By Dr Ute Liersch, Chartered Psychologist and Psychotherapist >

Anxiety can often feel like a daunting emotion to navigate, but it’s important to remember that it provides valuable insights into our experiences. There’s concrete anxiety, which is tied to real-life situations, and then there’s hypothetical anxiety, which spirals from worries into uncharted territories. While the later can lead to overwhelming thoughts and be detrimental to our mental health, it’s essential to recognise that these feelings can be managed and that the anxiety experience does not need to render us non-functional. That’s where therapy shines! It equips us with tools to transform anxiety into understanding, turning those swirling thoughts into clarity. Embrace your emotions—they’re just data points on your journey!

Working with anxiety in individual therapy
• Comprehension:
Together, we’ll carefully bolster your ability to look at the anxiety. By understanding what it is, we often uncover the hidden needs and underlying information waiting beneath the surface to be seen.
• Courage:
As you notice your own courage, you’ll begin to diminish that nagging voice of helplessness, realising you’re not at the mercy of anxiety after all.
• Control:
By connecting with your courage, you’ll discover the choices you are having. Providing you with a sense of freedom rather than helplessness. Ultimately increasing your overall sense of control in life.
• Care:
Instead of being transfixed and petrified by the “dragon of anxiety,” you’ll reclaim your agency, working with, not against, anxiety to restore your life energy and joy.

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Picture by Osman Rana

Dr Ute Liersch, BSc, MA, DPsych, CPsychol, FHEA HCPC Accredited Practitioner and Associate Lecturer Chartered Psychologist and Psychotherapist.

Hi, I’m Dr. Ute, and if you’re here, you’re probably looking for more than just a quick fix. You want real, lasting change – and that’s exactly what I help people achieve. I specialise in working with individuals navigating anxiety, trauma, abuse, ADHD, or those who simply feel like they don’t fit the mold.