Article by Anna Keyter

Sometimes we can experience anxiety as a tangled forest—twisted branches of worry, shadows of fear, and a racing heart like wind rustling the leaves. You’re standing at the edge, longing to find a clearing where you can breathe freely.

You’re not alone, and this forest doesn’t define you. You’re here, seeking a path through the turmoil, and that’s a brave first step. This article could be a lantern—a guide to unmask anxiety, understand its roots, and discover how online anxiety therapy can light your way to finding peace and calm.

We’ll walk with you, exploring what you’re feeling, why it’s happening, and how to navigate this forest with small, creative steps, supported by those who care.

Meet our therapists who can help you work through anxiety.

Why You’re Here

You’ve entered a metaphorical forest, where anxiety weaves its way through your life. Your mind may constantly spin with “what ifs”—what if you fail? What if you’re judged? Your body may betray you with a pounding heart before an important meeting. Nights could be restless, with your thoughts replaying stressful events. At times, you may avoid crowded places, social invitations, or even quiet moments, fearing the storm raging inside your mind. Furthermore, low mood and anxiety often go together.

It may feel like you’re at war, struggling with chaos in your head. You want to let go, but you don’t quite know how. Perhaps you are hoping that an online counsellor can offer guidance through effective anxiety therapy, helping you navigate your way out of the forest and find peace.

What is Anxiety? Seeing the Forest Clearly

Anxiety is like a hyperactive false alarm that constantly sounds, trying to keep you safe—but instead, it often causes more stress. It also often goes hand in hand with depression.

You may experience:

• Emotional Vines: Persistent worry, fear, or a sense of dread that seems to cling to you.
• Physical Thorns: Rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, tightness in the chest, or trembling limbs.
• Cognitive Shadows: Racing thoughts, difficulty concentrating, or repetitive “what if” scenarios.
• Behavioural Roots: Avoidance of triggers such as social events or attempting to gain control through overplanning.

These responses aren’t signs of weakness; they’re your body’s way of trying to protect you, even if it’s misfiring. Anxiety is common, affecting 60% of UK adults. Online anxiety therapy can help you untangle these feelings and find the calm beyond the chaos.

While anxiety often stems from immediate stressors, prolonged feelings of worry and fear can impair motivation and, if left unchecked, contribute to burnout by exhausting your emotional and mental resources.

The Roots of Your Forest: Biology, Childhood, and Theories

Your anxiety develops from a combination of different underlying roots. Understanding these roots can help you see that your anxiety is not simply your fault:

• Biological Roots: Your brain’s amygdala, which acts like a sentinel in your forest, may overreact to perceived threats, releasing a flood of adrenaline. Low levels of GABA, a chemical that helps calm the nervous system, can increase feelings of worry. If anxiety runs in your family, your genes may make you more sensitive to stress. However, this does not mean anxiety is predetermined or unchangeable.
• Childhood Pathways: Your early experiences can shape how your forest grows. If you experienced uncertainty, such as critical or strict parents, frequent moves, or a sense of insecurity, these experiences can plant seeds of hyper-vigilance. For example, a childhood where you often felt unsafe may cause you to scan your environment for danger today. Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy can help you tend to these roots.
• Traumatic experiences: We often carry remnants of trauma with us from our childhood. If unresolved, it can contribute to anxiety.

Online anxiety counselling or working with an online anxiety counsellor can help you understand and address these roots, providing support and strategies to manage and reduce anxiety.

Theories of anxiety

• Cognitive Theory: Anxiety grows from thoughts that overestimate danger, like “I’ll ruin this presentation,” creating a cycle of fear.
• Biopsychosocial Model: Blends biological (brain chemistry), psychological (thought patterns), and social (work stress, isolation) factors.
• Evolutionary Theory: Anxiety evolved to spot threats, but modern pressures like deadlines or social media can overactivate it.

These roots shape your forest, but you can learn to navigate them. Online anxiety therapy offers tools to help you clear the path and move forward.

Your Journey Through the Forest

Anxiety may feel like a whirlwind—racing thoughts before a social event, a tight chest during quiet moments, or dread about tomorrow. You may avoid crowded shops or overthink a text, feeling trapped in the shadows of the forest. It’s as if you’re pulling a heavy rope against a force you cannot see, fighting to stay safe but growing weary. These moments can leave you feeling alone, but they are signs of anxiety, not who you are. You can learn to navigate this path and find a way through the forest.

Who Walks with You?

You don’t have to navigate this forest alone. Your companions include:

• Loved Ones: A friend who sends a kind message, a partner who holds space for your fears, or a family member who listens quietly.
• Community: Online forums or local groups where others share their journeys, offering a sense of belonging.
• Online Therapists: Online anxiety counsellors walk beside you, offering guidance with compassion.
• Your Inner Strength: Your courage, even if it’s small, helps guide you forward. Reading this is already a positive step toward understanding and managing your anxiety.

How Online Anxiety Therapy Helps You Clear Your Way

Online anxiety therapy UK acts as your lantern, guiding you through the forest via secure video or phone sessions, available wherever you feel safe. Imagine anxiety as a tug-of-war with a monster across an abyss. Instead of pulling harder, online anxiety therapy helps you learn to let go of the rope — to stop fighting the fear and find greater freedom. You can work through your anxiety in individual counselling or in a group.

Here’s how:

A Safe Clearing to Reflect:

1. Connect with an online anxiety counsellor who listens to your experiences. You can share your feelings in a safe, supportive space, making it easier to unmask your turmoil.
2. Example: You describe your fear of speaking up to the online counsellor. Your online therapist helps you explore it gently, like carefully untangling a vine—finding the knots and loosening the tension one by one.

ACT and the Hexaflex: Finding Flexibility:

1. Online anxiety therapy may draw on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help you live meaningfully despite anxiety. The Hexaflex principles illuminate your path:
   • Acceptance: Allow anxiety’s leaves to fall without fighting them. Rather than battling worry, notice it and let it pass.
   • Cognitive Defusion: View your thoughts as leaves floating by. Say, “I’m having the thought that I’ll fail,” to loosen their grip—rather than identifying with “I’ll fail.”
   • Present Moment Awareness: Anchor yourself in the here and now—feel your breath, listen to the sounds around you—to step out of worry’s shadows.
   • Self-as-Context: Recognise that you are the forest, not the storms within it. You hold space for anxiety without it defining you.
   • Values: Find your “calm compass”—what truly matters to you, such as connection or creativity—and let it guide your actions.
   • Committed Action: Take small, purposeful steps towards your values, like joining a hobby group despite feeling afraid.
2. These principles build psychological flexibility, empowering you to move through anxiety with greater ease and resilience.

The Struggle Switch Analogy:

Anxiety is like a switch you keep flipping, trying to control it. If the struggle switch is you, you struggle—such as avoiding triggers—the more the forest of worry thickens. Online therapy helps you learn to turn off the struggle switch by accepting anxiety’s presence and focusing on meaningful actions, like spending time with loved ones, which can reduce its grip on you.

Creative Tools for Your Journey:

1. Try these imaginative strategies:
   • Leaf Visualisation: Picture anxious thoughts as leaves on a stream. Watch them float away as you say, “I’m having the thought that…”
   • Calm Compass: Draw or imagine a compass pointing to your values (e.g., family, growth). Use it to guide one small action daily.
   • Forest Pause: Practice a 2-minute breathing exercise—inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 6—to find a clearing in your mind.
   • Courage Steps: Choose one action, like texting a friend or attending a low-stakes event, to face anxiety gently. Track wins in a journal.
2. Your online counsellor can help you turn these insights into a plan, fostering positive change with creative steps.

Flexible and Holistic:

• Online anxiety therapy UK fits your life—day or evening sessions, no travel needed. It addresses related struggles, like stress or relationships, complementing approaches like motivational interviewing or grief counselling.

Picture Noor, lost in anxiety’s forest before job interviews, her roots laid in a childhood of high expectations. She fought her fears, struggling to push through the thick undergrowth until she was exhausted. Through online anxiety therapy, Noor learned to let go, using ACT to tell herself, “I’m having the thought that I’ll fail,” and watch it drift away. She created a calm compass—based on what truly matters to her, like connection—and took small steps, such as practising breathing and speaking in small groups. Supportive calls from a friend helped her find a clear path forward. Over time, Noor found peace, navigating the forest with ease.

Why Online Anxiety Therapy Works

Online anxiety therapy UK offers:

• Accessibility: Support from anywhere, perfect for rural areas or busy lives.
• Comfort: Share from a safe space, like home.
• Flexibility: Sessions that fit your schedule.
• Privacy: Secure platforms protect your journey.

Your First Step Through the Forest

You’re more than your anxiety—a traveller with courage and hopes. Online anxiety therapy can help you switch off the struggle switch and begin to find peace. Taking one small step today can make a difference.

This article is based on Steven Hays’ book Get out of your mind and into your life: The new acceptance and commitment therapy.

As well as the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Toolbox: 90 Worksheets & Exercises