Anxiety Therapist in San Francisco

Why do I feel anxious all the time?

Anxiety is one of the most common reasons people reach out for therapy, and also one of the most misunderstood. It is not simply worry. It is not a personality trait or a sign that you are weak. Anxiety is your nervous system responding to perceived threat, and when it stays switched on long after the threat has passed, it starts to interfere with everything. Your sleep. Your relationships. Your ability to be present in your own life.

For teens and young adults, anxiety often shows up in specific ways. The pressure of school, the uncertainty of what comes next, questions about identity and belonging, family dynamics that feel unresolvable. You might find yourself lying awake running through conversations that haven't happened yet. Avoiding situations that used to feel manageable. Feeling on edge for no reason you can name. Racing thoughts that won't stop no matter how tired you are.

This is not who you are. It is something that can change.

What anxiety can look like for teens vs. young adults

Anxiety does not look the same at every age. For teenagers, it often shows up around school performance, social belonging, family conflict, and the pressure to meet expectations that feel impossible to understand let alone achieve. Panic before tests. Dread on Sunday evenings. Withdrawing from friends without being able to explain why.

For young adults, the picture shifts. The anxiety becomes less about specific situations and more about the bigger questions. Am I in the right career? Am I in the right relationship? Why does everyone else seem to have a direction? This ambient uncertainty can be harder to name and harder to treat with simple reassurance, because there is no single threat to point to. The nervous system is responding to an entire life that feels unresolved.

Understanding which kind of anxiety you are dealing with and what is underneath it, is one of the first things we figure out together.

Can't turn your brain off at night?

One of the most common things I hear from clients is that they cannot turn their brain off when they want to rest. The moment things get quiet, the thoughts get loud. Replaying conversations. Anticipating problems. Running through scenarios that may never happen.

This pattern is often a sign that anxiety has moved beyond situational stress into something more persistent. The good news is that it responds well to treatment. CBT and DBT give you concrete tools to interrupt the thought patterns that keep anxiety running. EMDR can address the underlying experiences that taught your nervous system to stay on high alert in the first place. Mindfulness-based approaches help you build a different relationship with your thoughts so they have less power over your body and your choices.

Most clients notice a meaningful shift within the first few months of consistent work.

Anxiety in your 20s that nobody warned you about

There is a particular kind of anxiety that hits in your 20s that nobody quite prepares you for. You are supposed to be figuring out who you are, what you want, where you belong. And instead you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or like everyone else has something figured out that you haven't found yet.

This is not a personal failing. It is an extraordinarily difficult developmental period, made harder by social media, economic uncertainty, and the pressure to have your life together before you've had a chance to live it. For LGBTGAI+ young adults, this period carries additional weight. Navigating identity, family acceptance, community, and safety while also trying to build a life takes a particular kind of courage, and a particular kind of support.

Anxiety in your 20s is real, it is common, and it deserves real treatment. Not just reassurance that things will get better, but actual tools, actual processing, and an actual therapeutic relationship with someone who takes your experience seriously.

How Erica approaches anxiety treatment

I work with teens and young adults aged 16 to 30 in San Francisco and across California via telehealth. My approach to anxiety treatment is integrative, meaning I draw on multiple evidence-based methods depending on what each person needs rather than applying a single approach to everyone.

For many clients, we begin with CBT and DBT skills to build immediate relief and create tools you can use between sessions. For clients whose anxiety is rooted in past experiences, EMDR can address those experiences directly and reduce their ongoing impact. For clients who feel anxiety primarily in their body, mindfulness and somatic awareness help build a sense of safety from the inside out.

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, CA License #81057, with 20 years of clinical experience in San Francisco. I completed my EMDR practitioner training through Sonoma PTI in 2021. I warmly welcome the LGBTGAI+ community, including queer youth and young adults navigating identity alongside anxiety.

When is anxiety serious enough to get help?

You do not need to be in crisis to start therapy. Many people wait until anxiety has significantly disrupted their life, their sleep, their work, their relationships, before reaching out. But anxiety responds better to treatment when it is caught earlier.

If you find yourself regularly avoiding things that matter to you, struggling to be present in your own life, or exhausted from managing thoughts that won't slow down, that is enough of a reason to reach out. A free 30-minute consultation is a low-pressure way to find out whether therapy might help before you commit to anything.

Ready to take the first step?

I offer a free 30-minute phone consultation to see if we're a good fit. There's no obligation and no pressure. Just a conversation to see how I might be able to help you.

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