EMDR Therapy for Anxiety: You Actually Can Heal

Anxiety is no fun. It’s paralyzing, demoralizing, embarrassing, and limiting. Anxiety causes us to act differently than we feel (yes, we want to go the party in theory, but there will be people there, so…). Anxiety is actually defined as “the anticipation of a future threat.” Even if that threat never comes to term, the anticipation is actually what “gets” us.

Anxiety Affects Women Disproportionately From Men

According to Harvard Medical School, “about two-thirds of the estimated 40 million adults with anxiety disorders are women.” As women, we are suffering from the physical and mental effects of anxiety disorders, and we need relief. Just choosing to live with anxiety is one way to “deal” with it, but what if there actually are ways to heal from anxiety?

There Are Treatments For Anxiety You May Not Have Heard Of

You may have heard of cognitive behavioral therapy (aka talk therapy), and you also have surely heard of yoga and meditation. But, a therapy that was created in the 1980’s by a psychotherapist seeking a treatment for PTSD has shown some of the most positive and reassuring healing statistics to date. It’s called EMDR therapy or “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing” therapy.

EMDR Therapy. What Is It? How Does It Help?

In brief, EMDR therapy is a therapeutic tool that an EMDR-trained counselor administers in the same setting as talk therapy – typically in an office, on a couch. The therapist then uses guided eye movements, audio sounds or calming tappers while going through memories of discomfort or trauma. Through the process, the brain can be desensitized to past trauma so that it stops affecting present experiences in negative ways. It is not hypnosis in any way, but rather a gentle process that has calming physiological effects.

Tell Anxiety To Kick Rocks!

Anxiety has a pesky way of showing up on the day of our annual review, on the way to work in the morning, moment in dating, and just randomly for no reason at all. There’s healing around the corner.

About Root Counseling in Denver, Colorado

At Root Counseling, we’re done with anxiety. That’s not to say we don’t experience it, or have it creep into our client’s lives, but we’re done letting it control us. We’re ready to start controlling it, by using therapy to actually change the way we think and feel. It’s like exercise for your brain. And, if you’re ready to finally get rid of anxiety, we’re here for you.

Our counseling practice is conveniently located in the Cherry Creek neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. We treat women with anxiety, depression, self-esteem issues, life changes, relationship problems, and a wide range of issues us women experience that just don’t have a “label.” We’re here for you. To schedule a consultation, click here.

Resources:

U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, “A History of Anxiety: from Hippocrates to DSM,” 2015. Sep.

Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School, “Anxiety and Physical Illness,” 2018.