Therapy for Anxiety: Brighton & Hove, Lewes and online
Anxiety can be exhausting, especially when it becomes part of the background of everyday life. You may know what you are anxious about, or you may simply feel tense, restless, on edge, or unable to switch off.
You might find yourself organising life around anxiety without fully realising it: avoiding certain conversations, trying to keep everyone happy, rehearsing what might go wrong, or seeking reassurance that never quite settles things for long. From the outside, life may look manageable, while internally you may feel caught in a pattern that is becoming increasingly restrictive.
Getting Help for Anxiety
I offer face-to-face therapy for anxiety in Brighton & Hove, and Lewes. If you can’t make it in-person, I also offer online counselling for anxiety.
My approach is relational and integrative. This means I am interested not only in the symptoms of anxiety, but also in how anxiety may be connected to your relationships, your history, your self-criticism, and the ways you have learned to stay safe around other people.
I offer a free 30-min phone consultation, where we can discuss what brings you to therapy and consider possible next steps.
How Anxiety Can Show up
Anxiety can take many forms. It may show up as worry, rumination, self-doubt, overthinking, or a constant need to anticipate problems before they happen. It can also be felt physically, through a racing heart, tightness in the chest, nausea, shallow breathing, difficulty sleeping, or a sense of being on edge.
Anxiety can also affect the way you relate to other people. You might worry about:
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disappointing others
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being criticised
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seeming too much
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needing too much
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getting things wrong
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being misunderstood
You may find yourself:
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people-pleasing,
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withdrawing,
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becoming irritable
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over-explaining,
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struggling to say what you really think or feel.
Some people come to therapy with a clear sense of the kind of anxiety they are struggling with, such as social anxiety, health anxiety, panic attacks, work-related anxiety, performance anxiety, or relationship anxiety. Others simply know that anxiety is taking up too much space in their life.
You do not need to have a diagnosis, or to know exactly what kind of anxiety you have, in order to begin therapy. We can start with what you are noticing: the worry, avoidance, physical tension, overthinking, low mood, or sense that you are no longer able to feel at ease.
Getting Help for Anxiety
Anxiety is a normal human response to threat, uncertainty and emotional pressure. It can be useful at times, helping us notice danger, prepare for difficulty, or pay attention to something important. But it can become a problem when the sense of threat remains even when there is no immediate danger, or when your life starts to organise itself around avoiding discomfort.
You might notice that you are avoiding situations that matter to you, finding it hard to make decisions, feeling trapped in worry, or becoming increasingly dependent on control, reassurance or perfectionism. You may feel that you are surviving, but not really living with much freedom or ease.
You do not need to have a diagnosis, or to know exactly what kind of anxiety you have, in order to begin therapy. We can start with what you are noticing.
How Psychotherapy Can Help with Anxiety
Psychotherapy can help you manage anxiety, but it can also help you understand it.
Rather than only trying to push anxious feelings away, therapy offers a space to become curious about what they may be connected to. We might explore what tends to trigger your anxiety, how you respond when it appears, and what patterns repeat across different parts of your life.
Anxiety often makes more sense when it is understood in the context of a person’s relationships, history and sense of self. It may be connected to self-criticism, current pressures, earlier experiences, or the need to stay alert to what others want or expect.
In therapy, we might look at whether anxiety gathers around particular patterns: fear of conflict, fear of judgement, difficulty trusting yourself, feeling responsible for other people’s feelings, or finding it hard to express anger, need, disappointment or vulnerability.
The aim is not to become a person who never feels anxious. Anxiety is part of being human. But therapy can help you feel less dominated by it, recognise familiar patterns earlier, and make choices that are less governed by fear.
Starting Therapy for Anxiety
If you are considering therapy for anxiety, you do not need to arrive with everything clearly worked out. You may know exactly what you want help with, or you may only have a sense that something is not right and that anxiety has become too present in your life.
In a first session, we can talk about what has brought you to therapy, how anxiety is affecting you, and what you may be hoping for from the work. We can also think together about whether ongoing psychotherapy feels like the right fit.
I offer weekly psychotherapy for adults in Brighton & Hove, Lewes and online. If you would like to explore beginning therapy for anxiety, you are welcome to contact me to arrange a free initial phone consultation.
FAQs About Anxiety Therapy
Can therapy help if I do not know why I feel anxious?
Yes. Many people come to therapy because they feel anxious without fully understanding why. Therapy can help you explore what may be contributing to the anxiety, rather than needing you to arrive with a clear explanation.
Is anxiety therapy just about coping techniques?
Not necessarily. Some people want practical ways to manage anxiety, and that can be useful. But psychotherapy can also help you understand the deeper patterns that may keep anxiety going.
Do you offer online therapy for anxiety?
Yes. I offer therapy for anxiety in person in Brighton & Hove and Lewes, as well as online.
Free phone consultation
The first step is for us to have a chat. I offer a 30 minute free phone consultation where we'll discuss what issues bring you to psychotherapy, I can answer any questions you may have and you'll get a sense if working with me feels right. We'll then discuss possible options moving forwards.