Counselling for anxiety
Anxiety can feel like your mind won't switch off. If worry has become your constant companion, therapy can help you understand what's driving it and find a way through.
BACP accredited member (216379)
What anxiety can look like
Anxiety shows up differently for everyone. For some people it's a knot in the stomach that never quite goes away. For others it's racing thoughts, trouble sleeping, or a constant sense that something bad is about to happen. You might find yourself avoiding situations, overanalysing conversations, or struggling to make decisions because everything feels loaded.
Sometimes anxiety has an obvious cause, like work pressure or a difficult relationship. But often it doesn't. That's one of the most frustrating things about it. You know something feels wrong, but you can't always put your finger on why.
If any of this sounds familiar, you're not alone. Anxiety is one of the most common reasons people come to therapy.
How psychodynamic therapy helps with anxiety
Most approaches to anxiety focus on managing symptoms, things like breathing techniques or challenging anxious thoughts. These can be helpful, but they don't always get to the root of the problem.
Psychodynamic therapy takes a different approach. Rather than just managing the anxiety, we explore where it comes from. Often, the way we respond to stress now is connected to earlier experiences. Maybe you learned to be hyper-alert as a child because things at home felt unpredictable. Maybe you developed the habit of trying to control everything because it was the only way to feel safe.
In our sessions, we'll look at these patterns together. Over time, understanding why you feel anxious can take a lot of its power away. When you can see the connections, the anxiety starts to make sense, and when something makes sense, it becomes much easier to manage.
What sessions look like
There's no pressure to arrive with a plan or know exactly what to say. We'll start wherever feels right for you, and I'll listen carefully and help you notice things you might not have seen on your own.
Some people come for a set number of sessions to work through a specific period of anxiety. Others find that open-ended therapy helps them understand deeper patterns that have been running in the background for years. There's no single right way to do it, and we can think together about what feels most helpful.
Sessions are weekly, lasting 50 minutes, at Manor Drive Medical Centre in Worcester Park.
You don't have to keep pushing through it
If anxiety has been part of your life for a while, you might have got used to just getting on with it. But you don't have to manage it alone. I'm happy to have a conversation about how therapy might help.