How Therapy Can Help with Anxiety Sensitivity

Let’s talk about how Anxiety Sensitivity (AS) plays a role in the challenges you’re facing and how we can work together to address it. AS is something we can absolutely target in therapy, and by doing so, we can help you feel more in control of your anxiety and less afraid of the sensations that come with it. Here’s how we’ll approach this:

Anxiety Sensitivity is like a “fear of fear.” You might notice that when your body reacts—like when your heart races, you feel dizzy, or your hands shake—it’s not just uncomfortable, but it feels scary or dangerous. This fear of your body’s natural responses can make anxiety feel overwhelming and harder to manage.

The good news is that AS isn’t something you’re stuck with. It’s changeable. If we work on reducing your sensitivity to these sensations, you’re likely to feel less anxious overall, and you’ll be better equipped to handle situations that feel stressful or overwhelming right now.

Depending on what you’re experiencing, we’ll tailor our work to target how AS is affecting you specifically. Here are a few examples:

• Panic Disorder: If you’re having panic attacks or feel afraid of sensations like your heart racing or feeling breathless, we’ll use tools like:
  • Interoceptive exposure: This means practicing with those sensations in a safe, controlled way to show your body and mind that they’re not dangerous.
  • Cognitive restructuring: Together, we’ll look at the thoughts that come up when you feel these sensations, like “What if I’m having a heart attack?” We’ll work on reshaping those thoughts into ones that feel less overwhelming.
  • Psychoeducation: I’ll help you understand what’s happening in your body during anxiety so it feels less mysterious and scary.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD):
• If certain body sensations remind you of a traumatic experience, like a racing heart or tightness in your chest, it’s understandable that they feel distressing. We’ll work on:
  • Interoceptive exposure to help you feel safer with those sensatioGradually pairing that with trauma-focused exposure so you can face those memories and sensations without feeling overwhelmed.
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): If you’re dealing with intrusive thoughts or compulsions, AS might make those thoughts feel even more distressing. You might worry, “What if I lose control?” or “What if this means something terrible about me?” We’ll work on:
  • Reducing the fear of these thoughts or sensations through interoceptive exercises and cognitive work.
• Social Anxiety: If you’re afraid of symptoms like blushing, sweating, or trembling when you’re around others, we’ll focus on reducing your fear of being judged or embarrassed. We’ll do this by:
  • Gradually practicing exposure to situations that bring up those feelings, so they feel less threatening over time.
  • Helping you build confidence in your ability to handle those moments.
• Specific Phobias: If you have a specific fear, like the fear of vomiting (emetophobia) or choking, we’ll tailor our work to focus on that. For example, we might use exercises that let you practice experiencing similar sensations in a way that feels manageable and safe.

Sometimes, AS plays a role in more than one area of your life. For example, you might feel anxious in social situations but also worry about physical symptoms like your heart racing. In these cases, we can use a transdiagnostic approach like the Unified Protocol. This means we’ll focus on the common patterns behind your anxiety rather than just one specific situation. We’ll:

• Help you face and tolerate uncomfortable sensations, no matter where they show up.
• Work on reshaping your thoughts and reactions to those sensations so you feel more in control.

If we want to focus specifically on Anxiety Sensitivity, there are brief, targeted treatments we can use. These are based on tools like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and include:

• Exercises to help you experience anxiety symptoms in a way that feels safe, so you can see they aren’t as dangerous as they feel right now.
• Cognitive work to challenge and change the beliefs that are fueling your fears.

These programs are designed to be short and effective, and they’ve been shown to make a big difference in how people feel about their anxiety symptoms.

The key takeaway is this: by focusing on Anxiety Sensitivity, we can tackle one of the biggest factors keeping anxiety in your life. You’ll learn how to face your body’s natural responses with less fear, which will help you feel calmer and more in control in all kinds of situations.

At Calmiora, we understand how overwhelming it can be to fear the very sensations your body creates during anxiety. Our approach focuses on helping you break free from this fear by working through proven techniques with a supportive therapist. Together, we’ll help you reduce your Anxiety Sensitivity (AS) and build confidence in your ability to manage your symptoms.

One of the first steps we’ll take at Calmiora is to help you understand what’s happening in your body during anxiety. Through psychoeducation, you’ll learn:

• That symptoms like a racing heart, dizziness, or shaking are your body’s natural response to stress, not a sign of danger.
• Why these sensations feel so intense and what they mean (or don’t mean).

When you understand that these feelings are harmless and normal, they’ll start to feel less scary. This knowledge gives you the foundation to move forward with confidence.

Your therapist will guide you through interoceptive exposure, which involves safely practicing with the physical sensations that you fear. For example, if you’re afraid of feeling dizzy, we might help you experience that sensation in a controlled, supportive way—like by spinning in a chair or shaking your head.

Here’s what this process looks like at Calmiora:

• You’ll experience these sensations gradually and at your own pace.
• We’ll work together to reframe the catastrophic thoughts that arise, like “This dizziness means something is wrong with me.”
• Over time, you’ll build tolerance and confidence, seeing that these sensations are uncomfortable but not harmful.

Many of the fears tied to Anxiety Sensitivity come from dysfunctional beliefs about what your body’s sensations mean. For example, you might think, “If my heart races, I’ll have a heart attack,” or “If I feel lightheaded, I’ll faint in public.”

At Calmiora, we’ll work together to challenge these beliefs:

• We’ll look at the evidence behind your fears and explore alternative, less frightening explanations.
• We’ll practice identifying and reframing anxious thoughts in real time.

By changing the way you think about your symptoms, you can stop the cycle of fear and feel more in control.

At Calmiora, we’ll also help you develop tools to calm your mind and body when anxiety strikes. Through mindfulness and relaxation techniques, you’ll learn to sit with uncomfortable sensations without letting them overwhelm you.

Here’s how we can help:

• Mindfulness practices will teach you to observe your sensations and thoughts without judgment, reducing the intensity of your reaction to them.
• Relaxation training, such as deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation, will give you ways to lower your body’s arousal when it feels heightened. You’ll build tolerance for arousal-related sensations, so they no longer feel as threatening.

At Calmiora, we provide a supportive, compassionate space to work through your fear of anxiety symptoms. Our therapists are here to guide you step by step, using personalized techniques to help you feel empowered and confident. Together, we’ll work to break the cycle of fear and give you the tools you need to live a calmer, more fulfilling life.