Mental Health Practitioner — Naina Agarwal
Online Therapy for Anxiety and Overthinking in India
When your brain just won’t leave you alone.
You replay the conversation. Think about what you should’ve said. Wonder if they took it the wrong way. Rehearse how you’ll handle the next one. And even after you’ve figured out that you’re probably overthinking, your brain refuses to cooperate.
Maybe you’re getting everything done. Maybe nobody around you would guess how much goes on in your head. Maybe you understand your patterns well enough to explain them to someone else, but that doesn’t necessarily make them easier to deal with yourself.
Because knowing why you’re anxious and knowing what to do when anxiety shows up are two very different things.
I’m Naina Agarwal, and I run The Butterfly Effect. I offer online therapy for anxiety, overthinking, and the things that can make everyday life feel harder than it needs to be.
Our work isn’t about forcing yourself to think positively or becoming someone who never feels anxious. It’s about understanding what’s happening, recognising the patterns that keep you stuck, and learning to respond to them differently.
You don’t need to have everything figured out before you reach out.
What anxiety can actually look like
Anxiety doesn’t always look like panic attacks or being visibly distressed. Sometimes, it looks like being the person who has thought of everything that could possibly go wrong.
It can look like:
- Replaying conversations long after they’ve ended.
- Overthinking a decision even after you’ve made it.
- Preparing for every possible outcome because uncertainty feels unbearable.
- Feeling guilty when you’re resting because there’s always something else you could be doing.
- Asking for reassurance, feeling better for a while, and then needing it again.
- Lying awake at night because your brain has decided it’s the perfect time to review every embarrassing thing you’ve done since 2014.
- Feeling tense or on edge even when nothing particularly bad is happening.
- Avoiding situations because the possibility of getting something wrong feels worse than missing out.
- Knowing that a thought probably isn’t rational but still feeling like you need to do something about it.
- Spending so much time trying to understand how someone feels about you that you barely have the energy to think about how you feel about them.
You might relate to some of these, all of them, or none of them exactly.
You don’t need to fit into a checklist to deserve support. And you don’t need to wait until anxiety starts affecting every part of your life before you consider therapy.
Why is it so difficult to stop overthinking?
Here’s something worth understanding: overthinking isn’t always about not knowing enough. Sometimes, it’s about trying to feel certain enough.
You might replay a conversation because you want to make sure you haven’t upset anyone. You might plan for every possible outcome because being caught off guard feels awful. You might keep analysing a decision because making the wrong choice feels like something you should have been able to prevent.
And sometimes, overthinking actually seems to help.
You analyse the situation, find an explanation, ask someone for reassurance, or convince yourself that everything is fine. The anxiety settles. For a little while, at least.
Then something else happens, and you’re back where you started.
This can become a cycle. Something makes you anxious, you try to get rid of that anxiety by thinking it through or seeking reassurance, and you feel better temporarily. Over time, you might find yourself relying on the same strategies more and more.
The problem isn’t that you’re deliberately making yourself anxious. It’s that the things you do to feel better in the moment can sometimes keep the cycle going.
And no, the solution isn’t simply to tell yourself to stop thinking about it. If that worked, you probably wouldn’t be looking for a therapist.
In therapy, we can explore what’s contributing to your anxiety, what you tend to do when it shows up, and how those responses affect you in the longer term.
The goal is to understand your patterns without turning every thought, feeling, or interaction into another thing you need to analyse.
Not every thought needs an answer. Not every possibility needs to be prepared for. And not every uncomfortable feeling needs to be fixed before you can get on with your day.
Learning to respond differently takes practice. It’s something we can work on together.
How we can work on anxiety together
I don’t believe therapy should follow a one-size-fits-all approach.
People are different. The things they struggle with are different. And what works for one person might not work for another.
My approach to therapy is eclectic. I draw on different therapeutic modalities, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Internal Family Systems (IFS)-informed work, depending on the person’s needs and the concerns we’re working through.
What this looks like in practice depends on you.
Understanding your patterns
We’ll explore the situations that trigger your anxiety, the thoughts that follow, how your body responds, and what you tend to do to manage the discomfort. The point isn’t to analyse everything about yourself. It’s to understand the patterns that are actually affecting your life.
Working with difficult thoughts and emotions
Sometimes, you know a thought isn’t necessarily true but still find yourself reacting to it as though it is. We can work on recognising these patterns and developing different ways of responding to difficult thoughts and feelings.
Learning to tolerate uncertainty
You might find yourself putting off decisions, seeking reassurance, or avoiding situations because you can’t guarantee how they’ll turn out. We’ll explore ways to navigate uncertainty without needing to have every possible outcome figured out first.
Understanding relationship patterns
If anxiety shows up in your relationships, we can explore how you respond to conflict, uncertainty, rejection, or the possibility of disappointing someone. We’ll work towards understanding these patterns and finding ways to respond that feel more helpful to you.
Making changes outside the therapy room
Therapy isn’t just about understanding why something happens. It’s also about figuring out what you can do differently when it happens again. Depending on your goals, we might work on practical strategies, behavioural changes, or ways of approaching situations you’ve been avoiding.
Our sessions will be guided by your concerns, your goals, and what we’re working towards together.
The aim isn’t to give you a collection of coping techniques and send you on your way. It’s to help you develop a better understanding of yourself and build ways of responding to life’s difficulties that work for you.
Online anxiety therapy with Naina Agarwal
If you’re considering therapy for anxiety or overthinking, here’s what you need to know.
- Format: Online video sessions
- Availability: Across India
- Session duration: 50–60 minutes
- Languages: English and Hindi
- Fees: Starting at ₹1,000 per session
- First step: A free 15-minute introductory call
The introductory call is an opportunity to briefly discuss what’s bringing you to therapy, what you’re looking for, and whether working together seems like a good fit.
You don’t need to have a clear explanation for everything you’re experiencing. And you don’t have to commit to ongoing sessions during the call.
No pressure. Just a conversation to begin.
Questions you might have before starting therapy
You don’t have to figure everything out before asking for help.
Maybe you’ve spent months trying to understand yourself. Maybe you know exactly why you react the way you do, but still struggle when those reactions show up in real life.
Maybe you’re tired of spending so much time inside your own head.
You don’t need to wait until things get worse to do something about it.
If anxiety and overthinking are taking up more space in your life than you’d like, we can start by understanding what’s happening and figuring out what might help.
The Butterfly Effect — therapy that follows you, not a script.
Related reading
A note on care: I work with concerns within my scope of practice. If you need a different level of support, I’ll help you explore appropriate options. If you’re in immediate danger in India, call 112.