Anxiety Can Be a Signal That You Are Suppressing Deeper Emotions

Anxiety is a common mental state that everyone experiences at one time or another. 

Anxiety can either be an adaptive emotion or it can be an inhibitory emotion, which I'll explain in this article (see my article: What is the Difference Between Fear and Anxiety?).

Anxiety Can Signal Suppressed Emotions

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is characterized by physical and mental symptoms including (but are not limited to):

• Muscle tension
• Rapid heartbeat 
• Headaches
• Shortness of breath
• Digestive issues
• Lightheadedness
• Trouble sleeping
  
• Fatigue
• Nausea
• Trembling
• Twitching
• Excessive worry or a sense of impending danger
• Irritability
• Restlessness
• Avoidance of feared situations

When is Anxiety Adaptive?

Mild anxiety can be adaptive. 

For instance, mild anxiety can be adaptive before taking an exam, giving a presentation or preparing for a sporting event because it acts as a catalyst to help you to focus and prepare for these events to improve your performance.

When is Anxiety a Signal You Are Suppressing Deeper Emotions?

Anxiety can also act as a secondary emotion that let's you know you're suppressing core emotions, which are also known as deeper emotions or primary emotions (I'll use these terms interchangeably).

Core emotions include:

• Sadness
• Fear
• Joy
• Anger
• Surprise
• Disgust

When is Anxiety an Inhibitory Emotion?

When you experience anxiety as a secondary emotion, the anxiety is a signal that you are suppressing (or inhibiting) core emotions. 

Learning to suppress emotions often occurs early in life. 

As a child, you might have learned that emotions are "dangerous". 

This usually occurs when a  parent, who is uncomfortable with certain emotions, either ignores, punishes or lets you know in some other way that these emotions are unsafe.

Learning to Suppress Emotions as a Child

For instance, let's say you cried as a child because you were afraid of going to school. If your  parent was uncomfortable with your crying and didn't know how to handle your emotions, your parent might have said, "Stop being a drama queen" or "Big girls don't cry" or "You look ugly when you cry" (see my article: What is Childhood Emotional Neglect?).

If you had enough of these experiences as a child, you learn that it's unsafe to experience certain emotions because your parent isn't going to comfort you or, worse still, your parent will ignore, punish or criticize you. So, rather than experiencing the unbearable vulnerability of being alone with uncomfortable emotions, you learn to suppress these emotions.

When emotions are suppressed, the suppression creates trapped emotional energy which forces the body to keep the nervous system in a chronic state of fight-or-flight. This results in sustained spikes of cortisol or adrenaline which can create the anxiety-related symptoms mentioned above (racing heart, muscle tension and so on).

How Can You Address Suppressed Core Emotions?

If you notice you're feeling anxious and it's not a mild anxiety that is adaptive, you can pause, get curious, tune into your body and ask yourself, "What am I feeling underneath this anxiety?"

Using Somatic Awareness to Tune Into Your Body

For instance, if you tune into your body and notice that underneath your anxiety you're feeling sadness, you can reduce the anxiety in your body by allowing yourself to feel the sadness (see my article: The Mind-Body Connection and Somatic Awareness).

At that point, maybe you allow yourself to cry to release some of the sadness or maybe you write in a journal to express your sadness. 

You might also talk to a trusted friend so you don't feel alone with your sadness and you can  receive validation that your experience is normal and your friend has had similar experiences.

Other emotions that suppress core emotions are shame and guilt.

Getting Help in Therapy

If you find it difficult to tune into your body and detect the emotions you are suppressing, you could benefit from working with a licensed mental health professional who practices Experiential Therapy.

A psychotherapist who practices Experiential Therapy can help you to develop the necessary somatic awareness to deal with suppressed emotions and the underlying issues.

Experiential therapies are especially helpful in overcoming anxiety and trauma (see my article: Why is Experiential Therapy More Effective Than Traditional Talk Therapy?).

Experiential therapies include:

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)

• Somatic Experiencing (SE)

• Parts Work Therapy (IFS or Ego State Therapy)

Getting Help in Therapy

Rather than struggling on your own, seek help in therapy so you can calm your nervous system, deal with the underlying issues you have been suppressing and live a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), Parts Work (IFS and Ego States Therapy), Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.

As an Experiential Therapist, I have over 25 years of experience helping individual adults and couples.

To find out about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Also See My Articles:

Self Help Tips For Coping With Anxiety

Getting Help For Anxiety in Therapy 

What Does Processing Your Emotions Mean?

How to Cope With News Anxiety 

Overcoming Adult Separation Anxiety

What is the Connection Between Anxiety and Depression? 

How Does Somatic Experiencing (SE) Process Emotions?

In my recent articles I've been exploring how the different types of Experiential Therapies, like AEDP, Parts Work (IFS and Ego States Therapy) and EMDR process emotions.

Processing Emotions with Somatic Experiencing

In the current article I'm focusing on how Somatic Experiencing, also known as SE, processes emotions (see my article: Somatic Experiencing: A Mind-Body Oriented Therapy).

Somatic Experiencing was developed by Peter Levine in the 1970s. Like many other types of Experiential Therapies, SE was developed to address the limitations of traditional psychotherapy (see my article: Why is Experiential Therapy More Effective Than Traditional Psychotherapy to Resolve Trauma?).

How Does Somatic Experiencing Process Emotions?

Somatic Experiencing processes emotions by focusing on bodily sensations (see my article: The Mind-Body Connection: What is Somatic Awareness?)).

Processing Emotions with Somatic Experiencing

Like other types of Experiential Therapy, Somatic Experiencing is a "bottom up" rather than a "top down" approach (see my article: What is the Difference Between a "Top Down" and "Bottom Up" Approach to Trauma Therapy?)

Clients are guided by their SE therapist to safely notice, feel and release tension related to trauma. This allows the nervous system to complete the interrupted stress response related to the trauma. These releases are often subtle.

What Are the Key Processes in SE to Process Emotions?

The key processes in SE include:

• A "Bottom Up" Approach: As mentioned above, instead of analyzing emotions, which is the usual way in traditional talk therapy, SE focuses on physical sensations to access and resolve underlying emotional experiences. These physical sensations might include tightness, warmth or pressure (to name a few).

Somatic Experiencing and Resourcing

• Resourcing: Prior to processing traumatic emotions, the client learns to develop a felt sense of calm and safety that can be accessed during times of activation related to processing the trauma (see my article: Developing Internal Resources and Coping Skills).

• Titration: Titration involves breaking down overwhelming traumatic memories into manageable pieces to avoid retraumatization during processing.

• Pendulation: Pendulation is shifting back and forth from a state of calm and safety to a state of discomfort related to the unresolved trauma.  This allows the nervous system to process traumatic emotions without being overwhelmed (see my article: Coping With Emotional Distress By Using the SE Technique of Pendulation).

• Discharging: As trapped energy related to the trauma is released, the client might experience physical sensations (e.g., heat). These sensations are often subtle.

Conclusion

Somatic Experiencing allows clients to process traumatic emotions and shift from a fight, flight, freeze or fawn response into a state of self regulation and relief.

I have been using Somatic Experiencing with clients regularly since 2011 and I have found that SE often combines well with other types of Experiential Therapy, like AEDP, EMDR and Parts Work.

Getting Help With Somatic Experiencing

If you feel stuck with unresolved trauma, you could benefit from working with a licensed mental health professional who is also an SE practitioner.

Getting Help With Somatic Experiencing

Freeing yourself from unresolved trauma can allow you to live a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), Parts Work (IFS and Ego States Therapy), Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.

I have over 25 years of experience helping individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Also See My Articles:

What Are the Therapeutic Benefits of Somatic Experiencing?  

What Does Processing Emotions Mean? 

How Are Emotions Processed in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)?  

How Are Emotions Processed in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy?  

How Are Emotions Processed in Parts Work (IFS and Ego States) Therapy? 

What is the Life Cycle of an Emotion?

What Does Processing Your Emotions Mean?

If you have ever been in therapy, you have probably heard the term "processing your emotions".  It's a term that psychotherapists use often in therapy, but many people either don't understand what that term means or they have only a vague sense of it.

Processing Emotions in Therapy

What Does It Mean to Process Your Emotions?

Processing your emotions means consciously acknowledging, experiencing and integrating your feelings instead of suppressing or ignoring them (see my article: What's the Difference Between Emotional Regulation and Controlling Your Emotions?).

Key Aspects of Processing Your Emotions

• Sense Your Emotions: Emotions are embodied experiences. If you want to process your emotions, you need to have a somatic awareness of them, e.g., a tightness in your chest, a clinching in your stomach, and so on (see my article: The Mind-Body Connection: What is Somatic Awareness?).

Sensing Emotions

• Name Your Emotions: Labeling your emotions is essential to processing them ("I feel angry" or "I feel sad" and so on).

• Allow Yourself to Experience Your Emotions: Instead of resisting or pushing down your emotions, you allow yourself to experience them. You are also aware that, unless you prolong the experience by ruminating about them too much or telling yourself a negative story about your emotions, emotions tend to rise, peak and subside in about 90 seconds (see my article: Managing Your Emotions: What is the Life Cycle of an Emotion?).

Allowing Yourself to Feel Your Emotions

• Identify Your Triggers: Understanding what triggered an emotion and the root cause of the trigger.

• Resist the Impulse to Avoid: Resist your usual defense mechanisms, like denial, distraction or overthinking.

• Integrate Your Emotions: Make sense of your experience within the context of your life history, including your family history.

• Take Action: Take action, if needed, to resolve a situation rather than just worrying about it.

How to Process Emotions

Psychotherapy is one of the best ways to process emotions with the help of a mental health professional, but it's not the only way.

You can also process your emotions on your own by:

• Journaling: Writing down your thoughts and emotions to get clarity (see my article: Journaling).

Processing Emotions By Journaling

• Mindfulness Meditation: Observing your thoughts and emotions without judging them or getting stuck in them (see my article: The Mind-Body Connection and Mindfulness Meditation.

Observing Emotions in Mindfulness Meditation

• Physical Movement: Yoga, exercising at a pace that's right for you and other types of physical movement can help you to release physical tension

• Breathing: Breathing exercises, like Square Breathing, can help to calm your nervous system

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), Parts Work (IFS and Ego States Therapy), Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.

I have over 25 years of experience helping individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

The Mind-Body Connection: What is Somatic Awareness?

Somatic awareness is a focused attention and interpretation of the sensations, emotions and physiological states of the body.

Somatic Awareness and the Mind-Body Connection

Somatic awareness is essential to understanding the mind-body connection, especially in Experiential Therapies like: 

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

• Somatic Experiencing

• AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy)

• Ego States Therapy

as well as other mind-body oriented therapy modalities.

What Are the Benefits of Somatic Awareness?

Being able to identify what is going in terms of the connection between what's happening between the mind and the body can help you to understand what you're experiencing in a more integrated way.

How is Somatic Awareness Used in Trauma Therapy?

Somatic awareness can also help you to recognize how trauma gets stuck in your nervous system when you're doing trauma therapy.

For instance, a trauma therapist will often ask the client to slow down to become aware of their emotions and where they feel these emotions in the body.  

This provides a deeper understanding of the client's experience for the client and the therapist.

What Are Techniques Used in Trauma Therapy to Help Clients Develop Somatic Awareness?

Here are some of the techniques that trauma therapists use during trauma therapy:

• Grounding: This technique helps clients to stay in the present moment, which is helpful when doing trauma therapy. There are many different types of grounding techniques:

• Feeling your feet on the floor

• Bringing awareness to other parts of your body

• Running water over your hand

• Tensing and relaxing your hands

• Visualizations: Visualizations help clients to calm themselves by picturing soothing images.  For instance, clients can focus on a safe or relaxing place to help them to regulate their emotions. The place can be either real or imagined. So, a client can picture a place where they have been in the past, like a beach.  They can also imagine a place they create in their mind.  As they're experiencing the calming effects of the visualization, they notice where they feel this sense of calmness in their body as well as the emotions it brings up for them (see my article: Using Your Imagination as a Powerful Tool For Change).

• Body Scans: The Body Scan Meditation is a technique where clients slowly sense into their body starting from the crown of their head down to the tips of their toes to sense what sensations they're experiencing. This meditation helps clients to regulate their internal state.

• Breath Work: There are many different types of breathing exercises, like Square Breathing, which help increase clients' awareness of their emotions, physiological state and sensations in their body.

Conclusion

Somatic awareness is essential to understanding the mind-body connection.  

It is also an important part of Experiential Therapy for overcome trauma (see my article: Why is Experiential Therapy More Effective Than Talk Therapy to Overcome Trauma?).

Before processing trauma, trauma therapists provide clients with psychoeducation on how to do these various techniques as well as why they're important in trauma therapy.

Aside from processing trauma, somatic awareness is also effective in helping clients with anxiety, depression and other psychological challenges.

Aside from how somatic awareness can be learned in Experiential Therapy, it can also be learned in other mind-body modalities like yoga and mindfulness meditation.

Getting Help in Therapy

If you have been struggling on your own to overcome unresolved trauma, you could benefit from working with a licensed mental health professional who is a trauma therapist.

Overcome unresolved trauma can help you to live a more meaning life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York City psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT, Somatic Experiencing and Sex Therapist.

I have worked with many individual adults and couples to help them overcome unresolved trauma (see my article:  What is a Trauma Therapist?).

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.