Lauren Schmidt Psychotherapy & Clinical Consultation
Overthinking and anxiety are not personal failures, and they aren't signs that something is fundamentally wrong with you. They are simply your brain’s threat-detection system stuck in the "on" position.
In reality, your brain is just doing its job a little too well. When your nervous system experiences stress or unpredictable situations early on, it builds a highly sensitive internal alarm system to keep you safe.
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Overthinking becomes one of its favorite tools. Your mind genuinely believes that if it replays that conversation twenty times, or predicts every single worst-case scenario, you will be more prepared for the future and shielded from getting hurt or blindsided.
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It is an incredibly exhausting strategy, but it comes from a deep place of self-protection. You aren't failing at life, your brain is just trying to navigate today’s world using an old survival manual.
understanding anxiety
What Anxiety Can Feel like
Lying awake at night with your brain still going.
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Body tension: tight chest, clenched jaw, shoulders up by your ears.
Sometimes, a panic attack that seems to come out of nowhere.Â
Feeling exhausted by the evening but noticing nothing about your day was physically hard.Â
Replaying a conversation hours or days after it happened. ​
Saying yes when you mean no, then dreading it all week.Â
Waiting for something to go wrong, even when you are having a good day.Â
Spending lots of time triple-checking an email, presentation, or assignment because a minor mistake feels catastrophic.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Understand your mind. We look at the exact thought loops driving your anxiety, giving you the practical tools to rewrite that old survival manual in real time.​
How anxiety is treated in therapy
True relief doesn’t come from fighting your mind or trying to force it to be quiet. It comes from gently teaching your nervous system that it is finally safe to stand down.
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
Make room for ease. Instead of exhausting yourself trying to fight or stop your anxiety, we help it take up less space so you can step out of survival mode and build a life you love.​
Mindfulness-based Therapy
Ground your nervous system. Simple, immediate tools to calm your physical alarm system right when a spiral hits, safely guiding you through the initial panic.