In the previous Podcast, we talked about Uprooting anxiety, especially catastrophizing. In this Unlock U Podcast, Dr. Shannan Crawford deeply analyzes anxiety and deals with resolving insecurity, panic, ruminating, depression, and improving relationship dynamics.
Most people go through chronic anxiety and think it’s a part of their personality until it’s diagnosed and start working on it in therapy, finding that the Restoring-Self-Cohesion approach brings enduring solutions. Some of us put our heads in the sand, wishing the anxiety to go away, while others resigned to thinking anxiety is a permanent part of life. Both mindsets lead to great sadness.
On the other hand, the specialized therapists at Crawford Clinics are trained to help you identify and resolve the roots of your most chronic anxiety, fear, ruminating, self-sabotage, and problematic relationship dynamics. We want you to get out of your head so you can learn how to live and love from your heart.
Overcoming Chronic Anxiety
One unexpected source of chronic anxiety occurs when our defense mechanisms are tired of holding things inside that we haven’t addressed for years. Our defense mechanisms are brilliant at denying what we don’t want to deal with. What is your life? Have you thought, “I don’t want to go there?” “I don’t want to think about that?” If there are chapters/events in your life that you’d rather not remember, it is probably a good idea to consider there may be unprocessed thoughts and emotions that haven’t been fully dealt with yet. It is interesting how many times we try to fix/solve/control our external world as a symbolic way to fix/solve/control our internal world. Everything that we deny/ignores/suppress/don’t deal with ends up being the flood of emotion that surfaces when we are triggered. Over the past 15 years, I’ve been trying to streamline the process to help target the permanent resolution of chronic anxiety and stress.
No matter what your story is, there is peace once we bring everything into the light and learn how to extend love and acceptance toward ourselves. Today is a fresh start. There may be things in your past and in mine that we are not proud of or that we think we’ll fall into a black hole and never climb out of if we let ourselves go there. Trust me; I get it. You’re not alone, and there is extreme love and acceptance once we bring things conscious so we can finally resolve that which has been unconsciously nagging you. If you’ve ever discounted someone saying they love you or care about you by thinking, “yeah, but if you knew everything about me, you wouldn’t think that….”
By keeping our past buried, we temporarily feel relieved, and yet, it is all that we “don’t deal with” that continues to nag us mentally, emotionally, and relationally. Everything you don’t deal with in the present becomes a tether tying you to your past.
After-Effects of Chronic Anxiety
In a recent Unlock U with Dr. Shannan Crawford podcast, I share illustrations of how the choices earlier in life can make us feel unworthy, so, out of shame, we block it out instead of allowing redemption. Curing chronic anxiety is understanding and loving yourself, even the parts you are ashamed of. Moving on too fast, we never really honor who we were before, which is why we always have that chronic anxiety of fearing someone will one day take over control and ruin our lives. Perhaps, this may be the unconscious fear that – the part of you that you’ve rejected – may one day take over, and you’ll end up ruining your life. That which we deny becomes our greatest fear. We fear one day being discovered and everyone judging us as we have, in essence, been judging ourselves for years.
Causes of Chronic Anxiety
Since we all have life experiences that we have never reprocessed and reintegrated, we all have fears and trapped emotions inside, causing anxiety. We all go through certain phases of our lives when we are ashamed of what we have done to devalue ourselves and others. Moments we don’t feel comfortable opening up about them. Trust me, and I get it!
The impulse to move forward quickly blocks the healing process. Not only are we not processing the memory and emotion. We are also denying the part of our soul that is holding that experience. A defense mechanism part of the soul steps in to create a wall around the part of us that we are embarrassed by. Because of that, in our subconscious mind, the negativity of the part we are ashamed of remains there, and we feel afraid to go back to that, so the defenses block the pain/emotions/thoughts.
When the dam of the defense mechanisms is getting overwhelmed, we often feel a surge of anxiety, leading to something like a panic attack.
To fight Chronic anxiety, Dr. Crawford suggests that instead of fighting against your nature, it’s better to slow down and learn to reconnect with your story, honor the parts of you that have survived painful events, and learn how to radically accept the parts of you that you have struggled to accept. Now, to accept does not mean to allow them to control. Regressed parts of us that have been hidden that now become conscious have to be matured into your current age, meaning you may initially experience immature reactions and impulses. Our goal is not to indulge these immature reactions but to learn how to be mindful in working WITH our soul to restore internal cohesion.
Suppressing your feelings is not an option; create a connection with yourself and the outer world by going slow, journaling, deep breathing, and inviting safe people into your process.
Wrap Up!
In anxiety, we need to forgive ourselves and learn to reject those judgments we have made for ourselves. Write stories about the thoughts you are ashamed of and love and affirm those parts of yourself. This is a good way of dealing with anxiety. We want to be on your team, cheering you on! The Crawford Clinics therapists are trained to help you resolve the unconscious roots of your chronic anxiety.
Stay tuned for our next podcast; till then, you can contact us here.
Listen to the complete podcast here: Uprooting Anxiety Pt2.