For some people, anxiety emerges most strongly in relationships.

​

You might notice that as you grow closer to someone, your body becomes more alert. You may find yourself scanning for changes in tone, contact, or availability. Small shifts in someone's mood or behaviour can feel loaded and silence can feel unsettling or abandoning. Reassurance may help briefly, but the anxiety soon returns.​

​

At the same time, there is often a deep longing for closeness - to be chosen, understood, and emotionally held. This push and pull can feel exhausting, confusing, or shame-inducing, particularly when you know you are safe, yet don’t feel it.​

​

These patterns are not a sign that something is wrong with you. They often develop in response to earlier relational experiences, where closeness felt inconsistent, unpredictable, or required vigilance. The nervous system learns to stay alert in order to stay connected.

​

When working ​relationally in therapy, we slowly and carefully explore these patterns as they show up in the present. Rather than trying to manage or override anxiety, we become curious about it - how it arises, what it is protecting, and what it needs in order to soften.

​

The therapeutic relationship itself becomes a place where closeness can be explored with attention to pacing, safety, and repair.

​

Over time, many people find that anxiety becomes more tolerable, less dominant, and less defining in their relationships - both inside and outside the therapy room.​

​

Back to How I Help.