Individual therapy for anxiety and overthinking
Anxiety Counselling in Enfield and Online
You may know that nothing terrible has happened, while your mind and body behave as though something is wrong.
You replay the conversation on the way home. You tell yourself to leave it alone. By the time you reach the front door, you have gone through it several times. You are no closer to knowing what they meant, but the feeling that something went wrong has become harder to shake.
Sometimes anxiety is felt before it has words. Your chest tightens. Your stomach will not settle. You wake early with a thought already waiting, or remain alert long after the day has finished.
The worry can be difficult enough. Then another voice appears, telling you that you are being dramatic, needy or weak for feeling it at all.
Therapy can offer a place to slow this cycle down and understand what the anxiety is trying to protect you from, rather than treating it as an irritating part of you that needs to be defeated.
Anxiety can become a way of trying to stay safe
Overthinking often looks like a search for certainty. You may go back through messages, conversations and decisions because finding the right explanation feels as though it might finally let you rest.
You might prepare carefully, ask for reassurance or avoid situations where you cannot control the outcome. These responses can make sense, particularly if uncertainty, criticism or unpredictability have felt dangerous before.
The relief rarely lasts. The mind finds another question, another possibility or another reason not to trust that things are okay.
You check the message once more.
You know the words have not changed.
You are hoping the feeling will.
When anxiety begins to organise your life
Anxiety does not only live in thoughts. It can begin shaping the choices you make before you notice that it is doing so.
These patterns may help you feel safer in the moment. Over time, they can make life feel narrower and leave you doubting your ability to manage anything you have not prepared for.
When anxiety enters relationships
A delayed reply can feel like rejection. A change in tone can seem to confirm that something is wrong. Part of you may understand that there could be many explanations, while another part is already preparing for the relationship to change.
You may ask for reassurance and then feel ashamed for needing it. You might become watchful, check for signs or withdraw before somebody has the chance to leave.
Other people may tell you that you are overthinking. That can leave you doubting your own experience while doing little to settle the fear underneath it.
In therapy, we can think about what closeness brings up for you, what you imagine other people expect and what happens when you cannot immediately know where you stand.
Anxiety does not happen outside your life
Not every fear belongs to the past. Work pressure, racism, financial uncertainty, health concerns, family responsibility and difficult relationships can all create real reasons to feel alert.
Therapy should not turn those realities into a personal failure to cope. We can keep the world around you in view while also noticing when a present concern begins carrying the emotional force of something older.
How I work with anxiety
I work relationally and psychodynamically. This means paying attention to what is happening in your life now while also wondering how earlier relationships, losses and experiences may have shaped the way you manage uncertainty.
We will not rush to prove that every anxious thought is irrational. Some worries are grounded in real difficulties. Instead, we can begin to distinguish between what belongs to the present and what may have become connected to an older fear of criticism, rejection, danger or being left alone with something difficult.
I may notice how quickly you assume that somebody is disappointed, how hard it feels to leave a question unanswered or what happens between us when you are unsure what I am thinking. These moments can help us understand the anxiety as it happens, rather than only discussing it afterwards.
The aim is not to remove every anxious feeling. It is to help you feel less governed by it and more able to respond with choice.
Beginning individual therapy
The first consultation is a meeting, not a commitment to ongoing therapy. It gives you space to say more about what has been happening, ask practical questions and experience how I work.
- First consultation
- 50 minutes, £50
- Ongoing sessions
- 50 minutes, £80
- Frequency
- Usually weekly, at the same time each week
- Location
- Online, Enfield Town, Enfield Chase or Winchmore Hill
- Length of therapy
- Agreed together and reviewed as the work develops
You do not need to know exactly where the anxiety comes from before contacting me. A few words about what has become difficult are enough.
Frequently asked questions
What if the thing I am worried about is genuinely happening?
Therapy is not about persuading you that every concern is imagined. We can think about the reality of the situation, what is within your control and why a particular uncertainty has become so difficult to carry.
What if talking gives me more to overthink?
That fear makes sense. Therapy should not become another place where you feel pressured to find the perfect explanation. We can notice when reflection becomes another form of checking and work at a pace that allows thought to settle rather than multiply.
Why do I feel most anxious in close relationships?
Closeness can bring fears of rejection, abandonment, disappointment or being too much. We can explore how those fears developed and what happens when another person feels difficult to read.
Do I need an anxiety diagnosis before beginning therapy?
No. You may be functioning well in many areas of life while finding that worry, tension or overthinking is taking more from you than other people realise.
Do you offer anxiety counselling online?
Yes. I offer online individual therapy alongside in-person appointments in Enfield Town, Enfield Chase and Winchmore Hill.
You do not need to have the right explanation
A short message about what you have been experiencing is enough to begin. I will reply personally with my current availability.
Request an Appointment