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Holding Space with Dr. Barker
Holding Space with Dr. Christopher Barker is a psychology podcast focused on how unresolved complex trauma shapes daily life — from childhood through adulthood.
Complex trauma isn’t only about major events. It develops through chronic stress, attachment wounds, emotional neglect, and relational instability. Over time, these survival adaptations can show up as ADHD-like symptoms in children, emotional dysregulation, workplace conflict, burnout, leadership struggles, relationship challenges, and intergenerational family patterns.
Through the lens of EMDR therapy, attachment theory, neuroscience, and trauma-informed care, Dr. Barker explains how the nervous system learns to survive — and how healing becomes possible.
Each episode offers research-based insight and practical tools for regulating triggers, improving relationships, and moving from survival mode to intentional living.
Understanding your story is the beginning. Healing transforms how you live it.
Welcome to Holding Space.
https://substack.com/@christopherbarkerphd
Holding Space with Dr. Barker
Understanding Anxiety: How the Brain, Worry, and the Amygdala Create the Anxiety Loop (and How to Break It)
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In this episode of Holding Space, Dr. Christopher Barker takes a compassionate, science-grounded look at anxiety—what it is, why it exists, and how it can spiral out of control if we don’t change our relationship to it.
Drawing from clinical experience and insights shared at the Evolution of Psychotherapy conference, Dr. Barker explains how anxiety begins with a real-world trigger and moves through the brain’s fear center, the amygdala, activating the fight-or-flight response. Elevated heart rate, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and racing thoughts aren’t signs that something is “wrong”—they’re signs your nervous system is doing exactly what it was designed to do.
But when worry feeds on physical symptoms, anxiety can become self-perpetuating—creating a looping cycle that feels impossible to escape. Dr. Barker introduces a practical and empowering framework for interrupting the anxiety loop, reframing anxiety as a normal emotion rather than an enemy, and learning how to respond instead of react.
Using a memorable metaphor—“anxiety as a cult leader”—this episode explores why anxiety demands obedience, how avoidance keeps it powerful, and how skills from CBT, ACT, mindfulness, distress tolerance, and self-care can help you regain control.
This conversation is essential listening for anyone struggling with anxiety, panic symptoms, chronic worry, or the physical sensations that often accompany them—and for clinicians, caregivers, and anyone interested in mental health, emotional regulation, and resilience.
Holding Space For You