Summary - Deconstructing Anxiety

With the revolutionary understanding that anxiety/fear is at the root of all suffering, participants will gain insight into the five core fears—the “universal themes of loss”—that we all share: abandonment (loss of love); loss of identity; loss of meaning; loss of purpose; and fear of death.

We develop our primary defenses in childhood as our best attempts to protect ourselves from these fears, but we always do so at too great a cost. This leaves us constantly holding vigil, forever on the lookout for the resurfacing of the fear. We build our personalities upon this fear-defense dynamic, it defines us. Left unchecked against reality, anxiety disorders can develop.

The theory and techniques offered in this workshop, such as “The Alchemist,” “The Witness,” and “The Warrior’s Stance,” will teach participants how to uncover the core fear and chief defense quickly and reliably. These will be understood as the architects of personality and the creators of our perceptual world. Armed with this knowledge, different strategies for “doing the opposite” of the chief defense and its secondary defenses prove effective with even the most anxious clients.

Incorporating psychodynamics, mindfulness, Gestalt, CBT, and transpersonal psychology, this training will demonstrate the actual techniques posited, making for a rich and highly experiential training. Participants will learn to pinpoint the precise moment where resistance is created and how to release it, enabling achievement of the ultimate goal to let go of “the resistance to resistance." This process transforms our entire view of Self and redefines the limits of the human potential.

In the final section of the training, participants will undertake “The Visioning Process," wherein the five core fears are fully resolved, and one can live with a solid sense of identity, meaning, purpose, love, and even freedom from the fear of death.

Participants are encouraged to come prepared for an exciting adventure into the deepest regions of the unconscious, where the hidden fears at the source of our difficulties live. This training will bring them out, into consciousness, and render them available for rapid and lasting transformation.

Practitioners, clinicians, students, and professionals of all levels of knowledge and experience are encouraged to participate.

Dr. Pressman is an award-winning speaker, psychologist and author. He is known internationally for his work on "Deconstructing Anxiety." Graduating with degrees in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and Saybrook University, he has authored 3 widely acclaimed books and over one hundred published articles on the subject of human potential. He is also a highly sought after media expert, having appeared on scores of television, radio and podcast shows. His most recent book Deconstructing Anxiety: The Journey from Fear to Fulfillment, was named one of the top 15 books on anxiety by a panel of mental health professionals, physicians and psychiatrists.

In 1982, he traveled the world to study the great wisdom and healing traditions, including with a Zen master in Kyoto, a Jain family in Delhi, a Zoroastrian high priest in Mumbai and a Sri Lankan firewalker. His education also includes an internship under Stanislav Grof, MD (considered the grandfather of Transpersonal Psychology), mentoring by Stanley Krippner, PhD, and study with other notables in the field.

With a background deeply rooted in professional tradition (he was mentored by a father whose teachers were taught by Sigmund Freud), he has integrated his breadth of experience into a new program of psychological and personal development called "Deconstructing Anxiety." His working model is based on Michelangelo's ideal: to release the statue from the stone, the authentic Self from the overlays of imposed identity, into the discovery of purpose, meaning, and enduring fulfillment.