ABSTRACT
Anxiety will be defined in concrete and operational terms, with a particular focus on the internal experience of anxiety and its regulation. Anxiety is a biophysiological response to perceived challenges and threats to emotional safety, autonomy, and connection. Anxiety is not a thought or a stimulus, but a visceral, bodily experience. Given this, it is essential that therapists learn to observe nonverbal signs of anxiety, rather than relying solely on the patient's verbal report. This chapter outlines that those methods for assessing, tracking, and regulating anxiety, in order to maintain an optimal level of activation. A simple question about the patient's line of work resulted in some cognitive slippage. The fact that he became a bit confused and started to drift off during the first moments of the interview, without any pressure from the therapist, suggested that the patient's anxiety was very high, and his capacity for awareness and regulation was quite low.
