IFS Therapy for Anxiety
Do you find yourself constantly worrying about your work, your relationships, your family, or your health?
Feeling restless, overwhelmed, or a persistent sense of uneasiness?
You’re not alone. Nearly 20%[1] of the United States’ population suffers from significant anxiety.
Some signs that you might be struggling with anxiety include:
- Feeling burnt out and easily fatigued
- Trouble being in the present moment
- Headaches
- Exhaustion from constant worry
- Feeling restless, tense, wound-up, or on edge
- Difficulty with concentration or your mind going blank
- Irritability and muscle tension
- Disrupted sleep patterns
- Digestive problems or changes in appetite
- Sweating and heart palpitations
IFS therapy for anxiety can help you feel calm, clear, and confident amid life’s ups and downs
… to find your capacity to respond to challenges with grace, rather than react or contract with fear.
A skilled IFS therapist will help you better know and heal the parts of you that are struggling, so you can live your life with more calmness and balance inside and out.
An IFS Understanding of Anxiety
Living in the 21st century comes with a lot of activity, uncertainty and distractions galore.
There are so many enormous problems that are facing society today, including climate change, social justice issues, political polarization, and pandemic fears. These big issues can be overwhelming, especially when you are just trying to get by, pay the bills, support a family, stay healthy. It can often feel like being pulled in a million directions – e.g., part of me wants to avoid the news and just worry about my own problems, but part of me feels like I need to stay informed and remain politically engaged.
Humans evolved to live much simpler lives, so it is no wonder that so many of us are overwhelmed by the pace of modern society. Our ancestors experienced threats to their survival, but they probably didn’t have the chronic nervous system activation that many of us experience. It’s as if the lion is constantly chasing us, and many of us are on high alert, ready to fight or flee.
Our anxiety is exacerbated by the messaging we receive.
In an individualistic country like the United States, whenever we’re scared, sad, hurt, or stressed, the message is often, “Get over it, move on, don’t look back.” Looking around, everyone else seems to be juggling a lot, too, but their social media pages make it look easy. This can reinforce old beliefs that you’ll never be enough, do enough, or have enough to find meaning or joy in your life. You’re working hard to make everything look and operate just right, but it’s exhausting. It may seem “normal” to be keyed up on overdrive, and it may feel as if your very survival depends on living this way, but over time, the pace can take its toll, affecting health and relationships. In order to keep up, we end up exiling those scared parts of ourselves that really need a sense of safety, comfort and connection. Those parts of us then feel even more abandoned and scared, and we are taken over by parts of us that learn how to “toughen up” by clamping down, controlling, and contracting.
In IFS, we emphasize that there are no bad parts of us, and that all of this is totally well-intentioned. The problem is that it is unbalanced and ungrounded. It makes it more difficult to enjoy our lives truly, to find peace and ease and connection with others.
Whether you experience low level feelings of anxiety or symptoms of PTSD that might involve severe panic attacks, Internal Family Systems therapy is an extremely effective way of working with these issues.
What Can I Expect from IFS Therapy for Anxiety?
In IFS therapy, you will practice slowing down and bringing compassionate curiosity to your experience. You will spend time getting to know various parts of yourself, gaining understanding and appreciation for their hard work to protect you and to cope with challenging experiences and painful feelings, memories, and wounds.
Through this process, these parts of you will gain trust in what IFS calls your Self – the authentic, innate, confident, calm Self that has been there all along, but was just covered up by all of those overburdened, hard-working parts of you. You will then discover how to accomplish tasks and respond to the challenges of life while still being able to let go and find a natural sense of ease and well-being. You will learn to trust your intuition and discernment and to know how and when to set healthy boundaries and expectations for yourself and others. You will find greater self-acceptance and contentment while also being open to nurturing growth in yourself and others.
Begin IFS therapy for Anxiety at The IFS Telehealth Collective
Our therapists welcome the opportunity to collaborate with you and create a safe space to connect with the courage, confidence, and clarity that resides within.
If you want to begin your healing journey, reach out from anywhere in California, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, or Oregon to connect with online therapists to help you find the peace that you desire.
Let one of our skilled IFS therapists help you on your healing journey.
