Navigating Anxiety
Understanding Anxiety as Part of the Human Experience
Anxiety is one of the most common reasons people seek therapy. While often uncomfortable and overwhelming, anxiety is a natural human experience. My approach is psychodynamically informed, meaning we do not focus solely on eliminating anxiety but rather on understanding it and learning to integrate its meaning into a life well lived. By exploring its origins and giving it space, we uncover the deeper messages it carries. Over time, this insight helps loosen its grip, allowing for greater emotional freedom.
Listening to Anxiety as an Internal Alarm System –
Anxiety is often a signal that something in our lives needs attention. It can emerge from a variety of sources, acting as an internal warning system for areas of misalignment, uncertainty, or unmet needs. Some examples include:
Conflicts in personal values – Feeling torn between what we believe in and how we are living.
Fear of failure or inadequacy – Doubting our ability to handle responsibilities or challenges.
Unprocessed emotions or trauma – Past experiences resurfacing when triggered by current events.
Relationship dynamics – Anxiety can arise when we struggle with attachment, communication, or boundaries.
Uncertainty about the future – A fear of the unknown or difficulty in making important decisions.
Social expectations and pressure – The weight of external expectations or the need to fit in.
Rather than ignoring or suppressing anxiety, therapy helps us interpret these signals, put words to our experience, and move toward greater clarity and emotional integration.
Beyond Symptoms: Seeing Yourself as a Whole Person
Anxiety presents itself in many ways, often manifesting through physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms. Some common forms include:
Persistent worry or overthinking – Feeling stuck in loops of excessive concern about the future.
Restlessness or difficulty relaxing – A constant sense of unease or inability to settle.
Physical tension – Tightness in the body, racing heart, or disrupted sleep patterns.
Avoidance behaviors – Steering clear of situations, people, or emotions that feel overwhelming.
Difficulty concentrating – Racing thoughts that make it hard to focus or stay present.
While these symptoms can be distressing, therapy is not about reducing a person to a collection of anxious reactions. You are more than your anxiety. You are a whole person—capable of joy, connection, creativity, and resilience. Rather than viewing anxiety as something to "fix," therapy explores it as part of your larger emotional world, allowing you to live more fully rather than merely seeking relief.
The Danger of Avoiding Anxiety –
There are two forms of suffering: 1. the natural challenges life presents and 2. the suffering that comes from resisting those challenges. When we attempt to push away anxiety, we don’t eliminate it—we bury it, often in ways that create even deeper distress. This avoidance can take many forms, whether through constant distraction, overworking, perfectionism, emotional numbing, substance use, or taking on too much to prove our worth. While these strategies might bring temporary relief, they can reinforce anxiety in the long run, keeping us disconnected from the deeper emotions that need acknowledgment.
Therapy offers an alternative: engaging with emotions fully, allowing them to be processed rather than silenced.
Bravely Engaging with Emotion –
The goal is not simply to remove anxiety but to cultivate a life where emotions, both difficult and joyful, are embraced as essential parts of being human. Therapy can help you build the courage to experience life deeply, without shutting down or withdrawing. By leaning into the full spectrum of emotion, you can move beyond fear and limitation, creating a life that is not just happy, but deeply felt and fully lived.
