Complete Idiot's Guide to Conquering Fear and Anxiety

hit her. When she was eight, she was given the star role of the princess in her dance school performance. Her father received the news with indifference. In fact, heundermined her confidence, saying, "Are you sure you dance well enough to be the star?" Being offered a role in a Broadway chorus jiggled her memories of all thetimes her father failed to support her talents and desires, how he had greeted her accomplishments with apathy and doubt of her abilities.Filled with rage, she collapsed in sobs on the floor, ripping to shreds a photo of her father and shouting how he never appreciated her. Afterwards, she felt drained butrelieved and her anxiety abated.Page 92Freudian DoubtsIn spite of the relief of gaining insight into your behavior, thereby forgiving yourself all your imaginable crimes, psychodynamic treatment has shortcomings in treatinganxiety disorders:Gaining insight into your behavior does not alone guarantee freedom from phobias or anxiety.Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy is a long, complex mode of treatment.Emphasizing thoughts or feelings prior to a panic attack, psychodynamic therapists often ignore the physical causes of panic attacks and phobias. This not onlyperpetuates the mind­body split, but limits the efficacy of treatment.Psychodynamic therapy has a poor success rate for eliminating panic attacks and phobias.Nevertheless, once anxiety is brought under control with employing other forms of therapy, such as cognitive­behavioral therapy, research has found psychodynamictherapy useful for those who want a greater understanding of what fuels anxiety and allows it to thrive. A small percentage, generally those highly verbal, introspective,