Anxiety Therapy in Massachusetts

Support for anxiety, perfectionism, and self-doubt

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When Anxiety Keeps You Stuck in Your Head

Anxiety can show up as constant mental scanning — worrying about what might go wrong, replaying interactions, or feeling like you have to stay one step ahead. Even when you’re doing all the “right” things, your body may still feel tense or restless, and it becomes hard to feel settled.

Sometimes anxiety gets louder during periods of change — starting college, shifting careers, starting or ending a relationship, questioning your identity, grieving a loss, or stepping into a new version of yourself. Even expected transitions can bring grief. And when you’re someone who’s used to holding it together, you might not give yourself much room to feel slow down.

You may have started to avoid things that trigger anxiety — making new friends, leaving your job, speaking up, setting boundaries — so your world gradually shrinks… often without you realizing it at first.

Or maybe you don’t avoid anything at all. You show up but internally, you’re crawling out of your skin — and afterward, you spiral over everything you said.

Anxiety can also look like perfectionism, people-pleasing, conflict avoidance, or feeling responsible for everyone else’s comfort. Anxiety can sometimes overlap with how people relate to food or their body. You overthink every food choice or outfit choice. You say yes when you mean no. You rehearse hard conversations that never happen.

It’s exhausting.

What It Might Feel Like to Have More Space from Anxiety

  • Engage in a conversation without planning what you’ll say next

  • Take risks without perfectionism holding you back

  • Be comfortable with free time, rest, and quiet

  • Sleep more soundly because racing thoughts aren’t keeping you up

  • Leave a social gathering without obsessing about how it went

  • Make decisions without endlessly second-guessing yourself

What We’d Work Toward in Therapy:

  • Understand how your anxiety operates so you can recognize it and respond more flexibly

  • Challenge limiting beliefs that keep you stuck ("I can’t leave my job because I’m terrible at interviews”)

  • Build practical tools so you feel more steady when anxiety shows up — not just in session, but in your real life

  • Make space for grief, identity shifts, or life transitions that may be underneath the anxiety

  • Gradually re-integrate things that feel important to you

  • Strengthen your ability to tolerate discomfort without letting it dictate your choices

Questions you might have about anxiety therapy:

  • Here are some ways anxiety might show up in your life — over-thinking, analyzing situations endlessly to figure out if you did anything wrong, difficulty sleeping, busy mind, tightness in your chest, panic attacks, jumping to the worst case scenario. or having perfectionistic standards. Therapy can help with all of these patterns.

  • Yes! Therapy isn’t about getting rid of thoughts entirely—it’s about changing how you relate to them. You can learn how to step out of the loop of analyzing and second-guessing so you can feel more grounded in the moment.

  • We use a combination of therapy modalities including CBT, ACT and Exposure Therapy (learn more about them here). We work on identifying triggers, recognizing how anxiety feels in your body, and learning many ways to tolerate it when it comes. You’ll slowly work towards incorporating things back into your life that you might be avoiding because they make you anxious.

  • You can contact us here to schedule a free consult. We’ll chat for about 15 minutes about your therapy needs and ensure we’re a good fit before scheduling. Item description