Therapy For Anxiety

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy feels a lot like traditional talk therapy. But it is informed by a hundred years of accumulated scientific knowledge about what causes anxiety, what keeps it going, and what to do about it. Our therapists help you understand what is causing you to think, feel, and act the way you do. Study after study overwhelmingly supports the idea that CBT is the best way to feel better and get anxiety out of your way. It doesn’t take years. And most people do not think of it as “hard” work.

Anxiety involves symptoms like worry, unpleasant bodily sensations, sleeplessness, and even panic attacks. It usually leads to some form of avoidance that can deprive you of fulfillment and pleasure. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy teaches people to think and act in ways that significantly reduce the emotional experience of anxiety, and just makes life easier and more pleasant.

All of us worry sometimes. We feel tense and uneasy. We want to avoid or to get out of certain situations. We don’t want to think about certain things. That kind of anxiety can be normal.

In fact, without any anxiety, we would say offensive things in front of others. We would walk into traffic without realizing it. We would waste even more money than we already do. We would be more likely to get into physical altercations, and to drink and drive, along with an endless list of other harmful behaviors. In other words, anxiety protects us.

Anxiety becomes a disorder when it either 1) prevents us from doing things that we want or need to do (we call that impairment), or 2) causes so much distress that it it impairs our happiness. When worry keeps us up at night, or dominates our day – especially worry that isn’t helping us solve problems – we consider it a problem. When our bodies are tense all the time and we feel the urge to run when there is nothing to run from – or when it keeps us up at night – it is a problem. 

So, anxiety is only a disorder if it is either distressing or impairing. It follows that you are considered cured if it does not get in your way and it doesn’t feel bad enough to impact your happiness. Through this lens, anyone who tells you that anxiety cannot be cured is wrong.

We accept Anthem and other BCBS plans, Aetna, and Tricare. We do not accept Medicare or Medicaid Plans such as Healthkeepers Plus or Aetna Better Health.