Anxiety

Anxiety Therapy for Calmer Thoughts, Greater Confidence, and More Freedom

Anxiety can make even ordinary parts of life feel exhausting.

You may spend a lot of time worrying about what could go wrong, replaying conversations, second-guessing decisions, or trying to anticipate what other people might think. You may feel tense or restless, have difficulty sleeping, or find it hard to slow your mind down.

Sometimes anxiety looks less like fear and more like perfectionism, overthinking, people-pleasing, irritability, or the feeling that you always need to be in control.

If anxiety is interfering with your relationships, work, sleep, or ability to enjoy your life, therapy can help.

At Saltwater Wellness Counseling, I offer anxiety therapy for adults in Holladay and the Salt Lake City area, as well as secure telehealth throughout Utah.

What Does Anxiety Feel Like?

Anxiety isn't always easy to recognize.

You might experience:

Constant worry or overthinking
Racing or intrusive thoughts
Feeling restless or unable to relax
Difficulty sleeping because your mind won't shut off
Fear of making mistakes
Perfectionism
People-pleasing
Difficulty making decisions
Fear of disappointing others
Feeling responsible for everyone else's emotions
Irritability or feeling easily overwhelmed
Panic or sudden intense fear
Avoiding situations that make you uncomfortable
Physical tension, racing heart, or feeling on edge
Difficulty being present because you're thinking about what might happen next

You may also know that your worries aren't entirely rational and still find that you can't simply “think your way out” of anxiety.

That's because anxiety isn't just about thoughts. It can involve your emotions, body, nervous system, learned patterns, and past experiences.

When Should I Consider Anxiety Therapy?

Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time. It becomes more concerning when anxiety starts limiting your life or making it difficult to feel like yourself.

You might consider therapy if:

Worry takes up a significant amount of your day
You frequently expect the worst
You avoid situations because of fear or anxiety
You struggle to relax even when things are going well
Anxiety is affecting your sleep
You repeatedly seek reassurance
You have difficulty setting boundaries because you're afraid of upsetting people
Perfectionism is leaving you exhausted
You experience panic attacks
You feel like you're always “on”
You understand your anxiety intellectually but still can't seem to change the way you feel

You don't have to wait until anxiety becomes severe before seeking support.

Why Does Anxiety Happen?

There isn't one cause of anxiety.

Anxiety can be influenced by genetics, temperament, current stress, relationships, life transitions, learned patterns, and past experiences.

For some people, anxiety develops after difficult or traumatic experiences. Your nervous system may learn to stay alert for danger, even when you're no longer in the situation that originally made you feel unsafe.

For others, anxiety may develop around perfectionism, uncertainty, relationships, work, health, parenting, or a fear of making mistakes.

Therapy can help us understand what your anxiety is trying to accomplish and what keeps it going rather than simply telling you to stop worrying.

Anxiety and the Nervous System

When your nervous system senses a threat, it prepares you to respond.

That response can be useful when you're actually in danger. But sometimes the nervous system becomes overly sensitive to potential threats.

You may logically know that you're safe while your body feels tense, your thoughts race, or you feel compelled to prepare for every possible outcome.

Learning to recognize these responses can help you respond to anxiety with greater awareness rather than automatically reacting to it.

Anxiety, Overthinking, and the Need for Control

Sometimes anxiety shows up as an endless search for certainty.

You may find yourself asking:

“What if something goes wrong?”

“Did I say the wrong thing?”

“What if they are upset with me?”

“What if I make the wrong decision?”

“What if I can't handle it?”

Overthinking can create the temporary feeling that you're solving a problem, while actually keeping your nervous system activated.

Therapy can help you understand the fears underneath overthinking and develop more flexibility around uncertainty.

Anxiety and Perfectionism

Perfectionism can look productive from the outside.

You may be successful, responsible, organized, and dependable while privately feeling like you're never doing enough.

You might believe that mistakes aren't acceptable, that you need to meet impossibly high standards, or that your worth depends on your performance.

Therapy can help you explore the anxiety underneath perfectionism and develop a healthier relationship with achievement, mistakes, and self-worth.

Anxiety and People-Pleasing

If you spend a lot of energy making sure everyone else is okay, you may experience anxiety when someone is disappointed, upset, or unhappy with you.

You might have difficulty saying no, expressing your needs, setting boundaries, or tolerating conflict.

People-pleasing often develops for understandable reasons. Therapy can help you explore where these patterns came from and practice responding to relationships from a place of choice rather than fear.

Anxiety and Trauma

For some people, anxiety is connected to past experiences that taught them to stay alert, anticipate danger, or remain in control.

If your anxiety feels connected to trauma or difficult experiences, a trauma-focused approach may be helpful.

I use approaches including EMDR and Internal Family Systems (IFS) when appropriate to help clients understand and process experiences that may continue to affect them.

Learn more about trauma therapy →

Learn more about EMDR therapy →

Learn more about IFS therapy →

How Can Therapy Help With Anxiety?

Anxiety therapy isn't about eliminating every uncomfortable thought or emotion.

Instead, we'll work toward helping you understand your anxiety, recognize patterns, develop healthier ways of responding, and create more space between an anxious thought and your reaction to it.

Depending on your needs, therapy may include:

Understanding anxious patterns

We'll explore what triggers your anxiety and what you tend to do in response—such as avoiding, overthinking, seeking reassurance, controlling situations, or criticizing yourself.

Developing emotional regulation skills

You may learn strategies for recognizing and responding to anxiety in your body and creating greater calm and stability.

Challenging unhelpful thought patterns

CBT techniques can help you identify patterns of thinking that contribute to anxiety and develop more balanced perspectives.

Exploring the parts of you that feel anxious

IFS can provide a compassionate way to understand the parts of you that worry, anticipate danger, seek control, or try to protect you from disappointment or rejection.

Processing past experiences

When anxiety is connected to trauma or distressing experiences, EMDR and other trauma-focused approaches may help you process experiences that continue to influence your present-day reactions.

What Is Anxiety Therapy Like?

You don't need to arrive at therapy knowing exactly what's causing your anxiety.

We'll start by understanding what you're experiencing and what you'd like to be different.

You may talk about situations that trigger anxiety, thoughts that repeatedly come up, physical sensations, relationships, past experiences, or behaviors you use to manage uncertainty.

From there, we'll work together to identify patterns and determine which approaches may be most helpful.

Therapy isn't about judging your anxiety or telling you to “just stop worrying.”

It's about understanding what is happening and developing new ways of responding.

How Long Does Anxiety Therapy Take?

There isn't a set number of sessions that works for everyone.

The length of therapy depends on what you're experiencing, your goals, how long you've been struggling with anxiety, and whether there are underlying experiences or patterns you'd like to address.

Some people seek therapy for help with a specific situation, while others want to understand longstanding patterns.

We'll regularly check in about your progress and adjust treatment as your needs change.

You Don't Have to Let Anxiety Make Your World Smaller

Anxiety can convince you that you need to worry more, prepare more, control more, or avoid more in order to feel safe.

But you don't have to spend your life trying to eliminate every uncertainty.

Therapy can help you develop greater confidence in your ability to handle difficult emotions, tolerate uncertainty, set boundaries, and respond to life's challenges.

You can learn to live with more flexibility and less fear.

Anxiety Therapy in Holladay and Throughout Utah

I offer in-person anxiety therapy in Holladay, near Salt Lake City, as well as secure telehealth throughout Utah.

Online therapy can be a convenient option if you live outside the Salt Lake City area or feel more comfortable participating in therapy from home.

Start With a Free Consultation

If you're considering anxiety therapy in Salt Lake City, I offer a free 15-minute consultation where we can talk about what you're experiencing, what you're hoping will change, and whether working together feels like a good fit.