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There is a little-understood relationship between anxiety, anger, and creativity.

Human beings have a need to create that, when unexpressed, can cause anxiety.

Creative self-expression is one of the best ways to productively manage anxiety symptoms.

This is Part 4 of a series on anxiety. See Part 3 here.

Another example of what we as psychotherapists need to convey to our patients seeking relief from their anxiety pertains to the still poorly understood but psychologically crucial connections between anxiety, anger, and creativity.

The Central Role of Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Anxiety

An estimated 470 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, suffer from diagnosed anxiety disorders and many of them receive outpatient treatment such as individual psychotherapy and/or psychopharmacological intervention. Almost 15% of American adults are currently taking some psychiatric medication such as anxiolytics or antidepressants for anxiety (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Though antidepressants, unlike benzodiazepines for instance, are not physiologically addictive per se, they can become psychologically addictive—especially when employed as the primary or sole treatment method for anxiety, i.e., instead of psychotherapy.

The purpose of psychotherapy is to educate and help the anxious patient become more aware of the neurobiological, psychological, and existential significance and sources of their anxiety symptoms, and provide tools, techniques, skills, or methods for constructively managing their anxiety. Such tools may include the appropriate use of psychiatric medications to mitigate the severity of their symptoms. But mostly what psychotherapy needs to provide patients are new ways of conceptualizing, coping with, relating to, and managing their anxiety, including methods like meditation, and addressing the connection between anxiety, anger, and creativity. Without such practical assistance, patients come to depend solely upon their psychiatric medications to manage their anxiety symptoms, a treatment approach which, in the long term,........

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