Lucy Zhang | High-Functioning Anxiety & Perfectionism

College is a remarkably strange time in our lives, because so many things can be true at once. On one hand, it’s what we’ve been waiting for, and when that day arrives, we are indeed motivated, happy, and independent, and yet, the inevitable finds a way to creep back into our lives. We also feel startlingly overwhelmed, stuck in our head, and deeply unsure of what the future holds. We want to be surprised by just how much the new daily routine, relationships, family, purpose, and other people’s perceptions of us still seem to govern us, but there is also a voice inside of us that always knew the old patterns would resurface.

I help young adults navigate that liminal space for when you want something more out of life, are eager about therapy as an avenue for finding it, and already exhausted the list of coping skills you found on TikTok. Therapy is a space where we get to go much deeper. We understand where the pattern came from, what it has been doing for you, what’s been happening underneath, whether it still fits the person you are & who you’re becoming, and what you can do that can actually help it shift.

My work supports those struggling with cognitive overload & overwhelm, high-functioning anxiety, relationship stress, attachment patterns, trauma, perfectionism, identity emergence, and late-diagnosed neurodivergence. I like making connections and noticing the patterns with you, especially the ones that can be harder to recognize from the inside looking in, or difficult to make comprehend when trying to persist in holding all of it alone.

Sometimes you know exactly what you want support in. Sometimes you don’t. You’re not sure of how you got here, why this awful feeling won’t go away, and if it ever truly will. The beauty is this: You don’t need to have it figured out in this space. A lot of the work is being curious together, making sense of the whole picture, learning to tolerate what remains ambiguous, and evermore creating more room for clarity, agency, and a life that feels like yours (that IS yours). Maybe you CAN have the life you’ve always imagined having.