Lori G, LPC
Therapy
Understanding Anxiety
Anxiety is a normal human response to stress, uncertainty, and perceived danger. In some situations, it can be helpful by keeping us alert and prepared.
But anxiety can become overwhelming when it feels constant, difficult to control, or begins interfering with daily life.
It may show up as persistent worry, overthinking, physical tension, panic, irritability, trouble sleeping, difficulty concentrating, avoidance, or feeling like your mind is always preparing for something to go wrong.
Anxiety can affect work, relationships, decision-making, confidence, and your ability to feel present in your own life.
How Anxiety Can Show Up
Anxiety does not always look the same from person to person.
Some common experiences may include:
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Frequent or excessive worry
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Overthinking conversations or decisions
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Feeling restless or unable to relax
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Racing thoughts
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Muscle tension or headaches
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Difficulty sleeping
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Irritability
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Trouble concentrating
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Feeling easily overwhelmed
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Avoiding situations that create discomfort or uncertainty
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Physical symptoms such as a racing heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, or sweating
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Panic attacks or sudden periods of intense fear
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Reassurance-seeking
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Feeling a strong need to plan, prepare, or maintain control
You do not have to experience all of these symptoms for anxiety to be affecting your life.
Why Anxiety Can Feel
So Hard to Turn Off
Anxiety often involves the brain and body trying to protect you.
When something feels threatening — whether the threat is happening now, might happen later, or is connected to something from the past — your nervous system can respond as though action is needed immediately.
Over time, worry, avoidance, reassurance-seeking, or trying to control every possible outcome can temporarily reduce anxiety while unintentionally reinforcing the cycle.
Therapy can help you better understand that cycle and develop ways to respond differently.
Anxiety, Stress &
Life Experiences
Anxiety may develop for many different reasons.
For some people, it may be connected to chronic stress, relationships, work demands, major life transitions, trauma, grief, health concerns, family experiences, or uncertainty about the future.
For others, anxiety may seem to appear without an obvious explanation.
Sometimes the goal is not to identify one single cause. Instead, therapy can help you understand what tends to activate anxiety, what keeps it going, and what helps you feel safer and more grounded.
Panic & Physical Symptoms
Anxiety can be intensely physical.
A racing heart, difficulty breathing, dizziness, shaking, nausea, chest tightness, or feeling disconnected from your surroundings can be frightening, especially when those sensations seem to appear suddenly.
Panic attacks can sometimes create a second layer of anxiety: worrying about when the next one may happen.
Therapy can help you better understand your body’s stress response, recognize patterns, and develop strategies for responding to physical symptoms without allowing fear of those symptoms to increasingly limit your life.
Anxiety & Other Concerns
Anxiety often overlaps with other mental health or life concerns.
It may occur alongside depression, trauma or PTSD, substance use, burnout, relationship difficulties, emotional regulation concerns, or major life transitions.
Looking at the whole picture can help us understand whether anxiety is the primary concern, part of another pattern, or one piece of several things happening at the same time.
How Therapy Can Help
Therapy for anxiety may include work around:
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Identifying triggers and patterns
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Understanding the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors
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Reducing avoidance
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Managing overthinking and rumination
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Developing grounding and coping strategies
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Learning to tolerate uncertainty
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Challenging unhelpful thought patterns
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Building confidence in difficult situations
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Improving emotional regulation
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Addressing perfectionism or people-pleasing
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Exploring boundaries and relationship patterns
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Understanding how past experiences may influence current anxiety
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Developing more sustainable responses to stress
What Therapy With Me
May Look Like
My approach to anxiety is person-centered, collaborative, and practical.
I do not believe the goal of therapy is to eliminate every uncomfortable feeling. Anxiety is part of being human. Instead, we can work on helping anxiety take up less space, become easier to understand, and have less control over your decisions.
Depending on what you need, I may incorporate Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Narrative Therapy, Gestalt techniques, psychoeducation, strengths-based approaches, and other interventions.
Sometimes we may focus on practical coping strategies. At other times, we may slow down and look more closely at the patterns, experiences, or beliefs that seem to be keeping anxiety active.
The goal is to help you feel more grounded, more confident in your ability to handle discomfort, and less controlled by the need to predict or prevent everything that could go wrong.
Ready to Get Started?
Ready to schedule therapy?
Visit Healthstead Psychiatry for scheduling, availability, and insurance information.
Not sure yet?
Contact me for a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation to see whether we may be a good fit.