When anxiety strikes, it not only consumes the mind . . .
. . . it can take hold in the body as well.
And chronic anxiety can contribute to a wealth of physiological problems, including chronic pain, fatigue, and insomnia – just to name a few.
Below, you’ll see how Pat Ogden, PhD worked with a teenaged girl to release anxiety that was stored in the body.
Pat is a pioneer in Somatic Psychology, and founder and director of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute.
Check it out – it’s less than 4 minutes.
Anxiety can be so limiting for our clients. It can leave people feeling isolated and hold them back from having meaningful relationships.
But as Pat demonstrated, when we work skillfully with anxiety, it can help our clients develop confidence and embrace healthy change.
So now I’d like to hear from you. What have you found to be effective in working with anxiety?
Please leave a comment below.
I am Aspergian and I,m with Somatic Experiencing practitioners. At 72 I still feel fragile but my personality seems to feel unfamiliar ly imaginative,, almost alien!
Thanks, very amazing that’s I will make use of.
Folks who have lived with being chronically traumatized and develop anxiety/depression can often identify somatic representations of these responses. Jaw clenching, shoulder hunching, a posture of shrugging the shoulders…the list can go on, and is important. One’s awareness of what the tensing might be attempting to serve in terms of being a protective mechanism for the individual can provide valuable insight, useful in therapeutic work. Diminishing the habit of tensing, in tandem with working the self away from the internalized voice of the trauma/anxiety/depression response, allows for a more complete and satisfying outcome. The whole person can move forward. When one finds themself tensing, they can use this as information, and apply self-talk to de-bunk the automatic hiding or protecting, and instead posture differently while telling themself a new learned response that is more current and adaptive. Dr. Ogden presents a valuable example of how all these components work together against a person, and then how they can provide a basis of insight and learning which can be incorporated in bringing the person to a better level of overall functioning. A very truly Bio-Psycho-Social integration!
This is amazing than kyou so much. I am a fan of talking about anxiety. Being a student in psychology and now moving to a new career, I chose, in the beginning, to become a therapist because i like to write reports to make sense of the circumstances and now the engagement with people. Taking psychology course has at least taught me that, or at least i have this people skill in me way long before. But tosay, anxiety is my Favorite subject is that i have seen it and heard about it in everyone I have met. Insecurity, attachment, separation, all this I cana relate to. So i felt i am an expert in this matter. It just become conscious about this phenomena and see its meaning and purpose in our life. I don’t see everyone I talk to as my clients, but I try to make it clear that it is coming from a place where you sometimes don’t even pay attention to and continue to just get caught in it. To tell the truth, I am not even sure that there is one specifi method to deal with anxiety, as it comes and go, meds did its job, but therapeutic means seem useless, if not not effective. It can only be treated with consideration to the attachment disorders or from birth.
I have found that the method I invented which works on eight different levels has helped people to heal from anxiety and other conditions in only three sessions after the consultation and from the comfort of their home.
Thank you for sharing, Viviane, does it have a name or just something you do in your practice only?
My therapist hasn’t yet figured out why my anxiety spikes up after my attendance to family reunion , large meeting, groups. It’s been more than ten years that I endure chronic anxiety and I have been prescribed to meds that helps. Despite this chronic anxiety hasn’t improved.Has anyone gone through this and has a breakthrough?
How can hypnosis help to reduce anxiety ?
YES, hypnotherapy can be performed to release unconscious tension and strong emotion in the body to produce physiological transformation, as it is shown by Erickson. So as long as it is in a small office, the imagery in hypnosis can be useful.
Using IFS to connect with the parts of the self that is in “exile”. The most critical part of the self is the one that is isolated and hasn’t learn about how to care and give care to self, the younger inner child. As an adult, the child realize that it is “not his/her fault” but society, familial or peers. The adult child relate between them and comes to be as one. So, thats also in my toolbox. Great video again.
I like to hear how P. Odgen saw how the 8 year old held “the belief” in the body and wanted to shift this but still couldn’t make her anxiety go away. A seemingly simple process that “can be hard to make it happen”. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks! Testing my anxiety while being diagnosed with PTSD, and a schizophrenic personality, panic has decreased as I learn to take lightly what life throw at me. I love my job, the daily travel with no traffic and more work done when staying on track, seems like a dream money to saviour and triggers free. May the seasons bring calm and lights to your Hearts! .
As ALWAYS these Sessions are invaluable for reminding us of the Profound Shifts that people can experience, when a Gentle Refocus without Blame can Identify a Causal Age and Begin the Path to Healing! Starting from the Place of “what is happening” Physiologically, as opposed to “what caused this”, is a Safe & Gentle non-intrusive Opening for Healing!
Thank You Pat!
Heart rate variation through guided imagery and biofeedback is a trial when somatic doesn’t. Sleeping on through, not waking during the night is crucial for the next day. Eyes movement but better use of EMDR
Self-regulation when it is possible, of course, always.
Oh dear, how to go through the pain with no knowledge about somatic approach? Psycho education at one time helps me to get better in validating that comes from the frantic moment of unexplained fear and obviously a huge range of unrecognized feeling like running from the he is unfamiliar or just talking about like wanting to lean in what feel safe. That’s comes from the domain of psycho Ed that I would surely do first if all.
Is the USA’s legal system one source of the chronic stress that often leads to anxiety and depression and later critical illnesses like heart disease and even death?
Lawsuits especially those involving divorce and child custody and a homeowners association (HOA) and one’s home can drag on for years.
What would those who read this post do to stop this source of stress?
Dear Linda, I am sorry about how much this is a struggle for you. B eing a federal non-profit employee, i have seen the admisnistration at its lenghthy and worse time managment. Before this takes, i would ask myself if we make the choice out of sheer fear of not being up to the task or out of a desire to escape a poor life? it is the worry of the processes that can last and that is difficult to manage and it is in this case for almost everyone. Having neverbeen through the process of separation, but having gone through the abandonment and left out, I have “played” the victim for many reasons. My father got divorced three times and left me and my brother the “suffering”, streess, and sadness with loss. A strong community for emotional support is what I would think is the first to have in your toolbox. Best regards,
I have lived with moderate to severe anxiety for over ten years. I saw a slew of counsellors and therapists.
The thing that changed my life is AEDP work and an emotion/body-centred approach. As someone that quite intensely lives in their head, I found a body-centred therapist was able to notice small cues my body was giving and interrupt the mess in my head to get to deep deep pain and loss. Once I was able to release those emotions, I felt my day to day go from an average 8/10 in anxiety to a 2/10.
I’ve started to get my life back and have the space to even consider living.
As a client in therapy, I was never made aware of the kinds of physical symptoms ( pain in the heart, tightness of stomach) that could be related to my emotions. It has been useful to have this articulated , since I could be either numb or overwhelmed with sensations, which made those experiences confusing. Learning that it is normal for deep emotions to cause physical pain, opened up a doorway to learning to embrace and then regulate those powerful sensations.
As a dentist: i have several childs who are in anxiety due to their parents information/talks about dentistry.
I encourage them when they are around 8-9 years old or older to weep and scream when they are afraid during the treatment.
Not to hold back the emotion.It’s natural!
I see that they are totally not traumatized after this work. They are happy.
I tell them that they have to release the emotion and that is’s totally oké.
And that it will grow out their system.
When they don’t scream anymore after some period or some years i know that the Anxiety emotion is integrated.
So how do we work it thru?
Hi Mel,
Just below is the Peter Levine report,
What Resets Our Nervous System After Trauma?
with Peter Levine, PhD
a Free Report from NICABM
I think the first step is understanding my childhood patterns and recognizing that I still use them. Then caring for my child self from my adult mature self. I’m able to choose to be myself.
Tara Brach uses R (recognize)
A (allow)
I (investigate)
N (nurture)
Thank you Mel for this.
It is comforting to know there are ways to teach a client to not hold back and be in a fear or freeze response. Breathing techniques is the simplest emergency tool to learn to relax.