Do you find yourself giving more to others than you get back, avoiding confrontation at all costs, or changing your personality to fit in? If so, you might be engaging in the fawn response. Understanding the fawn response can help you address the root cause of your people-pleasing tendencies and enable you to break free from the associated anxiety and low self-esteem, and embrace your authentic self

If you are someone who tends to put others before yourself, you might be so preoccupied with how they feel that you aren’t as in tune with your own feelings.

You are so used to suppressing and masking your emotions that it’s easy to overlook your own anxiety.

Here are 10 signs you can look out for to see if you are more anxious than you initially realise!

I provide therapy for anxiety and low self-esteem, while specialising in working with those who can relate to the term "people-pleaser." The reason for this is due to how interlinked they are. People-pleasing isn’t just about being agreeable or nice. For many, people-pleasing is rooted in low self-esteem and anxiety and is a coping mechanism for both.

Here are more reasons why low self-esteem is at the core of anxiety and people-pleasing:

Whilst it’s natural to want to be seen as a well-liked team player and build positive relationships, the habit of always putting others’ needs before your own and going the extra mile can lead to burnout, frustration, resentment, and a loss of authenticity. Here’s how to stop…

You might have always wondered what starting therapy is like or what to expect when you see a therapist for the first time. Here, I aim to alleviate some of the uncertainty by telling you a bit more about what you can expect from online therapy with me.

How do you know if you’re a people-pleaser?

Identifying if you are a people-pleaser involves reflecting on your thoughts, feelings and patterns of behaviour. Practice noticing how you tend to respond and feel in certain situations, and you will be able to recognise if you are consistently putting others' needs before your own and have become caught in an unhelpful people-pleasing trap. See if you can relate to these common signs:

For most of my life, I carried an inflated sense of responsibility for others and found myself trapped in a cycle of people-pleasing. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but it was as if my self-worth hinged on my ability to cater to everyone else’s needs and gain their approval. I was starting to feel resentful. I knew something had to change.

Often people-pleasing is seen as ‘nice’ and being about being kind and helpful when there’s much more to it than that! Here I discuss 5 common myths about people-pleasing and tell you more about what people-pleasing is.