Anxiety / OCD

ANXIETY / PANIC

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud became more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anais Nin

Life can be stressful. Some of us go along facing life’s challenges just fine, and then – suddenly – we might move through a phase in our lives that is particularly overwhelming. Perhaps there is a major life transition. Perhaps there have been a series of stressors. Or perhaps the feeling of anxiety has been slowly building over a period of time.

Maybe anxiety shows up in our work life – when you give a presentation or need to have a difficult conversation with a certain team member. Maybe anxiety shows up in your athletic life – when you engage in a sporting event or participate in a race. Maybe anxiety shows up in your family life – with lots of worries about certain members of your family – such as your children or your elderly parents.

Whatever the cause, Internal Family Systems combined with EMDR and mindfulness-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (MB-CBT) can be helpful. With a non-judgmental attitude as our foundation, I can help you get to know the different parts of you that carry anxiety, understand their messages, and help you unburden the extreme beliefs, thoughts and feelings they carry. Then, we can explore the re-harmonization of your inner world and support the corresponding neural pathway changes, so you can experience your true nature. So you can experience the inherent sense of calm, compassionate curiosity that is your birthright. When you come from this spacious place inside of you more and more, you’ll experience an increased sense of flow in more areas of your life.

If you’re struggling with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), we can also explore Exposure-Response Prevention (ERP) – an evidenced-based CBT treatment for OCD. We can create a desensitization protocol together, and role play successive approximations to the feared experience to practice Exposure and Response Prevention.

For all anxiety-related issues, it can also be helpful to explore Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing(EMDR) as part of the treatment plan, to process the anxiety on a neural level, and address any underlying traumatic events that might be at the root of the anxiety.