As EMDR therapy is continuing to be researched and practiced we’ve discovered that it’s very effective for a number of mental health problems. As a therapist in Denver I love to use EMDR therapy to help my clients who are struggling with anxiety.

Anxiety Can Be A Symptom of PTSD

One of the reasons EMDR is effective at healing anxiety is because your anxiety may be a symptom of trauma. Anxiety often occurs after a stressful or traumatic event because it can affect your nervous system.

Some of the common types of anxiety include social anxiety such as feeling uncomfortable in groups or social situations, a phobia or fear of something specific, panic attacks or anxiety attacks, and General Anxiety Disorder where you might feel anxious on a very regular basis.

EMDR Can Heal Your Anxiety Triggers

EMDR therapy is a mind and body therapy. This is why it’s so effective at helping you heal from problems with anxiety. There’s 3 important ways that EMDR can help your anxiety. It will help your mind, your body and your emotions correct the problems that are triggering you to feel anxious.

In the right situation your anxiety can be a perfectly normal thing to experience. It becomes a problem when that feeling is too intense or when it’s being triggered at unhelpful times.

One of the unique ways that EMDR therapy can reduce your anxiety is by helping to “re-wire” your nervous system. This happens during the “desensitization” phase as the name of the treatment indicates.

EMDR Can Heal Anxiety In Your Body

One of the ways that anxiety can affect you is by causing some physical disturbance. You might feel your heart start racing when you get anxious, or you could notice a change in your breathing such as shortness of breath. Feeling tension in your muscles is very common with anxiety.

EMDR therapy helps your body deal with the physical sensations that come with anxiety. Once you’ve healed these physiological problems your anxious feelings won’t be triggered in the wrong situations. Often times this can bring some of the biggest relief from anxiety.

EMDR Can Change Your Anxious Thoughts

The other way that you experience anxiety is through your thoughts. Perhaps you’ve noticed that when you get anxious your mind is racing. You might have a difficult time concentrating on something.

These racing thoughts can be what’s keeping you stuck in your anxiety. EMDR therapy doesn’t erase any memories or thoughts, it helps eliminate any of the negative feelings that get triggered by your thoughts.

This way you can think about a certain situation or person and it doesn’t trigger the feelings of anxiety that it used too.

EMDR Therapy Can Heal Your Emotions

An important part of EMDR therapy is helping you overcome the strong emotions that are being triggered easily.

An emotion that is often related to anxiety is fear. Often times people describe the feeling of fear as feeling uncomfortable. Let’s use social anxiety as an example.

Social anxiety is often described as a fear that people are judging you in a negative way. Perhaps you’re in public and for no apparent reason you feel like people are looking at you or thinking negative thoughts about you.

Your fear of being judged is what’s causing you to feel uncomfortable. EMDR therapy will help you process through the strong emotion of fear that’s contributing to your anxiety.