Therapy for Anxiety & Perfectionism in Houston
If it feels like life shouldn’t have to be this hard, you’re in the right place.
I offer virtual therapy for high-functioning adults struggling with anxiety and perfectionism across Texas.
When stress, burnout, and constant worry run the show…
Anxiety is a normal part of everyone’s life and it’s a necessary emotion for keeping us safe. But for some of us, it feels ever-present or even crushing.
So many clients have sat in my office saying, “I know logically things will probably be fine, so why do I always feel like it’s going to fall apart?” Meanwhile others feel so certain everything will go wrong any minute.
They work hard to make sure everything is just right. But in a world full of uncertainty, it never feels like enough. This leaves them exhausted and blaming themselves, even when they try their best.
These common expressions of anxiety keep you from living with freedom from worry so you can focus on what matters: actually enjoying your life instead of just managing it.
Here’s the Good News
When you get at the root of anxiety, things finally start to ease up, leading to lasting change so you can experience actual relief (instead of anxiety just quieting down for a while).
A Different Approach to Treating High-Functioning Anxiety & Perfectionism in Houston
Anxiety is one of the most thoroughly-researched mental health struggles. Yet so many still live with the daily grind of feeling worried, overwhelmed, and burned out.
It’s especially frustrating for those who’ve been to therapy and worked so hard to teach their brain to think differently. Despite all of their effort, anxiety lingers, constantly evaluating your every move as good or bad, enough or not enough.
When your brain is always scanning for certainty in an uncertain world, you’re bound to feel gridlocked. This can leave you presenting as high-functioning on the outside but feeling frozen on the inside.
In therapy, we help you cope with anxiety and perfectionism in the present while addressing where it comes from and why it’s here.
If you’re thinking, “I’ve been to therapy before. What makes this different?” that’s valid!
Read below to learn more about my approach to treating anxiety.
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When you’re looking for therapy, it’s because something is happening here-and-now that needs to change. Coping skills are amazing for making the present a bit more bearable.
These skills help you get through the difficult moments, and it’s really important to know how to deal with the present before diving deeper. But I find that, for some clients, skills for today aren’t enough.
Coping skills help, but they don’t undo a lifetime of experience that says, “If I don’t stay on top of everything, it will all come crashing down.”
That’s why, in our work, we take a both-and approach: incorporating skills that help you manage the present so you have the space to get at the root of anxiety.
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It’s crucial to be able to understand how your own thoughts and environmental factors contribute to anxiety and perfectionism. This understanding can help you rethink patterns rooted in anxiety.
But insight alone usually does not improve anxiety to the extent clients are looking for.
Instead what I often hear is things like, “I know I shouldn’t worry about this, but I can’t help it.” Or “I get where this comes from, but don’t know how to change it.”
Fighting what feels true in your body can feel like a constant battle — even when you have insight.
In our work, we will absolutely help you develop insight around your struggles. We just don’t stop there.
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As long as your nervous system believes there’s a reason to be anxious, moving on will feel like a fight.
That’s why you can intellectually understand that your anxiety is unhelpful, yet still feel trapped in perfectionism and ruminating.
Anxiety is such a physical experience. We get tense, can’t relax, and suffer from stomach aches and headaches. Understandably, our usual response is to avoid these feelings as much as possible. But this usually doesn’t last.
So together, we use Somatic Therapy, Brainspotting, and IFS to work with your body and nervous system instead of against it.
This is the key to coping skills being temporary tools versus things you have to desperately cling to for life. This is how insights that you know are true actually start to feel true.
Ready to Get Started?
Reach out today to schedule an intake session so we can build toward a life you’ll spend more time enjoying and less time managing. A life where anxiety doesn’t get to be the boss anymore.
What actually happens in a session?
Every session and every client is different, but there is a general flow to how sessions tend to progress.
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While anxiety is incredibly common, the way it shows up varies person-to-person.
We’ll take time to understand your:
Pain points and symptoms
Triggers and exacerbating factors
Existing coping skills
Strengths (I promise you already have some!)
Stuck beliefs and behaviors
This background gives us a solid foundation to move forward in addressing your anxiety in a way that actually makes sense for you.
If you’ve already done this work, this will be more like a review than starting from scratch.
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It’s so important to find actual relief early on. In sessions we draw attention to what’s working well and find ways to build from there.
This includes:
Noticing things you’re already doing to feel good (and slowing down so you can really feel them)
Discussing what’s causing the most difficulty here-and-now as well as root causes. We never ignore the present for the sake of the past.
Learning new skills, insights, and options to step out of the traps anxiety lays for you.
When today feels more manageable, there is more space to explore the depths, like where anxiety came from, why it’s so stuck, and how to unstick it.
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My therapeutic approach is grounded in somatic work. That means working with the nervous system in a world that so often asks us to work against it.
This looks like:
Slowing down to experience your feelings and body sensations (I know, I know—this can sound like a lot. We do it at your pace and level of readiness).
Helping release stuck tension in the nervous system (I guide you based on cues from your body. I don’t come into contact with your body).
Working with the parts of you that still feel like anxiety and being perfect are necessary for survival (Using parts work or IFS-informed work, or Brainspotting).
Ready to experience life with less second-guessing, overthinking, and worrying?
If you’re curious how therapy can help but aren’t sure where to start, reach out to book a consultation. We can figure it out together.