Anxiety Therapy in South Pasadena, CA
Online therapy available throughout California
You may find your mind busy anticipating what could go wrong, replaying conversations, or bracing for what might happen next. Tension or restlessness can also make it hard to unwind. Sometimes there is a clear source for the anxiety, such as a major transition, relationship stress, professional pressure, or uncertainty about the future. In other cases, anxiety can linger without an obvious source. Living with that level of vigilance can be exhausting.
My approach to anxiety therapy focuses on understanding what is driving your anxiety, not just how to manage it. I take a holistic view, considering your thoughts, emotions, body, relationships, environment, and personal history, while also offering practical strategies for moments of overwhelm.
How Anxiety Can Show Up
Anxiety can influence how you think, decide, relate to others, and go about your day. These patterns can become so ingrained that they begin to feel automatic or simply like part of how you move through the world. You might notice:
Chronic worry or overthinking
Fear of mistakes or falling short
Self-doubt and second-guessing
Indecision or fear of choosing wrong
Procrastination or putting things off because they feel overwhelming
Trouble relaxing or being present
Feeling keyed up or constantly on edge
Avoiding situations that feel unpredictable or uncomfortable
Closely monitoring others’ emotions and needs, even at the expense of your own
Types of Anxiety I Work With
Anxiety can take many forms:
Generalized anxiety and persistent worry
Social anxiety
Health anxiety
Panic and acute anxiety
Perfectionism and performance anxiety
Anxiety during life transitions
Anxiety connected to creative work, career, and burnout
Anxiety and Being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)
For highly sensitive people, anxiety can be particularly intense. Being deeply attuned to others and easily affected by your surroundings, including sensory input and subtle changes in tone or expression, can contribute to overwhelm and emotional exhaustion.
You may also need more time to recover after periods of heightened stimulation, particularly when there has been little opportunity to rest. We can consider how sensitivity plays out in your relationships, boundaries, and routines while honoring your needs without assuming it is something that has to change.
Understanding What Shapes Anxiety
People-pleasing, self-criticism, avoidance, a desire for control, or rigid rules for yourself can all reinforce anxiety. Past experiences, including trauma, may have shaped what you came to expect from yourself and the people close to you. Making these connections can reveal how those beliefs are influencing you now, so old reactions feel less inevitable.
Anxiety can also become organized around a need for certainty. You may find yourself researching, rehearsing, checking, seeking reassurance, or trying to anticipate every possible outcome before making a decision. These efforts can bring temporary relief while keeping the underlying fear active. Anxiety therapy can involve noticing these habits and practicing a different relationship to uncertainty without needing to feel completely sure first.
Drawing from psychodynamic principles, we can explore how current anxiety may connect to longstanding relationship patterns or expectations you have carried with you. Mindfulness can bring more awareness to thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations as they arise.
Working With Your Nervous System
Anxiety can show up physically as tightness in your chest or stomach, shallow breathing, clenched muscles, restlessness, a racing heart, difficulty settling at night, or a sense that your body cannot fully relax even when there is no immediate threat.
These sensations can be part of your nervous system’s response to stress, uncertainty, or perceived threat.
Learning to notice these signals can help you recognize when you're feeling dysregulated or overwhelmed and what may be contributing to that response. I may incorporate grounding and other somatic, or body-based, practices to help you stay connected to what you are feeling without becoming overtaken by it.
The goal is not to force calm, but to become more familiar with these cues and find responses that feel manageable.
How Anxiety Therapy Can Help
We can work toward greater comfort with uncertainty, slowing the urgency anxiety can create, and relating to yourself with more compassion when it takes hold.
As you grow more familiar with your patterns and responses, anxiety may begin to feel less consuming and have a smaller influence on your choices.
I provide anxiety therapy in South Pasadena for people from nearby communities including Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Pasadena, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and Echo Park, as well as online throughout California.
Frequently Asked Questions
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My approach is integrative, with attention to both emotional patterns and physical responses. I draw from psychodynamic therapy and mindfulness, along with cognitive and somatic techniques when useful.
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You do not need to wait until anxiety feels unmanageable. Worry, overthinking, self-doubt, or avoidance may be interfering with your relationships, work, sleep, or ability to be present. Therapy can offer a closer look at what may be contributing to the anxiety and how it is affecting your day-to-day life.
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Overthinking can be an attempt to find certainty, prevent mistakes, or feel more in control. Knowing it is not helping does not always make it easy to stop. We can identify what sustains the cycle and develop greater tolerance for uncertainty and difficult thoughts.
Ready to Connect?
If you’d like to talk about what you’re looking for and whether working together might be a good fit, you can schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation.