What Is Generalized Anxiety?
Generalized Anxiety isn’t just nervousness—it’s a constant hum of worry that never quiets down. It wraps itself around your thoughts, your body, your breath. Even on calm days, something in you is bracing. Waiting. You might be brushing your teeth and suddenly remember an email you didn’t send. A missed deadline. A bill. What if I messed everything up? Your partner is late getting home. What if there was a car accident? Your child coughs. What if it’s something serious? These aren’t just passing thoughts. They grip you. And even if you know, logically, that your fears probably won’t come true, it doesn’t feel that way. The uncertainty makes your mind reach for the worst-case scenario—and once it’s there, it sticks. This kind of worry is exhausting. It robs you of presence, of sleep, of joy. It pulls you into endless cycles of checking, planning, preparing—just to make sure nothing bad happens. And when your nervous system is always in high alert, everyday life starts to feel overwhelming. Eventually, it’s not just worry you feel—it’s helplessness. Like something in you is constantly scanning for danger, but never finds rest. Like you’re never truly safe.
Powerlessness: Rooted in Struggling Without Support
From an Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) perspective, the worry in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) isn’t just about what might happen—it’s about something much older that already did. Beneath the racing thoughts and worst-case scenarios is often a deep sense of powerlessness—a feeling of being shaky in the world. Many people with GAD have lived through moments where something overwhelming happened, and they had to face it without the support they needed. Maybe a parent was ill, unpredictable, or emotionally distant. Maybe no one was there to help you make sense of pain or fear. And so the emotional system learned to stay on high alert—not because you’re irrational, but because something in you remembers what it was like to feel overwhelmed in moments when bad things happened. When those moments occur in childhood—and no one helps us hold them—they don’t just pass. They shape how we prepare for the future. They leave behind a core imprint: “I have to be ready. I can’t relax. If I don’t think of everything that could go wrong, I might not survive what comes.” In this light, worry becomes a form of protection. The mind races to predict danger—not because you’re weak, but because your emotional system is trying to prevent pain from happening again. The pain of that your body already knows – the kind of overwhelming pain that once came without support.
Turning Toward the Fear: How EFT Helps
In Emotion-Focused Therapy, we begin by getting to know the anxious part of you—not to push it away, but to understand it. We listen closely to what it fears and what it’s trying to protect. Often, we come to see that this part of you is trying its best to keep you safe. It’s constantly scanning, preparing, bracing for what might go wrong. And while there may be appreciation for how hard this part works, there is often another feeling right beside it: exhaustion. The exhaustion of living in constant fear of the worst happening. The ache of never feeling fully safe, or able to rest. The grief of missing out on the moments that matter because worry pulled you away. In EFT, we make space for that too—for the heartbreak of what this anxiety has cost. As we stay with that pain, we often discover where the anxious part came from. We begin to understand what it’s holding onto from long ago: the child who lived through hard things without the support they needed. The one who had to figure out how to stay safe on their own. And slowly, we turn toward that child—not to analyze them, but to feel with them. To empathize with their fear. To offer the compassion, protection, and attunement they never received. Often, grief rises here—not just for what happened, but for what never did. We feel the sadness of having been alone. And we let it matter. Grief also plays a role in helping us meet the reality of the present—the truth that some things are out of our control. That we cannot prevent every loss or pain. And so we begin to soothe the nervous system not with logic or reassurance, but with feeling—with sadness, with acceptance, with care. Over time, the anxious part doesn’t have to work so hard. The inner alarm system can begin to settle. You may still feel anxious at times—but you’re no longer ruled by it. You’re no longer alone with it. And in that space, there’s more room for presence, for joy, and for a sense of safety that comes not from being certain, but from being supported. This is the heart of what we offer at eFIT.
A Different Kind of Help
GAD can feel like living in a constant state of tension—like you’re always bracing for something that hasn’t happened yet. Even in moments that should feel calm, the worry lingers, stealing joy from the present. At eFit, our Emotion-Focused therapists don’t offer quick fixes or surface-level strategies. We help you turn toward the deeper emotions beneath your anxiety—powerlessness, sadness, grief—and make space for the parts of you that have been holding so much, for so long. If you’re looking for a psychologist and want to explore how EFT can help, you can reach out anytime to learn more.