Ask most people, and they’ll tell you they don’t enjoy feeling anxious or afraid. Fear exists on a spectrum. On one end, imagine you’re hiking and suddenly spot a bear. Your senses sharpen, your heart pounds, your palms sweat, and blood rushes to your arms and legs—your body is primed to react in case the bear attacks. On the more everyday end of the spectrum, you might feel a vague sense of unease when you get an unexpected email from your boss asking for a meeting. While these experiences are very different, they share one thing in common: anxiety is your brain’s way of preparing you for potential danger.
A lot of people who come to me for therapy ask how they can get rid of anxiety altogether. They’re often surprised when I tell them that’s not the goal. Imagine if you had no anxiety at all—you might stand too close to the edge of a cliff for a perfect photo, ignoring the tiny loose rocks beneath your feet. Or you might burn your hand because fear didn’t tell you to drop the scalding pan handle. Anxiety, at its core, is useful. It helps keep you alive.
But what if your anxiety is constant or shows up at the wrong times—when no real danger is present? You might wonder, Why is my anxiety so much worse than everyone else’s? When anxiety stops working for you and starts working against you, I completely understand why you’d want to eliminate it.
That’s where therapy comes in. The goal isn’t to erase anxiety but to change how you respond to it. The good news? Anxiety is treatable. In therapy, we’ll work together to help you understand why anxiety feels so overpowering, pinpoint the patterns of thinking and behavior that keep it stuck, and develop strategies to manage it. Using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), we’ll examine the thoughts that fuel your anxiety and practice new ways of responding to them. We may also incorporate elements of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which focuses on accepting discomfort rather than fighting it, along with person-centered techniques to make sure you feel fully supported along the way.
Anxiety can take many forms, and I work with clients facing a wide range of anxiety-related challenges, including generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Whether your anxiety manifests as relentless worry, overwhelming fear in social situations, panic attacks that seem to come out of nowhere, or specific phobias that interfere with your daily life, we can create a treatment approach that helps you regain control.
My goal is to help you build a life where anxiety no longer dictates your choices or holds you back. You don’t have to stay stuck in a cycle of worry or avoidance. Together, we’ll work on helping you build confidence in facing uncertainty, develop healthier coping skills, and find relief from anxiety’s grip. If you’re ready to take that step, I’d love to help you at my office in Palm Beach Gardens or online for people who live in other parts of Florida. Reach out today, and let’s work on making anxiety something you can handle—rather than something that handles you.