Anxiety & Emotional Regulation
Anxiety can show up in many different ways. You may find yourself overthinking, worrying about what might happen, feeling constantly on edge, or struggling to switch off even when there is no obvious reason to feel anxious.
For others, emotions can feel difficult to manage — becoming overwhelmed quickly, feeling irritable or reactive, shutting down, or finding it hard to understand what you are feeling at all.
Sometimes these responses make sense in the context of what is happening in our lives. At other times, they can feel as though they have taken on a life of their own.
Therapy offers a space to slow things down, understand what may be contributing to these responses, and develop a greater sense of awareness and choice in how you respond.
When Anxiety Feels Hard to Switch Off
Anxiety isn't always experienced as worry alone.
It can show up physically through tension, restlessness, difficulty sleeping, a racing heart, shallow breathing or a sense that your body is constantly alert. You might find yourself anticipating what could go wrong, replaying conversations, seeking reassurance or avoiding situations that feel uncomfortable.
For some people, staying busy, planning ahead or trying to remain in control becomes a way of managing the discomfort underneath.
Rather than simply trying to make anxiety disappear, therapy can help us become curious about what is happening and what your anxiety may be responding to.
Understanding Your Emotional Responses
Emotional regulation isn't about learning to suppress difficult feelings or remaining calm all the time.
It is about developing a greater capacity to notice and experience emotions without becoming completely overwhelmed by them — and recognising when you may need support, space, boundaries or a different way of responding.
Our emotional responses are influenced by many things, including current stress, relationships, past experiences and the ways we learned to manage emotions growing up.
You may notice that certain situations bring up reactions that feel much bigger than the situation itself, or that you move quickly from feeling okay to overwhelmed, angry, anxious or shut down.
Therapy can help us gently explore these patterns and understand what may be happening underneath them.
The Body & Nervous System
Our emotions don't only happen in our thoughts. They are also experienced through the body.
You might notice a tightness in your chest, a knot in your stomach, shallow breathing, restlessness, tension, numbness or an urge to withdraw before you have even identified what you are feeling.
My approach includes paying attention to these physical cues and nervous system responses alongside your thoughts and emotions.
Developing awareness of what happens in your body can help you begin to recognise your responses earlier, understand your triggers and find ways of grounding and regulating that feel supportive rather than forced.
Therapy for Anxiety & Emotional Regulation
My approach is relational, trauma-informed and grounded in contemporary Gestalt therapy, with a somatic focus.
Together, we can explore what is happening in your life now, the patterns that may be contributing to anxiety or emotional overwhelm, and how past experiences and relationships may continue to influence the way you respond today.
Our work may include developing awareness of triggers and nervous system responses, exploring patterns of overthinking or avoidance, recognising and expressing emotions, strengthening boundaries, developing grounding strategies, and building a greater capacity to stay present with difficult feelings.
The aim isn't to never feel anxious, upset or overwhelmed. Difficult emotions are part of being human.
Instead, therapy can support you to better understand your emotional world, recognise what you need and develop more choice in how you respond.
You Don't Need to Know Why You Feel This Way
Sometimes there is an obvious reason for anxiety or emotional overwhelm. Sometimes there isn't.
You may know exactly what is troubling you, or you may simply have a sense that you haven't felt like yourself for some time.
You don't need to understand everything before coming to therapy.
We can begin with what you are experiencing now and explore it together.