Can Anxiety Therapy Help Me Control My Anxiety? Exploring Locus of Control with a Denver Anxiety Therapist
By Jordan Kurtz (she/her), MA, LPCC, Denver Anxiety Therapist
Despite our best efforts at mindfulness, breath control, rationalization, or avoidance, anxiety demands that our bodies pay attention to it. Why must it be so consuming? When our body’s stress activation system is turned on (aka our fight or flight system) cortisol is produced to catalyze motion and navigation away from danger.
The survival of our species relies on anxiety cues for protection, but in our daily lives - typically absent from life threatening peril - anxiety can feel a lot more demonizing than like an ally.
Anxiety becomes maladaptive when our body’s stress activation system is chronically turned on or hyper-responsive to non-threats.
So, the large question looms: can we control our anxiety if so much of it is rooted within our physical being? The answer from a Denver anxiety therapist: Yes, by shifting our perception of it and managing our responses to it.
Anxiety as a Protection
At CZ Therapy Group, we use the model of Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) to understand emotional, behavioral and cognitive responses to trauma, depression and anxiety. Many therapists characterize anxiety as a primary emotion and help clients develop strategies to eliminate it in the short term, like box breathing or progressive muscle relaxation.
While these tools are important and certainly beneficial, they do not look for emotions under the “mask” of anxiety- i.e., the core emotions listed below (see image of the Change Triangle).
Instead of sending away anxiety, a Denver anxiety therapist at CZ Therapy Group will work to support clients in identifying where it manifests in their body as sensations, and cluing in to messages the anxiety may hold about ourselves, others, or the world.
Learn more about how our Denver anxiety therapists reframe anxiety to promote healing on our previous blog.
Using the Change Triangle to Heal Anxiety
For example, pretend that client Mary often experiences anxiety (inhibitory emotion) attending her son’s piano recitals. This causes her to be critical, demanding that her son practice more, or she chooses not to attend the recitals at all (defenses/protections). When Mary allows herself to be still with her anxiety, she reveals that her son has been bullied and worries that when he performs in public, he will be teased by those bullies again (core emotions of fear and sadness). Now that we are more attuned to Mary’s deeper and more vulnerable emotions, we can empower her to find ways to support her son in his sadness without adding more pressure (connecting with her openhearted, authentic self)
Learn more about how the Change Triangle and AEDP therapy can help heal anxiety on our previous blog.
Anxiety and Locus of Control - A Breakdown by an Anxiety Therapist in Denver, CO.
Another way therapists at CZTG support clients with anxiety is identifying one’s locus of control.
“Locus of control” is a way of categorizing our responses to things that happen in our lives.
Speifically, it refers to the degree to which we feel we have control over circumstances that impact our lives. Those who have an internal locus of control believe they have influence over outcomes, while those with external locus of control believe one does not have control over what happens and external forces dictate what occurs.
Important things to hold in mind when discussing locus of control:
These states are not permanent and can adapt with time and by circumstance
Traumatic experiences that take away our autonomy can often lend to external loci of control
Loci of control are often modeled by our caregivers and culture
Western, individualistic cultures gravitate towards internal loci
Eastern, collective cultures gravitate towards external loci
One lens is not inherently “better” than the other and they exist on a continuum
Differentiating Between Internal vs External Locus of Control
The following chart explores the varying attributes of an internal vs external locus of control. As you read through it, ask yourself:
When you are in a state of anxiety, which locus of control do you more closely identify with?
How about when you feel like your most grounded, authentic self?
Which locus of control did your caregivers most often model to you in childhood?
Which attributes feel most and least aligned with me and my values?
The Role of Therapy in Locus of Control
Those with internal loci of control tend to have greater self-confidence, self-determination, and are less susceptible to the negative physical health impacts of chronic anxiety. Why is this so?
When we believe that we are the authors of our own lives, we are:
More prone to seek and maintain relationships, attitudes, and habits that reflect our inherent value
Capable of responding to anxiety, shame, guilt, sadness and anger with attunement and compassion versus avoidance and harm
However, as named above, there are certainly circumstances in which embracing a lack of control can serve us (i.e. unexpected weather canceling an event). Anxiety therapy helps us discern what pockets of our life we do have control over and empowers us to respond to them with self-efficacy, especially our self-talk and ways of coping with uncomfortable emotions. Anxiety therapy also can help us come to a greater place of acceptance with things that are firmly outside of our control by establishing boundaries for efforts we extend to obtain control and practicing self-compassion.
Wrapping yourself in holistic, anxiety healing support can (and should) happen alongside regular anxiety therapy. Explore various Denver self-care date ideas for anxiety and anxiety regulating spots to visit in Denver to begin curating your own self-care routine.
Explore Anxiety Therapy in Denver, CO.
Denver anxiety therapy can help you explore the way anxiety manifests in your life, unveil its roots, and help you experience growth and transformation towards a more authentic way of living and relating to yourself and others.
Reach out today to explore if anxiety therapy in Denver is right for you! Follow these three steps to get started:
Schedule a free 20-minute consult call to see if anxiety therapy in Denver is a good fit!
Connect with the CZTG anxiety therapist of your choice via a phone consult.
Begin your healing from anxiety!
Meet The Writer: Jordan Kurtz, Anxiety Therapist in Denver, CO.
Jordan Kurtz (she/her) is a Denver anxiety therapist, couples counselor, and staff writer at CZTG. Jordan focuses on therapy for anxiety, trauma, adolescence, and relationships. Her approach is authentic, warm, and affirming, which she interweaves throughout her use of advanced evidence-based modalities, including EMDR, Emotion Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT), and somatic therapy. She provides anxiety therapy in Denver and virtually throughout the state of Colorado. If you’d like to work with Jordan, feel free to reach out to schedule a consultation call.