To sense and make sense of anxiety: Physiotherapists' perceptions of their treatment for patients with generalized anxiety

Abstract

The generalized anxiety is characterized by long-term psychological and physiological discomfort. Pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions have been extensively examined, whereas knowledge is scant regarding other professional perspectives. This article focuses on the physiotherapeutic perspective on anxiety, exploring physiotherapists' perceptions of their treatment for patients with generalized anxiety. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 physiotherapists working in psychiatry or primary health care. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis, resulting in one main category and five subcategories. The main category “To sense and make sense of one's anxiety” reflects the idea that physiotherapy works through immediate, tangible bodily experiences to help a person understand and handle his or her anxiety better. Five subcategories reflected different aspects of this main category: (1) the body is the arena of anxiety, (2) to get in touch with oneself, (3) to get down-to-earth with oneself, (4) to make sense of bodily sensations, and (5) to gain trust in one's capability to handle anxiety. In conclusion, the gradual bodily awareness of sensations, to sense and make sense of anxiety in physiotherapy treatment, becomes an opportunity to find ways to withstand and to manage symptoms of anxiety, encouraging an embodied self-trust. The emphasis on the immediately lived body involves the potential to learn how to endure anxiety instead of running away from it, to discern and to understand different sensations, leading to an integration of anxiety as being part of oneself rather than overflowing oneself.

Acknowledgments

We want to thank the participating physiotherapists for sharing their views with us and taking an interest in the completion of this paper. We are also grateful to physiotherapist colleagues discussing the results with us and giving us valuable insights from a clinical point of view. This study was supported by the University of Gothenburg Centre for Person-Centered Care, Gothenburg, Sweden, the Renée Eanders Fund, Sweden and the Memorial Fund of Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Stockholm, Sweden.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflict of interest.