Anxiety can be paralyzing. It can keep us from making friends, engaging in social activities, or moving forward in our careers. Worse, it is extremely uncomfortable and interferes with our health and our everyday lives.
Anxiety can manifest both somatically and cognitively, and a person’s reactions to anxiety often exacerbate their symptoms. Somatically, anxiety can show up as a racing heart, shallow breath, or other uncomfortable bodily reactions. Cognitively, anxiety can take the form of intrusive thoughts that something terrible might happen or as worries about what others might think.
Anxiety can also interfere with your work or relationships, which often results in lowered self-esteem. To address the complexities of anxiety, our therapists employ mindfulness, psychoanalysis, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to delve into the underlying causes of anxiety, while applying hypnosis to the specific difficulties that arise as a result of anxiety.
Some types of anxiety, such as GAD, social anxiety and social phobia, seem to impact every aspect of our lives. It can feel like non-stop racing thoughts and constant worry, even when we know logically that the worry is exaggerated or feels more intense than what we believe is proportionate to the concern. Intense anxiety can have a physical impact on us, such as muscle tension, sleep difficulties, headaches, and fatigue; it can also have debilitating cognitive effects, such as fear of being humiliated or judged, worry about interacting with others, or expecting the worst possible outcomes in social situations.
While all of our therapists specialize in GAD and Social Anxiety and Social Phobia, each clinician approaches anxiety unique perspectives and backgrounds:
Dr. Sara Glazer integrates hypnosis with her background in attachment theory, relational psychoanalysis, and mindfulness to help her clients address issues with anxiety as well as grief, self-esteem, and relational trauma. In combination with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), self-compassion practices, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), her approach uses hypnosis as a powerful tool for change, and she assists her clients in exploring how their struggles relate to their self-perception and relationships with others.
Dr. Rebecca Hoffenberg relies on her expertise in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), CBT, and mindfulness to work with her clients on identifying and addressing problematic behaviors associated with anxiety. She is an expert in anxiety that is related to trauma, and her approach allows clients to understand their unconscious motivations so they can move forward in their lives with increased confidence and resilience.
Dr. Kimberly Fishbach uses an approach that is direct and straightforward, giving people practical tools to deal with anxiety on a conscious level, while using hypnosis to instill calm on an unconscious level. With extensive training in CBT, DBT, mindfulness, and hypnosis, she uses integrative psychotherapy methods and hypnotic techniques to help her clients address roadblocks, learn new ways of coping, and develop solutions and skills to improve their quality of life.
Dr. Karolina Pekala combines her expertise in CBT, DBT, and psychodynamic therapy with hypnosis to help her clients recognize and embrace their inner strengths. Her holistic approach incorporates hypnosis to help her clients achieve their goals. She is experienced working with adolescents, teens, and adults and has a keen focus on how unconscious processes influence feelings and complex behaviors. She is especially adept at helping teens and adults navigate challenging social situations and overcome fears that prevent them from experiencing meaningful relationships.
Dr. Laura Faiwiszewski incorporates mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches in the treatment of generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and social phobia to foster deeper awareness and acceptance of these unwanted states. When anxiety is a result of trauma, she also incorporates EMDR to foster rapid healing. Dr. Faiwiszewski elicits the client’s personal strengths and empowers her clients to utilize inner resources to cope with anxiety, and also helps clients to change their relationship to feared stimuli. In this way, clients are better able to focus on what truly is important to them, and can get back to living a life of value and meaning.
Dr. Irada Yunusova brings a multifaceted approach to the treatment of anxiety and panic attacks. In her nuanced approach, she integrates the methodical aspects of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to help clients navigate through and heal from the traumatic experiences that frequently lay the groundwork for panic attacks. With a deep understanding of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dr. Yunusova empowers individuals to accept their thoughts and feelings rather than fighting them, engaging in mindful actions that are aligned with their values. Concurrently, she applies the principles of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to teach skills for regulating emotions and improving relationships, which can be pivotal for clients grappling with intense anxiety. This blended methodology not only addresses the immediate symptoms but also fosters a long-term resilience against the cycle of anxiety and panic.
Dr. Demi Maglio utilizes an integrative approach to treating anxiety, which allows her to tailor therapy to each client’s unique individualized needs and develop skills that reduce suffering and improve quality of life. She uses cognitive-behavioral modalities to help clients explore how their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact, with the notion that if one aspect of the triad is modified, this can promote change in the other aspects of the relationship. She also draws from her training in acceptance-commitment, mindfulness, and hypnosis to help clients develop a healthier relationship with their anxiety, increase psychological flexibility, and live a meaningful life that is guided by value-driven behavior.
Although not life-threatening, a panic attack can be disorienting and frightening. When you experience a sudden surge of intense fear — accompanied by a pounding heart, shortness of breath, body chills, sweating, and/or trembling — you might even feel like you’re having a heart attack. Though they typically last only a few minutes, panic attacks can have significant impacts on quality of life. You might feel anxious about going to the movies, driving a car, or attending a meeting out of fear that another panic attack may strike. Panic disorder can lead to problems at school or work, avoiding social situations, the development of phobias, and substance abuse.
Dr. Kimberly Fishbach, Dr. Irada Yunusova, and Dr. Demi Maglio are our experts in helping clients find peace from panic attacks and panic disorder. They draw from their extensive training in CBT, DBT, mindfulness, hypnosis, and other evidence-based approaches to customize their clients’ therapy and promote the most effective therapeutic outcome. They work collaboratively with their clients to set goals, address roadblocks, and develop feasible solutions and skills to improve their quality of life.
Our therapists are adept at delivering a therapy regime for panic attacks and panic disorders that is not only tailored to each individual but also assuredly effective. They confidently employ a blend of cognitive-behavioral therapy, the resilience-building techniques of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), the centering practices of mindfulness, the transformative approach of hypnosis, and the trauma-resolving processes of EMDR. This powerful combination is more than just a treatment—it's a transformative journey that reliably equips clients with the necessary tools to detect early signs of panic and to dissect the complex relationship between their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. It's a comprehensive strategy that offers a substantial promise of managing and overcoming the symptoms of panic and anxiety, fostering an improved quality of life with enduring benefits.
While hypnosis alone cannot adequately treat anxiety disorders, the addition of hypnosis to the therapeutic treatment of anxiety can have a profound impact on helping a person mitigate and cope with their anxiety. As Clinical Psychologists, we find that by giving our clients the additional tool of hypnosis, they are often able to use it to calm themselves in times of anxiety and panic. We combine hypnotic techniques with traditional therapy modalities to address the troubling symptoms associated with anxiety and panic.
In a relaxed and reflective hypnotic state, our clients are able to decrease the intensity of their anxious feelings, while gaining insight into the root causes of their behavior. By tapping into their inner resources and creative problem-solving skills, clients can challenge the irrational beliefs and catastrophic thinking patterns so often associated with anxiety. And through the use of guided imagery and indirect suggestion, clients learn to accept and cope with their fears.
Research has shown that hypnosis is particularly beneficial in treating people with anxiety, as well as addressing the issues that arise in response to anxiety. Generally, people can become fearful of both the stimuli, as well as their somatic reaction to it. Our approach to anxiety focuses on altering the way a client views the fear, while calming their reaction to that fear.
For more information about research related to hypnosis and integrative therapy for treating anxiety and related struggles, please visit the scholarly articles below.
Experience our therapeutic approach that calms anxiety. Immerse yourself in a journey of transformation, gaining essential insights and tools to revitalize your ambition and life's direction.
