Anxiety Therapy

How is anxiety treated?

For more general information about anxiety, please visit the About Anxiety page.

I use primarily Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to treat anxiety symptoms. CBT is considered the gold-standard treatment for anxiety with both children and adults, and has many decades of research supporting its efficacy. Something important about CBT is that it is uniquely adapted to each kind of anxiety (for example, panic disorders vs. generalized anxiety), AND it is uniquely adapted to each individual client. This is not a one-size-fits-all situation.

A unique aspect of my practice is that I combine classic CBT with concrete skills to reduce anxious mental rumination. This is influenced by a metacognitive therapy approach, as well as by Dr. Michael Greenberg’s rumination-focused approach to treating anxiety disorders. Clients learn, step-by-step, that they have more control over their anxious thinking than they may realize, and that they are not at the mercy of their anxious thoughts. By controlling this kind of thinking, clients increase their sense of agency and then practice re-engaging in avoided behaviors and situations. This results in a learning process in which clients gain mastery over their anxiety. While they still experience some typical anxiety, they are generally able to leave behind the constant worry that causes distress and gets in the way of living.

Common Questions about Anxiety Therapy

  • Anxiety disorders are also the most common mental health condition in children, with some estimates suggesting they affect 1 in 12 children and 1 in 4 adolescents. Research backed strategies from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) have been adapted for children and teenagers and are very effective.

    When working with children, I draw on my professional background as a teacher (I taught 2nd, 3rd, and later 8th grade for nearly a decade combined).

    I prioritize building rapport with children (and their families!) and implement strategies that are unique to each situation. Common approaches include:

    • helping children identify and challenge anxious thinking patterns

    • teaching children to notice and name emotions

    • guiding children to notice how their behaviors impact their anxiety

    • supporting children to make brave decisions, aligned with who they are and what they really want, rather than aligned with their anxiety.

    • collaborating with parents, other caregivers, and school professionals when appropriate.

  • Panic attacks can be a very scary, upsetting experience. Often, they seem to come on out of the blue, making people feel completely at the whims of their anxiety.

    Panic attacks are extremely treatable, and they respond very well to a straightforward course of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for panic attacks. This includes:

    • Mapping out your panic symptoms, where and when they happen, any triggers, etc

    • Psychoeducation about the nature of panic attacks, which often increases clients’ sense of agency and understanding

    • Working on cognitive skills to reduce engagement with anxious thoughts. This can include: learning to leave thoughts alone and restructuring any beliefs that lead you to overestimate the threat of panic attacks.

    • Engaging to behavioral exposures. That is, purposefully seeking out experiences (everyday experiences, nothing over the top) that you fear may cause panic to give you the opportunity to see they don’t always cause panic, and even if they do you are able to cope.

    • Engaging in interoceptive exposures, which are exposures to the physical sensations of panic. This gives your brain and body the chance to learn you can tolerate these sensations, so they don’t have to be feared.

  • Anxiety is a broad descriptor of an emotion that can accompany many different experiences. For some, anxious worries seem to cluster around very specific fears, such as being afraid of vomit, of having panic attacks, or animals, certain places, of tests, etc.)

    Therapy for people in such situations is very similar to all anxiety treatment. It begins with mapping out and understanding your symptoms. Then you’ll learn cognitive skills to disengage from and drop anxious ruminative thinking patterns. Next, you’ll put these skills into practice while you change behaviors, gradually exposing yourself to situations that cause anxiety. An important note is that once you learn these cognitive skills, these exposures are easier than you may predict.

  • Some people have an experience of constantly worrying about things across the board. About work, about family, about the weather, about money, about the past, about the future. About everything. This is sometimes called “generalized anxiety.” If this is you, you are in good company — millions of people across the US and world share this experience.

    As with other kinds of anxiety, this kind can be treated, and you can feel better.

    It begins with mapping out and understanding your symptoms. Then, you’ll learn cognitive skills to disengage from and drop anxious ruminative thinking patterns. Many people with anxiety have tried to “stop thinking about it” only to find that doesn’t really work and isn’t so easy.

    This is different. This is a step-by-step process, using skills from meta-cognitive therapy, through which you learn that you can drop anxious rumination, then you learn how to do so, and then you practice.

    Next, you’ll put these skills into practice while you change behaviors, gradually exposing yourself to any situations that cause anxiety. An important note is that once you learn these cognitive skills, these exposures are easier than you may predict.