Anxiety

I work with adults struggling with anxiety, overthinking, and constant worry.

Person with hands on face, eyes closed, in a busy Chicago street with blurred lights and motion effect, appearing anxious.

Anxiety can take a lot of different emotional, physical, and mental forms

You might notice:

  • Worry or rumination: thoughts stuck in a loop on replay

  • Catastrophizing: bracing for the worst case scenario

  • Self-comparison: feeling out of place and believing others are happier or better off

  • Over-preparing: rehearsing, planning, or trying to control every possible outcome

  • Reassurance seeking: may help in the moment, but the doubts tend to come back

  • Physical and mental strain: irritability, restlessness, jaw, neck, or shoulder tension, and fatigue

If some of this feels familiar, you may be experiencing some anxiety.

How Therapy For Anxiety Can Help

This is not a quick fix. We are not just trying to manage symptoms, we are trying to understand what is underneath them, which is often long standing. We start by slowing things down and taking a step back. Instead of getting pulled into the same loops, we look more closely at what is happening in those moments and what keeps them going when you want them to stop. What I often find is that there are broader themes that keep replaying in someone’s life. Sometimes the anxiety itself is less the core issue and more a signal of something else going on.

This can look like fears of losing something important or feeling out of control, longstanding feelings of being unlikeable or weird, or a tendency to put yourself second to others and hold back your thoughts or feelings, etc.

As those patterns become clearer, it becomes easier to start shifting how you relate to them. Not all at once, more gradually. Small shifts tend to make bigger changes feel more doable. Over time, this usually leads to feeling more steady and more clear on what is happening internally and why.

  • Overthinking is often an attempt to feel more certain or in control. The mind keeps going over the same thoughts, hoping to find an answer or prevent something from going wrong, but it usually just keeps the cycle going.

  • Anxiety is not always constant. It tends to come and go depending on what is happening around you and internally. Certain situations, thoughts, or even subtle shifts in mood can trigger it, while at other times it may feel more quiet.

    What can be confusing is that the pattern is not always obvious. Part of the work is understanding what tends to set it off and what keeps it going, so it feels less unpredictable.

  • It is less about how it looks from the outside and more about how much space it takes up internally. If it is hard to relax, hard to be present, or it feels like your mind does not turn off, it may be worth looking at more closely.

If you are thinking about starting therapy, feel free to reach out.

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