Therapy for high-functioning anxiety

From the outside you are composed, prepared, reliable. Inside, the mind does not stop: rehearsing the meeting, replaying the conversation, scanning for what could go wrong. It works. That is exactly why it has gone on for so long.

 

What it looks like

Waking at four in the morning with tomorrow's agenda already running. Preparing three times more than the situation needs. Finding it hard to delegate, and harder to rest. A tight chest, jaw or stomach that the doctor finds nothing wrong with. Irritability with the people closest to you. Needing a drink, a run or a screen to switch off at all.

 

Why it so rarely gets named

In demanding careers, anxiety is often rewarded. Vigilance looks like excellence. Overpreparation looks like commitment. Colleagues see the results; partners see the cost. Many people do not call it anxiety until their body, their sleep or a relationship names it for them.

 

There is also a quieter reason. Admitting anxiety can feel like admitting weakness, and for people who built their lives on being the capable one, that feels dangerous. So the alarm keeps running in the background, and the effort to hide it becomes part of the exhaustion.

 

What the work involves

The work runs on two tracks. First, relief: understanding the loop your mind runs, concrete ways to interrupt it, and getting sleep back. Then the structure underneath. What is the vigilance protecting you from? Failing, being found out, disappointing someone, losing control? Where did you learn that being on guard was the price of being safe?

 

The aim is not to make you less ambitious. It is to keep the standards and lose the constant alarm, so that your mind becomes a place you can rest in.

 

We say what we see, plainly. You did not come to be agreed with.

 

When anxiety meets life abroad

Internationals carry an extra load: a culture whose signals you are still learning, colleagues with no shared history, family in another time zone. The nervous system stays on alert longer when nothing around it is familiar. If that is part of your situation, it is part of the work. Read about therapy for life abroad

 

Practical

Sessions last fifty minutes, in English or French, in a private room on the Sarphatistraat in central Amsterdam. No GP referral is needed and nothing is sent to your insurer. We do not prescribe medication; if it is worth considering, we say so and suggest you discuss it with your GP or a psychiatrist.

 

Questions people ask

Is this an anxiety disorder?

Sometimes. The label matters less than what it costs you. In the first conversation we look at what is going on and whether this is the right place for the work.

 

Will therapy make me less sharp?

The aim is the opposite: the same clarity and standards, without the alarm underneath.

 

How long does it take?

The first sessions usually bring some relief. Deeper change takes longer, and we review together as we go.

 

To start

Outline your situation in a few lines. If the work can happen here, we will call you.