Anxiety therapy in Chicago and across Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Florida

High-Functioning Anxiety Treatment

(aka therapy for anxious, perfectionistic, high-achievers)

You’re tired of:

  • Overthinking

  • Feeling overwhelmed

  • A heightened sense of worry

  • Your mental energy being depleted

  • Thinking about the worst case scenario

  • Being critical of yourself

  • All-or-nothing thinking

  • Feeling like an imposter

  • Worrying about disappointing others

  • Avoiding things that make you anxious

  • Comparing yourself to others

  • Unsubstantiated fear

  • Procrastinating

  • Being unable to set boundaries

  • Having difficulty identifying or communicating what you need

  • Feeling like you “should” be doing certain things, even if you don’t want to

  • Neglecting self-care

Just about everyone has experienced stress in their lives.....you're over your head at work, school assignments are piling up, a loved one is going through a challenging time.  Stress is relatively normal and expected.

Anxiety, on the other hand, is when you cross that threshold into it becoming so impactful that you're having a difficult time functioning in daily life.  This often causes us to turn to unhealthy methods of coping, which can create further implications. Anxiety therapy can help in navigating these challenges.

High-functioning anxiety symptoms:

On the surface, you appear:

  • Perfectionistic

  • Successful

  • Punctual

  • Highly organized

  • Achievement-oriented

  • Detail-oriented

  • Proactive

Below the surface, you struggle with:

  • Overthinking/overanalyzing

  • Fear of disappointing others

  • Self-doubt

  • Obsessively double-checking details

  • Anticipatory anxiety

  • Racing thoughts

  • Difficulty relaxing

  • Fatigue

Green leaf on the side of a white background.

Free yourself from high-functioning anxiety

Imagine what it would be like if you weren’t overthinking all the time and you were able to feel more at peace, joyful, and content? What if you could be productive while also carving out time for mental & emotional restoration?

What if you could live life with more intention and purpose instead of cruising along on autopilot? What if you could recognize what it is you need and learn how to get those needs met? What if you could live in alignment with your values and what you feel is most important in life?

What if you felt more confident and were able to celebrate your own accomplishments?  What if you could accept when something isn’t perfect and not be consumed by assumptions about how others might perceive you or what the repercussions would be?  

What if you could set healthy boundaries in your relationships so you no longer feel resentful and taken advantage of? What if you could feel more comfortable and effective when communicating with others? What if you could be less reactive and more responsive?

How can therapy help with high-functioning anxiety?

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An experienced anxiety therapist will help you identify some of the root causes of anxiety and assist you in understanding the function or role it has been serving.  This sounds counterintuitive, right?  Isn't anxiety a bad thing?  Anxiety (or our fight/flight/freeze response) is actually quite adaptive and helps keep us safe when there's a threat of danger. 

The problem is that sometimes our brains get mixed messages, and our anxiety response goes into effect when we're not actually in danger.  The feelings are still very real, but they're not based on a realistic evaluation of the situation. This is where anxiety therapy can help in creating more self-awareness and insight as to why this is happening.

In addition to processing through these emotions and helping you make sense of your anxiety, I will also use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help you change the way you think in order to change the way you feel.  This method of treatment has been proven to yield high success rates time and time again.  Most people are unaware of the degree to which their thought patterns are impacting their emotions.

I use additional methods of treatment to supplement CBT: 

  1. Mindfulness - focused on remaining in the present moment and accepting what is out of our control

  2. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) - based on values and goals

  3. Client-Centered Therapy - focused on the therapeutic relationship and providing a non-judgmental environment 

  4. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) - developing skills/tools for dealing with highly emotional situations

  5. Internal Family Systems (IFS) - based on the idea that our parts (sub-personalities) function as a system and react to other systems

  6. Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)

Altogether, I provide a very comprehensive treatment approach, and your "tool kit" will be full by the time our work together is over. Clients who have participated in anxiety therapy report having an easier time identifying their emotions, the ability to identify what's a real threat versus what's anxiety, greater ability to face the unknown and adapt to change, improvement in their relationships with others, and increased confidence in their ability to handle future anxiety provoking situations.