Anxiety and the Question of How We Are Seen
Anxiety can be immediate and physical — a quickening heart, shallow breath, a sense of dread. But beneath these sensations is often something more difficult to name. In psychoanalytic work, we take seriously the idea that anxiety has a structure — that it’s not random, even when it feels that way.
One way to think about anxiety is as a response to an open question: how am I seen? What do others want from me? What am I supposed to be in the eyes of the Other?
This question is rarely conscious, but it exerts real pressure. Anxiety can emerge not simply in moments of danger, but when something in our position feels unstable — when we don’t know what is expected of us, or who we are meant to be. It can arise in speech, in relationships, in silence.
Therapy offers a space to begin working this through. Rather than treating anxiety as an error to be corrected, we listen closely to how and where it appears. Over time, many people find that the grip of anxiety softens. What once felt overwhelming becomes more recognisable — and more manageable. The symptom doesn’t disappear through force, but through a change in how it’s positioned.
To read more about how we approach this process, visit our page on anxiety treatment below
Anxiety Treatment DublinRecommended Reading:
Fink, B. (1995). The Lacanian Subject
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