NEW! Hosted by Dr. Diane Poole Heller…
Deconstructing Anxiety
A Breakthrough Approach to Relief
A Free Masterclass with Dr. Todd Pressman & Dr. Diane Poole Heller
A 90-minute live training for therapists, coaches and healing professionals to discover a proven method for identifying the true sources of anxiety and helping clients find lasting relief.
- May 6, 2025 (Tuesday)
1 pm ET / 12 pm CT / 11 am MT / 10 am PT
Find the time in your area
In this FREE, 90-Minute Live Training, we’ll explore…
1
The 5 Universal Core Fears
Learn how abandonment, loss of identity, loss of meaning, loss of purpose, and fear of death drive nearly every anxious response—and how to identify them in your clients as the underlying forces shaping their thoughts, behaviors, and emotional struggles, so you can begin addressing anxiety at its true source.
2
The Fear-Defense Dynamic
Understand how well-meaning defense mechanisms—like perfectionism, control, and avoidance—actually reinforce anxiety instead of resolving it, leading clients to repeat the same patterns of distress despite their best efforts to heal.
3
Clinical Application of the Deconstructing Anxiety Model
Gain tools to pinpoint the core fear/chief defense pattern driving your clients’ anxiety, and learn how to interrupt it using the “Doing the Opposite of the Chief Defense” technique—a powerful practice that helps dismantle habitual defenses and restore access to choice, clarity, and calm.
Discover how Deconstructing Anxiety can transform your approach to anxiety work—bringing deeper, lasting healing to your clients
FREE 90-minute LIVE Masterclass!
Deconstructing Anxiety
A Breakthrough Approach to Relief
Includes teaching + LIVE DEMO plus Q&A
- May 6, 2025 (Tuesday)
1 pm ET / 12 pm CT / 11 am MT / 10 am PT
Find the time in your area
Can’t join live? Sign up now and we’ll send you a free replay!
Why do so many clients struggle to make progress and experience lasting relief from anxiety?
As therapists, we’ve all faced this challenge: a client comes to us, week after week, openly sharing their fears, worries and overwhelm. We offer validation. We teach coping strategies. We try a mix of therapeutic approaches. And yet, progress can feel frustratingly slow.
Traditional methods often focus on managing symptoms—teaching clients to outthink or soothe their anxiety. But too often, this work stays on the surface. We may reduce the frequency of panic attacks or help someone get through their day, but we rarely reach the true source of what’s causing their distress.
Even structured models like CBT or somatic therapy can fall short when the underlying emotional drivers of anxiety remain unexamined. Clients may continue looping through the same patterns, despite years of effort—and that can leave both therapist and client feeling stuck.
So what’s missing?
According to psychologist and author Dr. Todd Pressman, anxiety isn’t the problem—it’s the signal.
A signal pointing to something deeper: a core fear that lives beneath the surface and unconsciously shapes a person’s thoughts, behaviors, and defenses.
These fears—such as abandonment, loss of identity, or loss of meaning—are universal. And in our attempts to avoid them, we develop defense strategies that, while protective, actually reinforce the anxiety over time.
Imagine having a model that helps clients uncover the root of their anxiety—so they can finally move beyond it, rather than endlessly manage it.
In the Deconstructing Anxiety model, Dr. Pressman introduces a revolutionary framework that shows how to identify the exact fear driving a client’s distress—and how to dismantle the patterns that keep it in place.
This approach teaches clients how to recognize their own fear/defense cycle, and gives you the tools to help them interrupt it using a principle known as “Doing the Opposite of the Chief Defense”—the key to real and lasting transformation.
Whether your clients are dealing with chronic worry, intrusive thoughts, or that vague feeling that something is never quite right, this method helps get to the core—quickly, compassionately, and effectively.
You’ll leave this training with a practical, teachable method you can integrate into your work right away—no matter your modality or clinical background.
In this FREE live training, learn about Deconstructing Anxiety directly from Dr. Todd Pressman, the developer of this powerful method for resolving anxiety at its source.
Who Should Join Us?
- Therapists and Counselors: Deepen your clinical toolkit with a model that helps clients uncover the true source causes of anxiety. Learn how to use the Deconstructing Anxiety method alongside your current modalities to move beyond symptom management and create lasting change.
- Social Workers and Mental Health Professionals: Discover a structured yet flexible framework for identifying the deeper patterns that fuel anxiety—helping you tailor more effective interventions for diverse client populations.
- Coaches, Healers, and Somatic Practitioners: Coaches, Healers, and Somatic Practitioners: Learn how the Core Fear/Chief Defense model can support your clients’ emotional and behavioral breakthroughs—while integrating seamlessly with body-based and trauma-informed approaches.
- Clinicians Exploring New or Integrative Approaches: Whether you’re new to anxiety work or looking for a method that cuts to the heart of why clients stay stuck, this training will offer insight, tools, and inspiration to enhance your practice.
PLUS, get a FREE GIFT when you register…
What to Do in an Anxiety Emergency
When anxiety strikes hard, it can feel impossible to think clearly—let alone apply the tools we’ve discussed in therapy. That’s why Dr. Todd Pressman created What to Do in an Anxiety Emergency—a concise, accessible workbook designed to help interrupt panic, restore calm, and guide the mind back to safety.
Inside, you’ll find straightforward language and a simple, repeatable process that’s easy to follow, even in moments of overwhelm. These experiential tools are grounded in the Deconstructing Anxiety model and offer a bridge between in-session work and real-life application.
Whether you’re a clinician looking to give clients a resource they can actively engage with between sessions—or someone who struggles with anxiety yourself—this workbook provides practical, effective strategies that support immediate relief and deeper insight.
Get immediate access to a powerful, practical guide you can start using right away with clients or for yourself
Your free download will be delivered instantly when you sign up!
“Deconstructing Anxiety gives us a roadmap for uncovering what lies beneath the surface—so clients can stop managing anxiety and start resolving it at the source.”
Meet Your Guides
Anxiety can be counterbalanced, outmatched and even overcome when one has a purpose that compels them toward fulfillment.
Todd Pressman, PhD, is the developer of the Deconstructing Anxiety model—a groundbreaking approach to understanding and treating anxiety that integrates depth psychology, clinical insight, and spiritual principles.
A licensed psychologist, award-winning speaker, and author of Deconstructing Anxiety: The Journey from Fear to Fulfillment, Dr. Pressman has worked with individuals and professionals around the world for over 40 years.
His approach is based on the discovery that all forms of anxiety stem from five core fears, and that these fears—when combined with our defensive coping strategies—create the foundation for nearly every form of emotional distress.
Dr. Pressman’s work has been featured at international conferences, in professional training programs, and through publications that reach both clinicians and the public. He is known for offering deep psychological insights in a way that’s both accessible and highly practical.
As a sought-after educator, Dr. Pressman empowers therapists, coaches, and healing professionals with tools to go beyond surface-level treatment—helping clients access clarity, confidence, and lasting transformation.
Anxiety is often a messenger, signaling unresolved fear, pain or hurt from past threat or injury. With enough connection and support, it can soften or even dissipate.
Diane Poole Heller PhD, is an internationally recognized speaker, author, and teaching expert in the field of adult attachment theory and trauma resolution.
Her signature approach—DARe (Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience)—provides therapists and individuals with relevant skills and practical exercises that facilitate healing from attachment and trauma wounds.
Her work with adult attachment has forged a path for adults with childhood attachment injuries to develop Secure Attachment Skills (SAS) that lead to more connected and fulfilling adult relationships.
She has authored several books, including the widely acclaimed The Power of Attachment: How to Create Deep and Lasting Intimate Relationships. Her expertise in trauma healing has supported survivors, helpers, and families affected by events such as 9/11, Columbine, and other school shootings.
Through various training programs, books, lectures and her own work as a clinical therapist, Dr. Heller has helped a countless number of people in their healing journey towards experiencing greater intimacy, wholeness and more fulfilling relationships.
She believes that when we heal ourselves first, we heal our families, our communities and the world as a whole.
FREE 90-minute LIVE Masterclass!
Deconstructing Anxiety
A Breakthrough Approach to Relief
Includes teaching + LIVE DEMO plus Q&A
- May 6, 2025 (Tuesday)
1 pm ET / 12 pm CT / 11 am MT / 10 am PT
Find the time in your area