Anxiety

When anxiety shows up, it often isn’t just thoughts. It can feel like your whole body is going into overdrive.

You may find yourself overthinking, anticipating what could go wrong, struggling to settle, or feeling like you need to stay alert to what is happening around you. Sometimes you know you are safe, but your body does not seem to have received the message.

In our work, we slow things down and pay attention to what is happening in real time. I support you with anxiety directly while also looking at what may be underneath it, including nervous system patterns, past experiences, trauma, and learned ways of responding to threat.

Anxiety is not always a problem. Sometimes it is a helpful and appropriate response to what is happening in your life. Other times, it becomes overwhelming, persistent, or disconnected from present-day reality. In therapy, we work with these differently.  

If you're curious about what may be underneath your anxiety, you may also want to read What Anxiety Might Be Trying to Tell You. 

Adaptive anxiety is anxiety that is proportionate to a situation and supports you in taking action.

It can help you pay attention, prepare, make decisions, and respond effectively.

With adaptive anxiety, the focus may be on:

• strengthening your sense of agency
• supporting clear decision-making
• building practical coping strategies
• helping you plan and move forward with confidence
• learning to trust your internal signals without becoming overwhelmed by them

The goal is not to eliminate this type of anxiety, but to help you work with it in a way that feels grounded and manageable.

Maladaptive anxiety can be out of proportion, persistent, or no longer connected to what is actually happening in the present.

It can feel like your nervous system is reacting as though something is still dangerous, even when you are safe.

Anxiety can have many roots. Sometimes it is closely connected to what is happening in your life now. Sometimes past experiences, chronic stress, or learned patterns also shape how your nervous system responds in the present.

With maladaptive anxiety, therapy may involve:

• processing experiences that are still affecting you in the present
• working with nervous system responses that have become stuck
• reducing the intensity of automatic threat responses
• helping your body and mind update old survival patterns
• learning different ways to respond when anxiety takes over
• using approaches such as EMDR or ERP when appropriate

If certain situations, places, or experiences trigger fear, we approach them gradually and at a pace that feels manageable. The goal is to help you build confidence without forcing or flooding yourself.

I invite you to reach out for a brief introductory call. We can talk about what you’re experiencing and whether working together feels like a good fit.