Anxiety and Depression Counseling | Online Therapy in Texas, Washington & Florida
Anxiety and Depression Counseling
Did you know that anxiety and depression often come together?
Do you find yourself feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or constantly thinking about worst-case scenarios? Does fear feel so paralyzing that you are unable to show up for yourself? Do you feel stuck, drained, or disconnected from your own needs?
These might be the first signs that it’s time to reach out. While they may look like everyday struggles, they often point to deeper distress rooted in repeated patterns, old wounds, and unprocessed emotions.
How Do Anxiety and Depression Overlap?
Stress, anxiety, and depression go hand in hand. You might notice one more than the other—anxiety with moments of depression, or depression with bursts of anxiety—but they often overlap.
- Stress comes from daily pressures. Normally, our body can regulate itself if we listen to its signals.
- When we don’t listen—or when stress feels relentless—our body escalates into anxiety, triggering fight, flight, freeze or Fawn (people pleasing)
- Over time, the exhaustion of feeling stuck in anxiety can create depression: hopelessness, guilt, and loss of motivation.
- Depression then feeds back into anxiety, creating a vicious cycle.
Anxiety becomes a problem when it lingers long after the stressor is gone. Depression takes away your energy and hope, leaving you feeling worthless or alone. Together, they can make even daily life feel impossible.
The Link Between Childhood Trauma, People Pleasing, and Anxiety
Anxiety and depression don’t appear out of nowhere. They are often shaped by early experiences.
Childhood Trauma and Anxiety
If you grew up with emotionally unavailable caregivers or inconsistent affection, your body learned to stay on edge. Imagine being a child who never knew if mom or dad would respond with comfort or with criticism. That constant unpredictability wired the nervous system for anxiety.
As an adult, even in safe situations—like with a supportive partner or in a stable job—you may still feel unsafe, waiting for the other shoe to drop. The inner critic says, “Don’t trust this, something bad will happen.” Protective parts may push people away or keep you hypervigilant, leaving you exhausted. Over time, the constant tension can also create depression, as the weight of always being on guard feels too heavy.
For example, one woman grew up in a home where her father was warm one day and cold the next. As an adult, she found herself panicking whenever her boss didn’t reply quickly to an email, convinced she had done something wrong. Her anxiety kept her on edge every day at work, and the constant fear of making a mistake eventually left her drained and depressed.
Read more about childhood trauma and Relationship PTSD
People Pleasing and Anxiety
Many people who live with anxiety also struggle with people pleasing. Saying “no” can feel terrifying, as though rejection or abandonment will follow. To avoid conflict, you sacrifice your own needs again and again.
Over time, these patterns create resentment and exhaustion. You may feel like no matter how much you give, it’s never enough. That belief—“I’ll only be loved if I keep everyone happy”—fuels anxiety. And when your efforts go unrecognized, depression creeps in, leaving you feeling worthless or invisible.
For example, Imagine someone stayed late at work to cover for coworkers, even when it meant missing time with his family. Every time he thought of saying no, anxiety told him he might lose his job or not get a promotion if he did that. The more he gave, the more resentful he felt. Over time, his exhaustion turned into burnout and eventually depression.
Explore therapy for people pleasing
Relationship Issues and Depression
Attachment wounds from childhood often repeat in adult relationships. If you find yourself drawn to emotionally distant, inconsistent, or critical partners, your nervous system is replaying an old survival pattern.
For example, you might be in a relationship where your partner repeatedly ignores your emotional needs. You may feel like you don’t have any other choice but to stay, because anxiety whispers, “I’m not good enough. No one else will ever want me.” This fear keeps you stuck, even as you feel helpless and hopeless about the future.
Over time, the loneliness, worthlessness, and exhaustion from staying in a relationship that doesn’t nurture you can deepen into depression. Continuing to lower your self worth the origin of which often traces back to childhood trauma, where unmet needs first shaped your sense of self-worth and belonging.
For example, if you grew up with a mother who rarely showed affection. As an adult, you might enter a relationship with a partner who pulls away whenever you ask for closeness. Each time he withdrew, your anxiety spiked, flooding you with the feeling of abandonment. As your needs continue to go unmet, the depressive thought of not being unworthy of love gets louder. Without realizing it, you might be living the same wounds of emotional neglect from childhood.
My Approach to Anxiety and Depression Counseling
Anxiety is very close to my heart. I have had my own share of living with anxiety, and I know how tempting it is to fight against it. But fighting often makes it worse. Anxiety is your body’s way of saying, “I don’t feel safe.” When we listen instead of resist, healing becomes possible.
Depression feels different. I often describe it as the Dementors in Harry Potter—soul-sucking, leaving emptiness behind. My approach is to externalize it: instead of “I am depressed,” we say “I am experiencing depression.” This shift helps clients separate their identity from depression and reclaim their agency.
Modalities That Help
- Mindfulness – to build resources and learn breathing techniques to regulate your nervous system and ground yourself in the present moment.
- CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) – Is used in talk therapy to help you identify thought patterns that might be keeping you stuck. CBT is sometimes used with EMDR.
- IFS (Internal Family Systems) – Is used to work with your anxious parts to listen to their concerns and worries, help regulate them and help them feel safe. We work with your parts that are holding depression by getting to know their story and listening to everything that they might be holding that’s making them weigh you down.
- EMDR therapy –helps reprocess traumatic memories that fuel negative beliefs like “I’m not safe” or “I’m not enough.” For example if the depression part tells ups about the memories it’s holding then we reprocess those memories and identify the negative belief its holding on to.
Discover IFS therapy and EMDR. Find out how Parts work with EMDR works.
Ready to Begin?
You don’t have to keep living in cycles of anxiety, depression, or self-doubt. With therapy, you can reconnect with your sense of self, heal old wounds, and step into a calmer, more grounded life.
Schedule a free consultation for online therapy for anxiety and depression in Texas, Washington, and Florida.
FAQ: Anxiety & Depression
Living with anxiety or depression can feel overwhelming, and it often leaves people with many questions about why they feel the way they do and how therapy can help. Below are some of the most common questions I hear from clients who are navigating anxiety, depression, or both.
Can anxiety cause depression?
Yes. Anxiety and depression often go hand in hand. Living with constant worry, fear, or nervous system overwhelm can lead to exhaustion, hopelessness, and eventually depression. At the same time, depression can make it harder to manage anxiety, creating a cycle where the two conditions feed into each other. Therapy can help by addressing both—calming your nervous system, processing underlying experiences, and building healthier ways to cope.
In short: Ongoing anxiety can lead to depression, and therapy can help break the cycle by addressing both together.
How do I know if I have anxiety or depression?
While anxiety and depression are different, they often overlap.
- Anxiety may look like constant worry, racing thoughts, feeling on edge, difficulty relaxing, or physical symptoms such as a racing heart, stomach issues, or trouble sleeping.
- Depression may look like low mood, loss of interest in things you used to enjoy, changes in sleep or appetite, difficulty concentrating, or feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness.
Many people experience a mix of both. Therapy can help you untangle what you’re experiencing, understand the root causes, and create a path toward healing.
In short: Anxiety shows up as worry and hyperarousal; depression shows up as low mood and disconnection. Many people have both, and therapy can help clarify and treat them together.
Can childhood trauma cause anxiety and depression?
Yes. Childhood trauma can leave lasting imprints on the nervous system. Experiences of neglect, emotional invalidation, or abuse may teach you to stay on high alert, which often shows up later as anxiety. Over time, the weight of unprocessed pain, shame, or disconnection can lead to depression. Many adults struggling with anxiety or depression discover that unresolved childhood experiences are at the root of their symptoms.
Therapy can help by reprocessing those early memories, releasing the burdens they carry, and building new ways of relating to yourself. Approaches like EMDR and IFS are especially effective in addressing trauma at its core.
In short: Childhood trauma can set the stage for both anxiety and depression, but therapy can help you heal those early wounds and find relief.
How does trauma relate to anxiety and depression?
Unhealed trauma can leave the nervous system in a constant state of alert, which often shows up as anxiety. Over time, the exhaustion of being “on guard” can lead to feelings of hopelessness and depression. Many clients who struggle with anxiety or depression discover that unresolved childhood or relationship trauma plays a role. Approaches like EMDR and IFS can help reprocess these experiences, calm the nervous system, and reduce the weight of trauma so healing can happen.
In short: Trauma often fuels both anxiety and depression, but therapy can help release those burdens and restore balance.
Can therapy really help with anxiety and depression?
Yes. Therapy gives you a safe space to understand what’s driving your symptoms and to learn tools to manage them. With EMDR, we can reprocess past experiences that keep your nervous system stuck. With IFS, we can work compassionately with the parts of you carrying fear, sadness, or hopelessness. Over time, this reduces symptoms, builds resilience, and helps you feel more grounded, confident, and connected to yourself.
In short: Therapy doesn’t just manage symptoms—it addresses the root causes of anxiety and depression so lasting healing is possible.
Do you offer online therapy for anxiety and depression?
Yes. I provide online counseling in Texas, Washington, and Florida, helping adults heal anxiety, depression, and the patterns that fuel them.
You don’t have to live with anxiety and depression