Helping Build Resilient Minds

Generalised Anxiety

Generalised anxiety involves persistent (GAD), excessive worry about a wide range of everyday situations, from work, health, relationships and future events that may never happen. This worry can feel uncontrollable, looping over the same thoughts and “what if” scenarios without resolution. People with GAD often describe feeling constantly on edge, tense, or unable to relax, and may experience physical symptoms such as restlessness, muscle tension, difficulty concentrating, or trouble sleeping.

Over time, this heightened state of alertness can become exhausting and impact daily life, relationships, and wellbeing. Therapy can help by identifying the patterns that keep worry going, developing skills to manage uncertainty, and learning strategies to step out of the cycle of overthinking. With the right support, it’s possible to reduce anxiety, build resilience, and create more space for calm, clarity, and purposeful living.

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Treating & recovering from Generalised Anxiety



When working with generalised anxiety, my focus is on creating a safe, collaborative space where we can make sense of your worries and the deeper patterns driving them. Anxiety is not a flaw or a weakness; it’s the mind and body’s attempt to keep you safe, even if the strategies they use (such as overthinking, scanning for danger, or trying to plan for every outcome) have become overwhelming or unhelpful. Together, we work to understand these patterns and gently retrain how your system responds.

My approach is grounded in evidence-based therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT). We start by exploring what triggers and maintains your anxiety, and from there, we build practical strategies to respond differently. This involves learning how to step back from anxious thoughts, reduce their impact, and shift your attention back to the present.

Alongside cognitive and behavioural techniques, we often work on developing a more compassionate inner dialogue, building emotional regulation skills, and strengthening your ability to tolerate uncertainty without feeling a constant need for control or frequently avoiding situations. Where relevant, we might also explore the early experiences and beliefs that shaped your relationship with worry, so that change feels deeper and more lasting.

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What Often Comes Alongside Generalised Anxiety

Generalised Anxiety Disorder rarely exists in isolation. Because it’s rooted in a heightened sensitivity to threat and a deep need to feel safe or in control, it often overlaps with other difficulties such as self-criticism, health anxiety, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, social anxiety, and perfectionism. Each of may reflect a different way the mind tries to manage uncertainty, prevent harm, or gain a sense of safety, even if those strategies ultimately become exhausting, limiting and counterproductive.

For example, health anxiety may lead to constant body monitoring or reassurance seeking, OCD might involve repetitive checking or mental rituals to neutralise worry, and perfectionism can emerge as a way to avoid criticism or failure. Panic attacks may develop when the body’s alarm system becomes overly reactive, while social anxiety often stems from fears of judgment or rejection. Although they appear different on the surface, these experiences share common threads: a heightened threat response, difficulty tolerating uncertainty, and deep-rooted beliefs about safety, control, or worth.

Therapy isn’t just about changing these patterns, it’s also about understanding why they formed. Often, these responses are adaptations: ways we learned to cope, protect ourselves, or make sense of the world. By exploring their origins with curiosity and compassion, we can begin to shift from self-criticism to self-understanding. This deeper insight helps build emotional resilience and strengthens our capacity for self-regulation, allowing us to respond to anxiety with greater flexibility and kindness rather than fear and avoidance.

For all enquires please complete the form below or use the details provided

Email: Cognitive-psychotherapy@proton.me

Phone: +44 7729 267218

Address: Fourth Floor, Studio 410. 95A Rye Ln, London SE15 4ST