Hi, I’m Anne. I am a therapist in Orange County, California. I treat anxiety. Søren Kierkegaard famously wrote, “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” I’ve always appreciated that idea, but over time, I’ve started to think a little differently. In the therapy model I’m training in—Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy—we understand anxiety as the body’s signal, like a fever, that something emotionally important is happening underneath: anxiety is understood as a response to fear of emotions in the body.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety doesn’t just come out of nowhere. It builds in the body when something (an emotion) is getting pretty scary. It tightens the throat when a truth wants to be spoken. It dizzies the mind to distract what can’t be tolerated. It urges a bowel movement “out of nowhere.” It restricts your breathing. It floods the body when a memory or feeling starts to rise that we’re not sure we’re allowed to feel. It pulls you away from loved ones. In this way, anxiety can feel confusing and overwhelming, but it’s actually doing its adaptive job: trying to protect us from what once felt too much to bear.
Why Am I So Anxious?
Many people come to therapy saying things like, “I don’t know why I’m so anxious,” or “I thought I should be over this by now.” I really get it. Living with chronic worry, tension, or panic can feel exhausting—and discouraging. But therapy offers a space to slow down and listen more closely to what anxiety is trying to tell us. Not just to manage it, but to understand what’s underneath it, what it’s protecting.
Freedom to Feel
In our work, we gently begin to notice where anxiety shows up in your body and your life. We explore what it might be covering—maybe old grief, anger, loneliness, or a deep desire that hasn’t had space. Over time, as we bring those emotions into awareness and expression, the anxiety doesn’t have to work so hard. It can soften. You can feel more like yourself, more free.
Start Healing
Therapy in this model is not about fixing you. It’s about helping you feel more safe inside your own experience—less guarded, more present, and more at home. You are going to find gimmicky tricks and tips in treatment. Instead, we will explore your inner world together, like investigators noticing clues and signposts. When we come to find anxiety and fear down below, we will take a loving look together. You won’t face it alone.
Citation:
Kierkegaard, S. (1980). The concept of anxiety: A simple psychologically orienting deliberation on the dogmatic issue of hereditary sin (R. Thomte & A. B. Anderson, Trans.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1844)
