Therapy for Anxiety

Your life looks good on paper. Your mind doesn't always feel that way.

You may have worked hard to build a life you're proud of. You have a demanding career, meaningful relationships, and plenty of things to be grateful for. From the outside, things may look like they're going well.

But internally, it can feel very different. Your mind is constantly running through possibilities. You replay conversations, anticipate problems, second-guess decisions, and think about what you should have done differently. Even when there isn't an immediate problem to solve, it can be difficult to relax.

You may find yourself wondering, “Why am I so anxious when everything is going well!?”

For many high-achieving professionals, anxiety doesn't look like being unable to function. It can look like being exceptionally responsible, prepared, productive, and dependable—while privately feeling exhausted from being “on” all the time.

Therapy can help you understand what's keeping your anxiety going and develop new ways of responding so you can feel more present, grounded, and able to enjoy the life you've worked so hard to create.

When anxiety looks like having it all together.

Anxiety isn't always obvious. You can meet expectations at work, maintain relationships, and accomplish your goals while carrying a significant amount of worry internally.

You might:

  • Constantly think through different scenarios and possible outcomes

  • Have difficulty making decisions without second-guessing yourself

  • Feel responsible for keeping everything—and everyone—on track

  • Have trouble turning off work or mentally leaving work at the end of the day

  • Find yourself saying yes when you want to say no

  • Feel tense or physically keyed up even when nothing is particularly wrong

  • Spend a lot of time thinking about what other people need from you

  • Know intellectually that something isn't a big deal but still feel anxious about it

  • Have a hard time tolerating uncertainty when you can't know or control what will happen

You may even be very good at managing anxiety. You get things done. You prepare. You anticipate. You push through. The problem is that constantly managing your anxiety can become exhausting.

Worry can be form of self-protection.

I don't view anxiety as something that is simply “wrong” with you. Often, anxiety develops as a way of protecting yourself from something external.

At some point, worrying may have helped you feel prepared. Anticipating problems may have kept you safe or helped you avoid disappointment. Staying productive may have given you a sense of control. Paying close attention to other people's needs may have helped you maintain relationships or avoid conflict.

These strategies can be incredibly effective. They may even have contributed to your success. But a coping strategy that was once helpful can become limiting when you no longer need it in the same way.

You learned to stay one step ahead of problems—and now your mind has trouble standing still.

You learned that being responsible means anticipating everyone's needs—and now asking for what you need feels uncomfortable.

You learned to feel safe by being prepared—and now uncertainty feels almost impossible to tolerate.

Therapy isn't about getting rid of the parts of you that made you successful. It's about understanding those patterns well enough so that you have a choice in how you respond.

How Anxiety Therapy Can Help

My approach combines practical skills with a deeper understanding of why your anxiety developed in the first place.

CBT can help you recognize the thought patterns that keep anxiety going and develop more flexible ways of responding.

Together, we can work on:

  • Identifying cognitive distortions

  • Recognizing catastrophic thinking

  • Challenging predictions and assumptions

  • Increasing your ability to tolerate uncertainty

  • Using exposure when avoidance is maintaining anxiety

  • Practicing new responses to situations that trigger worry

The goal isn't to force yourself to “think positively.”

It's to become better at noticing when anxiety is driving your thinking and deciding whether that thought actually needs your attention.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

DBT skills can be particularly useful when you understand your anxiety intellectually but still feel overwhelmed by it physically or emotionally.

We may work on:

  • Distress tolerance

  • Interpersonal effectiveness

  • Radical acceptance

  • Responding rather than reacting

  • Communicating your needs more directly

  • Staying grounded when anxiety is telling you that you need to fix something immediately

These skills can help you move from automatically reacting to anxiety toward making intentional choices about how you want to respond.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

The goal of anxiety therapy isn't simply to have fewer anxious thoughts. It's to have more freedom in your life.

That might mean:

  • Making a decision without analyzing every possible outcome

  • “Leaving” work without continuing to mentally work

  • Sitting with uncertainty without immediately trying to solve it

  • Setting a boundary without spending hours questioning whether you did the right thing

  • Asking for what you need in your relationships

  • Allowing someone else to be disappointed without assuming you've done something wrong

  • Relaxing without needing to earn it first

  • Noticing anxious thoughts without automatically treating them as facts

  • Feeling physically calmer and more present

  • Being able to enjoy something without simultaneously anticipating what could go wrong

You worked hard to build a life you care about. Therapy can help you actually be in it.

Learning to live instead of constantly preparing

FAQ for Anxiety Therapy

  • You don't need to be in crisis to benefit from therapy. In fact, it’s much more effective to build and hone skills in a regulated state.

    Anxiety may be worth addressing when worry, overthinking, physical tension, or difficulty relaxing begins affecting your relationships, work, sleep, decision-making, or ability to enjoy your life.

    Many of my clients are highly functional and successful. They seek therapy because they are tired of how much energy it takes to keep everything under control.

  • Yes. Therapy can help you identify the thought patterns that contribute to overthinking and practice responding differently to uncertainty, catastrophic thinking, and repetitive worry.

    The goal isn't to eliminate every anxious thought. It's to become less distressed by those thoughts.

  • Anxiety doesn't necessarily reflect how objectively good or difficult your circumstances are. Your mind may have learned to anticipate problems as a way of creating safety, control, or preparedness.

    If you've spent years being responsible, productive, and prepared, it can be difficult to shift out of that mode even when there is no immediate problem to solve.

  • Definitely not! In fact alleviating your anxiety will likely give you more bandwidth to experience success in ways you aren’t dreaming about yet.

    Therapy isn't about making you less driven or changing the qualities that have helped you succeed. Instead, we can explore whether your ambition is coming from a place of choice or whether anxiety, fear, or self-criticism is driving you. The goal is to help you pursue what matters to you.

  • Item descriptionYes. Difficulty setting boundaries is often connected to anxiety about disappointing people, being perceived negatively, or feeling responsible for other people's reactions.

    Using CBT and DBT-based strategies, we can work on identifying those fears and practicing more direct, effective communication.

  • Yes. I provide individual therapy online to adults throughout Massachusetts. Virtual therapy can make it easier to fit consistent treatment into the schedule of a demanding professional life.