits in the wild when a predator approaches them, they experience high levels of anxiety to try to survive or prevent the upcoming attack. All humans experience anxiety as well when faced with a real or perceived threat to their life. Whether it be heights, natural disasters, drowning, etc. In the human realm, we are also social creatures; this is where social anxiety comes into play. It’s not about having the anxiety that your survival is at risk, but sometimes a “social death” can be worse than a real death.
There are many things throughout our childhood and lives that cause us anxiety from social interactions, to inherited anxiety through generations, near-death experiences and simply just the fear of all of the different things in this world that can easily kill us. Anxiety is a type of energy that is very contagious and sometimes anxiety can be learned behaviour from a parent, other family member or friend. Sometimes it’s also the many responsibilities of being an adult and the never-ending to-do list that just piles on more and more anxiety and stress. In the Western world, there are a lot of expectations put on us; we have bills to pay, things to do and only so much time within a day. It can get very tough not to be completely debilitated by these experiences and phenomena and life can start to feel overwhelming.
Depending on where your anxiety comes from, I can tell you that there’s hope. Many people who experience anxiety want a magic cure and often resort to taking psychotropic medications to ease their tensions or self-medicating with drugs or alcohol. While that may seem like the only solution to some, there are healthy and natural ways to learn how to cope and heal. Some examples can be learning more mindfulness and incorporating meditation, breathwork and/or yoga. CBT, EMDR and somatic therapy are known as being the most helpful therapies for the experiences of anxiety. Today we will focus on EMDR for anxiety.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and is a well-known trauma therapy. It uses eye motions to desensitize the discomfort and to reprogram the negative beliefs we hold about ourselves into positive beliefs. Whatever your cause of anxiety is, EMDR can help process the learned behaviours, reprogram DNA, release the trauma causing the anxiety and help clients become more and more their true selves. It gives clients the space to process all of the experiences, memories and beliefs they hold about themselves that are contributing to their anxiety, whether it’s obvious or not. Sometimes anxiety comes from childhood hyper-vigilance around a parent. It can come from being pushed constantly to over-achieve. It can even be as simple as being raised by a parent who’s constantly anxious and worried about the worst scenarios.
EMDR is always such an interesting tool in this way, as we can dig deep beneath the surface of the iceberg of what is causing the experience of anxiety. If this sounds interesting to you, I would love to work with you!