By Donna Groves, MA, LMFT — EMDR and CBT therapist specializing in trauma, CPTSD, and addiction recovery
Anxiety is not always loud or obvious. Sometimes it shows up as constant worry, irritability, racing thoughts, trouble sleeping, perfectionism, avoidance, or a deep sense that you can never fully relax. You may be able to keep going, take care of others, and meet your responsibilities, while still feeling overwhelmed inside.
In therapy for anxiety, we work together to understand both the symptoms you are experiencing now and the deeper patterns that may be keeping anxiety in place. With support, it is possible to feel more grounded, more present, and less controlled by fear, worry, or the need to stay constantly on guard.
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When anxiety is running in the background
Anxiety does not always look like panic. Sometimes it feels like a constant hum beneath everything you do. You may be able to work, take care of responsibilities, show up for others, and keep life moving, while still feeling tense, restless, or emotionally drained inside.
When anxiety is running in the background, your mind may keep scanning for what could go wrong. You may replay conversations, second-guess decisions, overprepare, avoid conflict, or feel responsible for keeping everything under control. Over time, that inner pressure can affect your sleep, your relationships, your body, and your ability to feel present in your own life.
Signs you may be dealing with anxiety
Anxiety can affect the way you think, feel, behave, and experience your body. For some people, it shows up as constant worry or racing thoughts. For others, it may feel more physical, with tension, stomach discomfort, a rapid heartbeat, or trouble sleeping.
You may be dealing with anxiety if you notice:
- Feeling nervous, tense, restless, or on edge
- Having a sense that something bad may happen, even when you cannot explain why
- Struggling to quiet racing or intrusive thoughts
- Replaying conversations or second-guessing decisions
- Having trouble concentrating or staying present
- Feeling irritable, overwhelmed, or emotionally drained
- Avoiding certain situations because they feel too stressful
- Having trouble falling asleep because your mind will not stop
- Experiencing physical symptoms such as stomach upset, sweating, trembling, rapid breathing, or a racing heart
Anxiety can look different from person to person. What matters is not whether your experience fits perfectly into a list, but whether anxiety is making it harder to feel like yourself.
What your anxiety may be trying to protect
Anxiety often develops for a reason. It may be connected to past experiences, relationship patterns, trauma, loss, or times in your life when staying alert helped you feel safer. Even when anxiety is painful or disruptive now, it may have started as a way to protect you from being hurt, rejected, overwhelmed, or caught off guard.
In therapy, we can begin to understand anxiety with more compassion. Instead of treating it as something to fight or push away, we look at what it may be trying to tell you. This can help you create change at a deeper level, especially when anxiety is connected to old wounds, protective parts of yourself, or patterns that once helped you survive but no longer serve you.
How therapy can help with anxiety
When anxiety takes over, it can make your world feel smaller. You may avoid conversations, decisions, relationships, opportunities, or quiet moments with yourself because they bring up too much discomfort. Therapy can help you begin to notice these patterns and gently create more room to live from something other than fear.
Together, we can work on practical skills for managing anxious thoughts and physical symptoms, while also exploring the deeper emotional experiences that may be fueling them. As you build more trust in yourself, anxiety can become something you understand and respond to, rather than something that runs your life.
Therapy that looks beneath the symptoms
Anxiety often needs both practical support and deeper healing. In our work together, I may draw from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, EMDR, Internal Family Systems, mindfulness, and Jungian depth psychology, depending on what feels most helpful for you. These approaches can help us work with anxious thoughts, nervous system responses, protective parts of yourself, and the older experiences that may still be shaping how you feel today.
My goal is not to give you a one-size-fits-all set of coping skills. We will work together to understand your anxiety in the context of your life, your history, your relationships, and your inner world. As you begin to understand yourself more fully, you can build more space between the anxiety you feel and the choices you make.
Anxiety therapy in Los Angeles and online
Anxiety therapy does not have to require sitting in traffic, rearranging your whole day, or adding one more stressful commitment to your schedule. I offer online therapy for adults in Los Angeles and throughout California, giving you a private and consistent place to receive support from wherever you are.
For many people, telehealth makes therapy more accessible and easier to maintain. We can work together in a way that supports your life as it is, while helping you build more calm, clarity, and trust in yourself.
Take the next step toward feeling more grounded
You may have learned how to function with anxiety, but that does not mean you have to keep living around it. Therapy can help you understand what your anxiety is trying to protect, work through the deeper patterns beneath it, and begin creating more space for calm, clarity, and connection.
If you would like support, I invite you to contact me to schedule a complimentary consultation. Together, we can begin exploring what relief from anxiety could look like for you.
By Donna Groves, MA, LMFT
She specializes in trauma, CPTSD, addiction, and anxiety, integrating evidence-based and depth-oriented therapies to support lasting emotional and relational change.