Anxiety Treatment
Anxiety is a natural response to situations we perceive as threatening, uncertain, or potentially harmful. While anxiety can be helpful in certain situations, it can become a problem when it begins to interfere with daily life or leads us to avoid situations, seek reassurance, or engage in other behaviors to reduce our discomfort. Although these responses may provide temporary relief, they can unintentionally reinforce anxiety over time.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based approach to treating anxiety that helps individuals understand the patterns that contribute to their anxiety and learn new ways of responding to anxious thoughts, feelings, and situations. Treatment focuses on changing the behaviors and responses that maintain anxiety, helping individuals build confidence in their ability to tolerate discomfort, navigate uncertainty, and engage in activities that are important to them.
Understanding Anxiety
When we experience anxiety, it is natural to want to do something to make the uncomfortable feelings go away. We might avoid situations that make us anxious, seek reassurance from others, repeatedly check things, or spend time trying to figure out whether something bad is going to happen. These responses can make us feel better in the moment, but they can also make it harder to learn that we can handle uncertainty and discomfort.
Over time, we can become increasingly reliant on these behaviors to manage anxiety. Rather than learning that we can tolerate uncomfortable feelings or face situations we fear, we may begin to believe that we need to avoid certain situations or take steps to feel safe before we can move forward. This can create a cycle in which anxiety continues to interfere with our lives.
Effective anxiety treatment involves understanding these patterns and learning to respond differently. Rather than focusing solely on reducing anxiety in the moment, treatment helps individuals change the behaviors that maintain anxiety and develop greater confidence in their ability to handle difficult thoughts, feelings, and situations.
How I Treat Anxiety
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for anxiety that focuses on understanding and changing the thoughts and behaviors that contribute to anxiety. In therapy, we work together to identify patterns that may be keeping anxiety going, including avoidance, reassurance seeking, and other attempts to reduce uncomfortable feelings or gain certainty.
Treatment involves learning to respond differently to anxious thoughts and feelings rather than automatically acting on them or trying to make them go away. Depending on your needs, this may include gradually facing situations you have been avoiding, reducing behaviors you rely on to feel safe, and learning to tolerate uncertainty and discomfort. Through these experiences, you can begin to develop confidence in your ability to handle anxiety without allowing it to dictate your decisions or limit your life.
The goal of treatment is not to eliminate anxiety altogether, but to help you respond to it in ways that allow you to do more of what matters to you, even when anxiety is present.
What Does Anxiety Treatment Look Like in Practice?
For example, someone experiencing health anxiety might notice a physical sensation, such as a headache or muscle twitch, and worry that it could be a sign of a serious illness. They may respond by repeatedly checking their body, searching for symptoms online, or asking others for reassurance that nothing is wrong. Although these behaviors may temporarily reduce anxiety, the relief often doesn't last, and the person may find themselves questioning whether they have overlooked something or needing reassurance again.
In treatment, we work to understand how these patterns contribute to anxiety and gradually change the way the person responds to uncertainty. This may involve reducing repeated checking and reassurance seeking, limiting symptom searches, and learning to tolerate the discomfort of not having complete certainty. Rather than trying to prove that nothing is wrong, the person practices responding differently to anxious thoughts and sensations without automatically engaging in behaviors intended to relieve anxiety.
Over time, treatment helps the person learn that they can experience uncertainty and discomfort without needing to resolve every worry. The goal is to reduce the extent to which anxiety drives their behavior and allows them to spend less time preoccupied with their health and more time engaged in their daily lives. This does not mean ignoring legitimate health concerns; it means learning to distinguish appropriate medical care from anxiety-driven behaviors that keep the cycle going.
Anxiety Treatment for Children and Teens
When working with children and teens, treatment focuses on helping them understand their anxiety and develop the skills to respond to it differently. Depending on the child's needs, this may involve learning to recognize patterns of avoidance, gradually facing situations that trigger anxiety, and building confidence in their ability to handle uncomfortable feelings.
Parents can play an important role in supporting this process. Although it is natural to want to protect children from distress, repeatedly providing reassurance or helping them avoid anxiety-provoking situations can sometimes make it harder for them to learn that they can manage these experiences. I work with parents to help them support their child's progress outside of sessions, encouraging them to face challenges while providing warmth, understanding, and confidence in their ability to cope.
Getting Started with Treatment
If you are interested in scheduling a free 15-minute consultation to discuss your needs and determine whether we might be a good therapeutic fit, please submit your information here. I will reach out within 24–36 hours to follow up.