Most of us see anxiety as the “enemy.” It freezes us up on the dance floor, sends us into heart-racing panic attacks on uneventful plane trips, and diminishes our lives by making us avoid situations that aren’t really dangerous. It’s no wonder so many clients talk about anxiety as something intrusive and unnatural that needs to go away.
But Danie Beaulieu, author of Impact Techniques for Therapists, sees anxiety in a different light. “I was tired of looking at anxiety as a pathology,” she says in this brief video clip. “And I wanted to find a way to look at anxiety as a help, as co-therapist, to help clients understand themselves better, feel better about their choices, their decisions, what they do with their lives—and I found it.” With anxiety as her ally in therapy, Danie now encourages her clients to join her in seeing it as a “beautiful answer from our bodies saying, ‘you’re not respecting the road you’re supposed to follow.’”
Rich Simon
Richard Simon, PhD, founded Psychotherapy Networker and served as the editor for more than 40 years. He received every major magazine industry honor, including the National Magazine Award. Rich passed away November 2020, and we honor his memory and contributions to the field every day.
Danie Beaulieu
Danie Beaulieu, PhD, has been in private practice as a psychologist since 1982. She‘s the author of Impact Techniques for Therapists.
