Anxiety is part of being human. Our bodies and minds are continually responding to what is happening around us and within us. When something feels threatening, uncertain or difficult, our system mobilises to respond.
We might experience anxiety through worry and repetitive thinking, but also through the body — a tightening chest, unsettled stomach, shallow breathing, muscular tension, agitation, vigilance or a sense that something isn't quite right. Anxiety is therefore not simply a problem of thinking. It involves the whole bodymind and the ways we have learned to respond to ourselves, other people and our environment.
Anxiety can become problematic when the intensity or frequency of this activation exceeds our capacity to stay with it. We can become overwhelmed, disconnected from ourselves or increasingly focused on avoiding whatever seems to trigger it.
Our responses don't develop in isolation. Earlier experiences, relationships and the ways we learned to manage emotion can influence how we experience anxiety now. From a relational and somatic psychotherapy perspective, I'm interested not only in what makes you anxious? but also what happens inside you when anxiety arrives? How does your body respond? What do you do with the feeling? What have you learned about fear, uncertainty, reassurance or relying on somebody else?
Understanding these patterns can be more useful than simply trying to make the anxiety disappear.
My approach to anxiety therapy draws on Transactional Analysis, person-centred, relational and somatic psychotherapy. This means paying attention to thoughts and feelings, but also bodily sensations, relationships and patterns that may have developed over time.
The aim isn't necessarily to stop feeling anxious. Anxiety has a function. Instead, psychotherapy can help develop our capacity to recognise activation, understand what might be happening and experience it without becoming overwhelmed by it.
This body-focused, bodymind approach to psychotherapy recognises that anxiety is experienced psychologically, emotionally and physically.
There isn't one technique that works for everybody. It can help to experiment with ways of supporting yourself while anxiety moves through your system. These might include grounding through your senses; feeling your feet and physical contact with the ground; movement or walking; rhythm; humming; noticing your breathing without forcing it; spending time outdoors; connecting with somebody you trust; and noticing and naming bodily sensations.
Sleep, regular eating, physical activity and reducing caffeine or alcohol where you notice they increase activation may also help.
The intention isn't necessarily to shut anxiety down. It can be about finding enough support and grounding to ride the wave of activation and allow your system to settle in its own time.
Sometimes anxiety becomes difficult to manage alone. Psychotherapy offers somewhere to explore what is happening rather than simply trying another technique to suppress it.
I offer psychotherapy for anxiety from my practice near Kelso in the Scottish Borders, as well as online psychotherapy across Scotland, the UK and Europe. If anxiety is affecting your relationships, work or everyday life, you are welcome to contact me to discuss beginning psychotherapy.
BA, Dip. Couns. MNCPS (Accred)
Member EATA, ITAA and STAA
Transactional Analysis Practitioner
