Anxiety Therapy

In Santa Barbara & Throughout CA

For Teens and Adults Who Feel Stuck and Overwhelmed

Anxiety can make you feel like something is wrong with you.

Your mind won’t stop analyzing things. You second guess yourself and constantly feel on edge.

You constantly have the sensation that something bad is about to happen. Or, even worse, that something bad already did happen and you just don’t know it yet.

Your thoughts might cared, stressed, or unsure of yourself.

It can begin to feel like everyone else understands how to do life in a way you don’t.

Sometimes it feels like something bad is about to happen, or that something bad already did happen and you just don’t know it yet.

Even when things are objectively okay, your body stays tense and your mind keeps searching for signs that everything really is as bad as it feels.

Over time, living this way becomes exhausting.

Many people begin to believe the problem must be them. That they are a failure, too sensitive, or just not handling life the way they should.

Anxiety has a powerful way of convincing us that we are the issue.

In truth, many thoughtful and capable people struggle with anxiety. And with the right support, it is possible to begin to understand what is happening in your mind, develop new ways of responding to it, and gradually start to feel more calm, confident, and at ease.

Life is tough, but you don’t have to go it alone.

If this feels familiar, relief is possible.

Fee: $185 for a 50-minute session

Anxiety Can Show Up Differently at Different Stages of Life

Anxiety in younger people often shows up through behavior or emotions rather than clear worry. You might notice:
• School avoidance
• Perfectionism or intense pressure to do well
• Fear of disappointing parents or teachers
• Social comparison with peers
• Trouble falling or staying asleep
• Emotional overwhelm or meltdowns
• Irritability or shutting down
For college students and people in their 20s, anxiety often becomes more internal. It may feel like a constant mental pressure.
Common experiences include:
• Constant overthinking
• Procrastination driven by fear of doing something wrong
• Relationship insecurity or fear of rejection
• Health worries or body-focused anxiety
• Social anxiety or feeling judged by others
• Feeling behind compared to peers
In adulthood, anxiety is often closely tied to responsibility, performance, and decision-making.
It may show up as:
• Career pressure or fear of falling behind professionally
• Difficulty making decisions or second-guessing choices
• Chronic worry about the future
• Intrusive or unwanted thoughts
• Difficulty relaxing even during downtime
• High achievement paired with constant tension

Therapy Offerings

Common Questions About Anxiety

A lot of people come to therapy feeling confused about this.
You might notice waves of anxiety showing up in situations that don’t seem particularly stressful. Or you might feel unsettled even when your life looks relatively stable from the outside.
That disconnect can make you wonder if something is wrong with you. In reality, anxiety often has deeper patterns behind it that aren’t always obvious at first.
Yes, very often.
Many people experience anxiety through their body just as much as their thoughts. You might notice things like a racing heart, tightness in your chest, dizziness, stomach issues, headaches, or sudden waves of adrenaline.
When these sensations appear without warning, they can feel alarming or confusing. Part of therapy involves understanding these reactions so they feel less mysterious and less frightening.
Most people who struggle with anxiety have already spent a lot of time trying to manage it on their own.
You might try to push the feeling away, figure it out, reassure yourself, or look for ways to make it stop. While those efforts are completely understandable, they can sometimes keep the mind locked onto the anxiety itself.
Over time this can create the frustrating feeling of being stuck in the same cycle.
Therapy helps you step out of that cycle so anxiety no longer has the same hold on your mind.
Panic attacks can feel incredibly intense in the moment.
People often experience a sudden rush of physical sensations like a pounding heart, shortness of breath, shaking, dizziness, or nausea. Because the experience is so strong and unfamiliar, many people initially think something is seriously wrong with their body.
Although panic attacks feel frightening, they are not dangerous. With the right understanding and support, people can learn how to respond to them in ways that reduce their power over time.

How Therapy With Me Helps

I’m Alex, a licensed therapist based in Santa Barbara, and anxiety is what I specialize in.

Anxiety is not one-size-fits-all, and neither is therapy.

Some people come in knowing exactly what they’re dealing with. Others just know something feels off. Some are overwhelmed. Some are embarrassed by how anxious they feel. Some have been living in quiet tension for years.

Wherever you are in your understanding of anxiety, we start there.

My approach is structured, thoughtful, and active.

We slow down enough to understand how your anxiety operates: in your thoughts, in your body, in your behaviors, and in your relationships. Then we begin changing the patterns that are keeping it in place.

This might mean:

• Working directly with intrusive thoughts
• Gradually reducing avoidance
• Challenging rigid standards
• Practicing exposure when fear is running the show
• Learning how to tolerate uncertainty
• Building a steadier relationship with your own mind

I use ACT, CBT, and ERP when appropriate, especially for OCD and repetitive mental loops. But techniques are never applied mechanically. They’re tailored to how your anxiety actually functions.

Therapy with me is not about talking in circles. It’s about helping you feel more solid in yourself.