What is anxiety?

When the nervous system interprets something as unsafe, it activates a fear response — it’s like the alarm bell going off in our bodies. And when the alarm sounds, you might kick into action; run away; or feel stuck in high alert, too frozen to do anything at all (our fight/flight/freeze response). 

When we’re actually in danger, this fear response is super helpful. It does a good job at keeping us safe. But sometimes our body’s alarm bell can get stuck in the “on” position, and this is anxiety. 

Anxiety is often influenced by deeply held beliefs about safety. Because assessing danger is imperative for our survival, these beliefs aren’t stored in the logical mind. Logic takes time, and when our brain is trying to figure out if our life is on the line time isn’t something we have. Instead, these beliefs are stored in the faster system of implicit memory, which is comprised of our emotions, sensations, and physical impulses related to our past experiences.

Implicit safety-related beliefs can contribute to anxiety by triggering fear responses disproportional to the situations we’re in, or sounding the alarm when there’s actually no threat at all. 

How does therapy help anxiety?

My approach to therapy targets beliefs about safety and danger that are held in implicit memory. We’ll discover tools and strategies to cope with anxiety, and we’ll also work at shifting those beliefs, recalibrating your body’s alarm. 

When your anxiety is a response to real-time threats, we’ll explore ways to listen to the intelligence of that signal without it overpowering you.