Reframing Anxiety with an Anxiety Therapist in Denver, CO: What Exploring Anxiety Can Reveal
By Jordan Kurtz (she/her), MA, LPCC, Denver Trauma and Anxiety Therapist
Anxiety- an inescapable part of the human experience that we may define differently, but share collectively.
Take a moment to find stillness, perhaps close your eyes, and allow yourself to notice what comes to mind when you reflect on anxiety. Are there body sensations of tightness in your chest or throat, shallow breathing, rapid heartbeat, butterflies in your stomach, restlessness, or muscle tightness?
Maybe thoughts associated with times you have felt anxiety arrived first: This is overwhelming, I’m not good enough, This will never end, Everyone is looking at me.
What about emotions? While anxiety is an emotion in its own right, it is often accompanied by other emotions such as guilt, shame, fear, sadness or anger.
If you have the time and emotional bandwidth, I encourage you to take this experiment of observation one step further.
Call to mind an anxiety provoking experience that would rank around a 3-4 on a scale of 1-10 intensity, 10 being the worst imaginable. Become aware of images, smells, tastes, and sounds that are part of this experience, and all the components we mentioned above: emotions, body sensations, and thoughts. The last step to consider is: What did I do to manage, get rid of, lessen, or work through my anxiety in this experience? In therapy, we may characterize this course of action as an “impulse”, “protection”, or “coping mechanism”.
What is the purpose of mapping out this web of trigger, emotional/physical/intellectual response, and course of action?
When we approach anxiety with slowness, curiosity, and safety, it often illuminates core needs that are unheard or unspoken. Anxiety at its baseline is part of our body’s alarm system. Our body’s evolutionary purpose is to fend off harm to survive. Therefore, when threat enters the picture, parts of our autonomic nervous system activate hormonal release and other bodily functions to encourage us to seek safety. This call and response system is referred to frequently as “the fight or flight response”. In recent decades, therapeutic and scientific studies have also acknowledged and validated “freeze” as part of the fight or flight response system. Read Jasmine’s blog on The Fawn Response to learn more and see if this response resonates with you.
Though unpleasant, anxiety is necessary for our survival. It becomes detrimental when:
Our bodies are in fight-flight-freeze when no threat is present
Our fight-flight-freeze responses are overly responsive to small threats
When these reactions become patterns, our lives feel robbed from us. We cannot feel present, able to connect to others, be productive at work, maintain physical health, or be at peace because our bodies are constantly surveilling for danger or telling us we are still endangered after the threat has passed. In this state of overwhelm, we lean into things that offer any kind of relief, aka, our coping mechanisms. Coping mechanism encompass a wide range of behaviors and are not limited to:
Spending time with loved ones
Exercising
Eating
Sleeping
Screen time
Alcohol or drug use
Self-harm
Working
Sometimes these coping mechanisms alone help us regulate our anxiety and return to a secure state of calm. However, there are many instances – especially when our anxiety is a byproduct of trauma- we need a therapeutic presence to help us process our stuck-ness. That is where anxiety therapy can come into the picture.
How Will Anxiety Therapy in Denver Help Me With My Anxiety?
The primary ways our anxiety therapists at CZ Therapy Group help you move through your anxiety involve: Awareness, Togetherness, and Unmasking.
Awareness
Remember the exercise we walked through at the beginning of this article? Anxiety compromises our cognitive capacities to plan and assess consequences effectively, i.e. why the midst of an anxiety episode can feel like the end of the world. As a grounded presence, your therapist can help co-map with you your anxiety cycle so that when it begins to emerge, you have the opportunity to identify it, pause, and seek regulation. Moreover, because anxiety is so disorienting, we often do not realize its subtler triggers or our default ways of responding to it. Having a better understanding of when and how anxiety shows up will help you prepare preemptively for certain situations.
Togetherness
Anxiety puts up filters that prevent us from seeing our resources and systems of support clearly. In distress, we can forgo tools ordinarily at our disposal, isolate ourselves, push others away, or assume that no one can help us or understand us. Your therapist will help return you to a state of regulation that allows you to see paths forward with clarity and serve as a reminder that you do not have to be alone in times of need.
Unmasking
Anxiety rarely shows up to the party alone. In fact, rarely is anxiety the dominant emotion but the mask to deeper, underlying emotions such as sadness, anger and fear. For example, 23-year-old Anna (*pseudonym, not a real client) describes to me the anxiety attack she experienced while getting dressed for a party. She expresses, “I don’t know why I made it such a big deal, they’re just clothes. I’m overreacting.” As we talk more about the importance of the party, she shares that in general she does not feel like she belongs at school and the party is a large but daunting opportunity to make friends. Instead of focusing on what she wears to the party or how to prevent another anxiety attack, we explore the vulnerability of seeking acceptance from friends. Bringing core emotions such as fear to the surface promotes a greater, longer lasting sense of release, relief, and understanding when held in a safe, supportive environment.
Seeking additional ways to help you regulate your anxiety? Explore our list of Denver self-care date ideas for anxiety.
Explore Anxiety Therapy in Denver, CO
If anxiety therapy in Denver, CO feels right for you, we would love to connect! Follow these three simple steps to get started:
Reach out to schedule a free 20-minute consult call to see if couples therapy is right for you
Connect with the Denver anxiety therapist of your choice via a phone consult.
Begin the process of healing with anxiety therapy!
Meet The Writer: Jordan Kurtz, Anxiety Therapist in Denver, CO.
Jordan Kurtz (she/her) is a trauma and relationship therapist at CZ Therapy Group who focuses on therapy for grief, trauma, adolescence, and couples. Jordan is trained in EMDR, EFT couples therapy, and other trauma and attachment-based methods of therapy. Her approach is entirely authentic, warm, and affirming of her clients’ identities and experiences.