Maybe you replay conversations long after they’re over, wondering if you said the wrong thing. Maybe you think through every possible outcome before making a decision, only to question it afterward anyway. Or maybe your mind just feels busy all the time, even when there isn’t anything obviously wrong.
Sometimes you know you’re overthinking, but knowing that doesn’t necessarily make it easier to stop.
Therapy can be a place to slow some of that down and get curious about what’s actually happening.
Sometimes worry is only part of it
Anxiety doesn’t always feel like panic or intense fear. It can be quieter than that.
It might look like needing to feel certain before making a decision, preparing for things that haven’t happened yet, avoiding situations because you’re not sure how they’ll go, or looking to other people for reassurance that everything is okay.
You might put a lot of pressure on yourself to get things right. Or notice that your mind tends to jump ahead while part of you is wishing you could just be where you are.
And sometimes, you may not really know why you feel uneasy at all.
We don’t need to have that figured out before we start.
Getting curious about what keeps it going
There are practical ways of working with anxious thoughts and feelings, and those can absolutely be part of therapy.
But we can also look at the bigger picture.
What tends to set the worry off? What happens when you try to make it go away? Are there certain situations, relationships, expectations, or uncertainties that seem to bring it out more than others?
Sometimes the ways we cope make a lot of sense once we understand where they came from, even if they aren’t helping us in quite the same way anymore.
We’re not looking for a deeper meaning behind every thought. We’re simply making room to understand your experience a little better, so you don’t have to feel quite so caught up in it.
We can start wherever you are
You don’t need to know whether what you’re experiencing “counts” as anxiety, and you don’t need to come in knowing exactly what you want to change.
If something has been taking up too much space in your head, we can start there.
I offer virtual psychotherapy to teens and adults across Ontario. If you’d like to get a sense of whether working together feels like a good fit, you’re welcome to book a free 30-minute consultation.
