Understanding Anxiety
Anxiety is one of the most common experiences of being human — especially in uncertain times. It can show up as racing thoughts, overwhelm, emotional load, fear of the future, imagined catastrophes, or a sense of being trapped inside your own mind. For some people, anxiety feels like living in a constant state of “what if,” unable to switch off the internal alarm system.
If this is you, you’re not alone.
Many people who come to therapy describe feeling:
- stuck in loops of imagined futuresunable to relax even when nothing is “wrong”overwhelmed by responsibility or expectationfrightened by their own thoughtstrapped between wanting change and fearing itexhausted by trying to hold everything togetherlike a prisoner of their own mind
Anxiety isn’t just a set of symptoms — it’s part of the human condition, especially when the world feels unstable, fast‑moving or extractive.
Anxiety in uncertain times
We’re living through a period where the background noise is loud: climate worry, economic pressure, social fragmentation, cultural instability, and the sense that the future is harder to imagine. For many people, anxiety isn’t a personal failing — it’s a reasonable response to an unreasonable world.
Therapy can help you make sense of this, rather than pathologising it.
Anxiety and sensitive, non‑linear minds
Some people experience anxiety because their minds are naturally:
- sensitiveimaginativerelationalnon‑linearattuned to subtle shiftsaware of complexity
This isn’t a flaw. It’s a form of intelligence. But in systems that reward speed, certainty and straight‑line thinking, sensitive minds can feel overwhelmed, misunderstood or “too much.” Pluralistic therapy recognises this. We work with your mind, not against it.
What anxiety can feel like
- a tight chest or racing heartspiralling thoughtsfear of the futurecatastrophising difficulty sleepingemotional overloadfeeling unsafe without knowing whya sense of being “on alert” all the timedreaddifficulty making decisionsfeeling disconnected from yourself or others
You might not experience all of these — anxiety is personal, and it shows up differently for everyone.
How I work with anxiety
As a pluralistic counsellor, I tailor therapy to your needs. We might explore:
- your nervous system and embodied responsesrelational patterns that shape anxietythe impact of uncertainty and life transitionstrauma‑shaped responsesecological stressors and cultural pressureexistential fears and imagined futuresthe stories you tell yourself about dangerhow sensitivity and imagination interact with anxiety
We work gently, collaboratively, and at your pace. My approach is relational, embodied, ecological and non‑pathologising. Anxiety is not a failure — it’s information.
You don’t have to stay trapped in your mind
Anxiety can make you feel like you’re living in a small, enclosed space — a mind that won’t switch off, a future that feels frightening, a world that feels too much. Therapy offers room to breathe. Space to think. A place to put things down. A way to understand your mind rather than fight it.
Fees for your support
If you’re experiencing anxiety, you’re welcome to get in touch. My fees are £70 for online sessions, £80 for in-person sessions, and £95 for walk-and-talk sessions. You don’t need to have the right words — we can begin where you are.
