So many people with anxiety come in to see me for help yet they are a little bit skeptical because they have tried so many things that have not worked for them. Let me share with you why we are different and what makes our approach so powerful.

Firstly I want to say being a little bit skeptical can be a healthy quality. Skepticism is not good or bad in itself, it only becomes destructive when it’s always ‘on’ and therefore someone has an inability to have an open mind for change, especially when change is exactly what they need. Why do so many Dr’s, healers, psychologists, body workers, breathing clinics and therapists fail to treat anxiety effectively?

{Please keep in mind that this commentary is coming from my clinical experience, working in private practice. The clients who come to see me have almost always tried multiple things first and none have worked. So from my perspective, it is hard for me to see them as being effective. I am sure they all get some great results, it’s just I have never come across it. Often at best my clients found it helpful at managing the anxiety but not resolving it.}

The are a few reasons why so many people get such miserable results when they try to treat anxiety. But before I can explain why and share with you how we are different I need to explain how I see anxiety.

The experience of anxiety is the body being in the fight or flight or survival mode. When we are in survival mode we are operating from a different part of the brain and this creates sensations which we label as anxiety.

The metaphor that I like the most is that of a glass. It has a certain capacity to store water in the same way we have a capacity to store stress in our bodies. If we pour too much water in the glass it overflows. Stress is what fills the glass. If we, in our own lives get to the overflow point from too many (or too high intensity of) life traumas and stresses symptoms of anxiety begin to manifest. Now this experience for many can feel like it comes out of nowhere, it may seem random and often we are unconscious if there are any triggers (I would say that there almost always are triggers). Also the first experience of anxiety for so many people can be so scary if it manifests as a panic attack (this is not the case for everyone with anxiety) that we then begin to fear having another panic attack and now our thoughts of having another panic attack is actually creating more stress and so more drips are filling the glass. This creates more overflow and the cycle is now set in motion. When the glass is overflowing our fight or flight reaction is stuck on!