Anxiety Therapy in Alaska
When Anxiety Won't Go Away
Anxiety can take over your life in ways that are difficult to explain to other people. You may find yourself constantly worrying, overthinking conversations and decisions, feeling on edge, or unable to quiet your mind even when there is nothing you need to solve.
For some people, anxiety shows up physically, a racing heart, tightness in the chest, difficulty breathing, muscle tension, nausea, restlessness, or a body that never seems to fully relax. For others, it means panic attacks, trouble sleeping, avoiding situations that once felt manageable, or constantly anticipating that something is about to go wrong.
You may have already tried therapy, medication, self-help strategies, breathing exercises, or simply pushing through it. Perhaps some of those things helped, but the anxiety keeps returning.
When anxiety persists despite your efforts to manage it, it may be important to look beyond the symptoms and understand what continues to activate your nervous system.
I provide anxiety therapy for adults in Alaska, with a specialized focus on EMDR Intensive Therapy for people whose anxiety may be connected to unresolved traumatic or distressing experiences.
What Does Anxiety Feel Like?
Anxiety doesn’t always feel like worry. Sometimes it shows up as a mind that won’t stop thinking, a body that won’t relax, or a constant sense that something is wrong even when you can’t identify why.
You may notice:
Constant worry or overthinking that is difficult to turn off
Feeling restless, tense, irritable, or constantly on edge
A racing heart, tight chest, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, or muscle tension
Difficulty concentrating or feeling mentally exhausted
Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking with anxiety
Panic attacks or sudden waves of intense fear
Avoiding people, places, situations, or experiences because they trigger anxiety
Replaying conversations or worrying about what might happen next
Feeling overwhelmed by decisions that used to feel manageable
Difficulty relaxing even when you know there is nothing you need to be doing
Anxiety can affect work, relationships, sleep, concentration, physical health, and your ability to enjoy your life. Anxiety and traumatic experiences can also contribute to sleep problems and insomnia. When these symptoms persist or begin interfering with everyday life, therapy can help identify what is maintaining the anxiety and determine an appropriate approach to treatment.
Why Do I Feel Anxious All the Time?
Persistent anxiety can have many causes, and there isn’t one explanation that fits everyone. Stress, relationships, work, health concerns, major life changes, patterns of thinking, and past experiences can all contribute to anxiety.
Sometimes anxiety develops after experiences that overwhelmed your ability to cope at the time. You may not think of what happened as “trauma,” yet your mind and body may continue reacting to reminders, uncertainty, conflict, or situations that resemble earlier experiences.
This can leave you feeling as though your nervous system is always preparing for something to go wrong.
For some people, anxiety becomes a cycle: physical sensations trigger worried thoughts, worried thoughts increase physical activation, and avoiding situations that create anxiety can make life increasingly restricted.
Understanding what is driving your anxiety matters because effective treatment should address more than the symptom itself. Therapy can help determine the patterns, experiences, and triggers contributing to your anxiety and identify the treatment approach that best fits your needs.
Why Does My Anxiety Keep Coming Back?
You may understand your anxiety, recognize your triggers, and have learned ways to manage it, yet still find yourself experiencing the same reactions.
This can be frustrating, especially when you have already tried therapy, medication, mindfulness, breathing exercises, or other strategies that helped for a while but did not create the change you hoped for.
Anxiety can persist for different reasons. Current stress, patterns of worry and avoidance, difficult relationships, health concerns, and past experiences can all contribute. For some people, earlier distressing or traumatic experiences continue to influence how they respond to situations in the present.
A conversation, conflict, sensation, place, or situation may trigger anxiety before you fully understand why. You might know logically that you are okay while your body responds with tension, a racing heart, panic, or an urge to escape.
When anxiety keeps returning, understanding what is maintaining the pattern can help guide treatment rather than simply adding another strategy for managing the symptoms.
Can Trauma Cause Anxiety Years Later?
Yes. Anxiety can sometimes be connected to traumatic or distressing experiences that happened months or even years earlier.
Trauma does not always look like a single catastrophic event. Experiences involving loss, abuse, neglect, violence, accidents, frightening medical events, relationship trauma, chronic stress, or situations in which you felt powerless or overwhelmed can continue to affect how you respond to stress later in life.
You may notice anxiety when something in the present reminds your brain or body of an earlier experience. Sometimes the connection is obvious. Other times, you may experience anxiety, panic, physical reactions, avoidance, or a persistent sense of danger without immediately recognizing what is triggering the response. When symptoms are related to a traumatic experience, they may also occur alongside symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Not everyone with anxiety has a trauma history, and anxiety can develop for many reasons. However, when unresolved traumatic experiences are contributing to current symptoms, addressing those experiences may be an important part of treatment.
What Type of Therapy Is Best for Anxiety?
There is no single therapy that is best for every person with anxiety. The right approach depends on your symptoms, what may be contributing to them, how long they have been present, and what you have already tried.
Evidence-based approaches for anxiety include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), exposure-based approaches, and other therapies selected according to the individual and the type of anxiety being treated.
When anxiety is connected to traumatic or distressing experiences, trauma-focused treatment may also be appropriate. Rather than focusing only on managing anxious thoughts or physical symptoms, treatment can address experiences and triggers that continue to contribute to the anxiety.
I use an individualized approach to determine what is maintaining your symptoms and what type of treatment is most appropriate. My work integrates EMDR Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and other evidence-based strategies based on your needs and treatment goals.
Can EMDR Help With Anxiety?
EMDR Therapy is best known as a treatment for PTSD and trauma, but it may also be helpful when anxiety is connected to distressing experiences, memories, triggers, or learned patterns of fear.
You do not necessarily need to have a PTSD diagnosis for past experiences to affect how you respond today. A frightening event, difficult relationship, painful loss, medical experience, prolonged stress, or other distressing experience can sometimes become connected to present-day anxiety.
EMDR focuses on helping the brain process distressing experiences that continue to trigger emotional, cognitive, or physical reactions. As those experiences are processed, reminders in the present may become less distressing. Part of the initial assessment is determining what is contributing to your symptoms and whether EMDR is a good fit for you.
What If I’ve Tried Therapy for Anxiety and Still Feel Stuck?
You may have spent months or years trying to understand and manage your anxiety. You may know your triggers, recognize your patterns, and have coping skills that help you get through difficult moments. Yet the anxiety may still return.
Sometimes insight and coping strategies are not enough to change the experiences that continue to trigger anxiety. You may understand why you react the way you do and still experience panic, tension, intrusive thoughts, sleep problems, avoidance, or a nervous system that seems to react before you can think your way through it.
If previous therapy has helped you understand your anxiety but you continue to experience significant symptoms, it may be worth considering whether a different treatment approach or treatment format is appropriate.
For adults whose anxiety is connected to unresolved traumatic or distressing experiences, EMDR Therapy can focus directly on processing the experiences and triggers that continue to create distress in the present.
What Is EMDR Intensive Therapy for Anxiety?
EMDR Intensive Therapy uses the same EMDR treatment approach, but treatment is concentrated into several consecutive days rather than divided into weekly sessions over many months.
At Trauma Recovery Institute, EMDR Intensive Therapy typically takes place over 4 to 6 consecutive treatment days, with approximately 6 to 7 hours of focused therapeutic work each day. Treatment includes assessment, preparation, EMDR processing, breaks, stabilization, and integration throughout the intensive.
The concentrated format allows us to continue therapeutic work from one day into the next without waiting a week between sessions. This can be particularly appealing to adults who have already spent significant time in therapy and are looking for a more focused approach.
EMDR Intensive Therapy is not appropriate for everyone. A consultation and clinical assessment help determine whether your symptoms, treatment history, current stability, and goals make an intensive format appropriate for you.
Learn more about how EMDR Intensive Therapy works and what to expect.
How Long Does Anxiety Therapy Take?
There is no single timeline for treating anxiety. The length of therapy depends on the severity and complexity of your symptoms, what is contributing to them, your treatment history, and your individual goals.
Traditional therapy is often delivered in weekly sessions over a period of months or longer. For some people, that format works well. Others may prefer a more concentrated approach, particularly when they have already spent significant time in therapy or want dedicated time to focus on treatment.
EMDR Intensive Therapy concentrates treatment into consecutive days. At Trauma Recovery Institute, an intensive is individualized based on your clinical needs rather than based on a predetermined promise about how quickly symptoms will resolve.
The goal is not to rush the therapeutic process. It is to provide enough uninterrupted treatment time to complete meaningful therapeutic work while continually assessing your response, readiness, and needs.
What Happens During an EMDR Intensive?
An EMDR intensive is more than several hours of continuous trauma processing. Each treatment day is structured to support focused therapeutic work while allowing time for preparation, breaks, stabilization, and integration.
Before trauma processing begins, we assess your symptoms, treatment history, current functioning, and readiness for EMDR. We also identify the experiences, memories, triggers, beliefs, or patterns that may be contributing to your current symptoms and establish strategies to help you remain grounded during treatment.
During the intensive, treatment may include EMDR processing along with other interventions selected according to your individual needs. We monitor your response throughout the day and take breaks as needed rather than expecting you to process continuously for 6 to 7 hours. We also use measurement-based care to monitor symptoms and treatment progress throughout the intensive.
At the end of each treatment day, time is devoted to stabilization and integration so that you are prepared to transition out of the therapy session and into the remainder of your day.
Is EMDR Intensive Therapy Right for My Anxiety?
EMDR Intensive Therapy may be worth considering if anxiety continues to interfere with your life despite previous efforts to address it, particularly when your symptoms appear connected to traumatic or distressing experiences.
You may be a potential candidate if you:
Have persistent anxiety, panic, triggers, avoidance, sleep difficulties, or physical reactions that continue despite treatment
Understand your patterns but still experience reactions that feel difficult to control
Have participated in therapy before but feel there is unresolved work you want to address
Notice connections between current anxiety and earlier traumatic, frightening, painful, or overwhelming experiences
Want focused treatment rather than spreading therapy across weekly sessions for many months
Can dedicate several consecutive days to treatment and recovery
An intensive format is not appropriate for everyone. Readiness, current stability, safety, ability to tolerate focused therapeutic work, and other clinical considerations are assessed before beginning trauma processing.
A consultation is the first step in determining whether EMDR Intensive Therapy, another form of treatment, or a different level of care would be the best fit for your needs.
Can I Do EMDR Intensive Therapy Online?
Yes. EMDR Intensive Therapy can be provided through telehealth for appropriate clients located in Alaska. I also provide in-person EMDR Intensive Therapy in Fairbanks.
Some clients prefer virtual treatment because they can participate from their own home without traveling. Others choose in-person treatment and travel to Fairbanks specifically for an EMDR intensive.
For clients considering Fairbanks as a destination for treatment, the intensive format allows several days of therapy to be scheduled within one trip rather than requiring repeated travel for weekly appointments.
Whether virtual or in-person treatment is appropriate is determined individually based on your clinical needs, treatment goals, privacy, environment, safety, and readiness for intensive EMDR Therapy.
Do I Need to Travel to Fairbanks for Anxiety Treatment?
Not necessarily. I provide EMDR Intensive Therapy in person in Fairbanks and through telehealth for appropriate clients located throughout Alaska.
Some clients choose to travel to Fairbanks because they want to step away from their normal routines and dedicate several consecutive days specifically to treatment. Others prefer to complete their intensive virtually from home.
For clients traveling to Alaska from outside the state, in-person EMDR Intensive Therapy in Fairbanks can also be scheduled as destination treatment. The concentrated format allows treatment to take place during one planned trip rather than requiring repeated travel for weekly appointments.
Fairbanks also offers a quiet setting and opportunities for rest and reflection outside treatment hours. If you are considering traveling for an intensive, we can discuss the practical and clinical considerations during your consultation.
How Much Does EMDR Intensive Therapy Cost?
EMDR Intensive Therapy is a significant investment of both time and financial resources. At Trauma Recovery Institute, intensive treatment is currently $2,490 per treatment day.
The number of treatment days is determined individually based on your symptoms, treatment history, goals, and clinical needs. Intensives are commonly scheduled for 4 to 6 days, although the appropriate treatment plan may vary.
Before scheduling an intensive, we will discuss the recommended treatment plan, anticipated number of days, and financial commitment so you can make an informed decision about whether this approach is right for you.
A deposit reserves your intensive dates. Additional payment options and policies can be discussed during your consultation.
Ready to Find Out Whether EMDR Intensive Therapy Is Right for You?
You do not need more ways to cope with anxiety that continues to interfere with your life. You want to understand what is keeping it going and find out whether a different approach to treatment could help.
If you have tried therapy, medication, coping strategies, or other approaches and continue to experience anxiety, panic, triggers, sleep difficulties, avoidance, or physical reactions, EMDR Intensive Therapy may be an option worth exploring.
I offer complimentary consultations for adults considering EMDR Intensive Therapy. The consultation gives us an opportunity to discuss what you are experiencing, what you have already tried, and what you hope will be different.
There is no obligation to schedule treatment. The purpose of the consultation is to help determine whether EMDR Intensive Therapy appears appropriate for your needs and to give you a clear understanding of what the next steps would involve.
Schedule an Intensive Therapy Consultation
Dr. Yvette Curtis, PsyD, LPC, MAC
EMDRIA Approved Consultant
Trauma Recovery Institute
Fairbanks, Alaska | Telehealth Throughout Alaska
Frequently Asked Questions About Anxiety Therapy
Can anxiety go away with therapy?
Anxiety can improve with appropriate treatment, but there is no single outcome or timeline that applies to everyone. Treatment depends on the type and severity of your symptoms, what is contributing to them, your treatment history, and other individual factors.
Therapy can help you understand patterns that contribute to anxiety, develop more effective ways of responding to symptoms, and, when appropriate, address traumatic or distressing experiences that continue to trigger anxiety.
Can anxiety be caused by past trauma?
Yes, traumatic or distressing experiences can contribute to anxiety for some people. Experiences involving fear, helplessness, loss, abuse, chronic stress, medical events, accidents, or difficult relationships may influence how a person responds to situations later in life.
However, not all anxiety is caused by trauma. Assessment is important for understanding what may be contributing to your particular symptoms.
Can EMDR Therapy be used for anxiety without PTSD?
A PTSD diagnosis is not necessarily required for EMDR Therapy to be considered. EMDR may be appropriate when current anxiety is connected to distressing memories, experiences, triggers, or learned fear responses.
Whether EMDR is appropriate depends on the individual. Assessment and preparation are important parts of determining the appropriate treatment approach.
Is EMDR Intensive Therapy the same as inpatient treatment?
No. EMDR Intensive Therapy at Trauma Recovery Institute is outpatient psychotherapy. Although treatment is concentrated into several consecutive days, clients leave the office or end their telehealth session each day.
It does not provide hospitalization, residential care, medical monitoring, or 24-hour support. Individuals who require a higher level of care should receive services appropriate to those needs.
Do I need a diagnosis before scheduling a consultation?
No. You do not need to know whether your symptoms are anxiety, PTSD, trauma-related, or another condition before scheduling a consultation.
The consultation is an opportunity to discuss what you are experiencing and determine whether further assessment or EMDR Intensive Therapy may be appropriate.
Do you offer anxiety therapy throughout Alaska?
I provide telehealth services to appropriate clients located throughout Alaska and in-person EMDR Intensive Therapy in Fairbanks. Clients may also travel to Fairbanks for destination EMDR Intensive Therapy.
Schedule Your Intensive Therapy Consultation
This consultation is designed for people who have tried therapy and still feel stuck.
In this 30–60 minute consultation, we will:
discuss what has and hasn’t worked in previous therapy
assess whether intensive therapy is appropriate
review treatment structure, timeline, and logistics
determine next steps if we are a good fit
Limited intensive availability. Most clients book 3–6 weeks in advance.
Click on calendar below to schedule.
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