NARM Training Institute

This webinar focuses on understanding and working with anxiety, with particular attention to how it differs from fear. NARM Master Therapist Sherri Sharkins and NARM founder Dr. Laurence Heller discuss how anxiety often signals deeper emotions or unmet needs, introducing the NARM concepts of signal anxiety and futuristic memory. They highlight why common strategies such as reassurance or rationalization are rarely effective, and instead emphasize the importance of curiosity and exploration rather than avoidance. The conversation also touches on panic attacks, the link between anxiety and perfectionism, and potential pitfalls therapists may encounter when working with anxiety.

This webinar further explores the difference between anxiety and activation, and highlights the value of mindfulness and somatic awareness when addressing anxiety clinically. The speakers discuss how to recognize child consciousness and unresolved developmental themes that shape anxiety, as well as how anxiety and fear can show up simultaneously—for example, during the COVID-19 pandemic—and how to distinguish between real fear and anxiety rooted in unresolved personal history.