Learn what it is, what it is not and how to effectively handle it.

Anxiety Therapy

In-person in Rochester & online throughout NY

However it’s showing up it’s probably ruining your day.

Anxiety might be worrying all the time about what to do, what not to do, what to say, what not to say (oh shit, did I say the wrong thing that one time five years ago!!???).

It might be constantly needing to check, and check, and check and check, and (what the hell) check again did I turn off ____, close ____, wash ____, etc etc.

It might just feel like you’re anxiety is going through the roof. You’re having a heart attack and dying, or going crazy, or losing it. . .

Let’s get a sense of what might be setting off your body’s alarm system.

With anxiety, your mind is like the world’s greatest salesperson, constantly selling you on the merits of staying right where you are (hello bedroom, so nice to hang out in here all day YET again). It’s your body’s alarm system and it is trying to keep you safe and surviving. However, like any good car alarm out there it goes off when you don’t need it, it’s loud, flashes too bright and everyone in the neighborhood is probably sick of hearing it (i.e. picture that classic line from everyone in your life “you should just stop worrying about that”). Spoiler alert, if you could just stop worrying about you wouldn’t be looking at my website. This is a natural and necessary emotion when it comes down to it, but enough is enough already. I can help you learn to effectively handle your anxiety so YOU can get back to LIFE (that bedroom is nice, but you will need to step outside of it).

Therapy for Anxiety

Here’s how my experience can help you:

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT is like an operator’s manual for a meaningful life. You will learn to have a different relationship with your mind, connect more with the present moment and take actions that help you live life by your chosen values, especially when it seems most difficult to do so.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

This one is a therapy classic. When appropriate, we’ll take a look at how your thoughts and behaviors are interacting with your anxiety and likely unintentionally making the anxiety stronger and last longer. If necessary, we can work with a variation of this called Exposure Response Prevention which is well suited to helping with those repetitive behaviors mentioned earlier on this page.

Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)

ART is quite different if you haven’t done therapy like it before. It’s closest and most well known comparison is Eye Movement and Desensitization Therapy (EMDR). We’ll use the abilities you already have to change how you feel. This therapy combines golden nuggets from many other therapies with a highly structured approach to help your whole brain work together and rapidly change how you feel. Best of all, you don’t have to talk about what you’re anxious about or do homework for it to be effective!

Common questions about anxiety therapy.

  • Knowing your values will help with motivation. You’ll learn ways to interact differently with your mind so you can chose what to do next. You’ll be able to learn where the real you begins and how to separate this from what you commonly define yourself as (hint hint- which tends to increase suffering). If you would like to learn more on your own I would encourage you check out The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris and/or The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson (not an ACT text but the principles of ACT run throughout the book).

  • Not THAT ART therapy. If you’re looking for Art therapy there are plenty of qualified therapists out there. Accelerated Resolution Therapy uses back and forth eye movements to access and connect the whole brain to help solve problems in a novel manner. Through this process we can directly address common scenarios that prompt your anxiety and makes changes you could start noticing right away. To learn more please visit www.acceleratedresolutiontherapy.com

I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this. — Emo Phillips