Anxiety Treatment in Austin, Texas
Everybody feels anxious sometimes. Before a test, before a difficult conversation, before a decision that matters. That kind of anxiety passes when the situation does.
An anxiety disorder is a different thing. It is persistent, it does not switch off when the trigger is gone, and it starts costing you things: sleep, work, friendships, the ability to do what you want to do. If that is closer to your experience, this page is about what can be done.
How common it is
About 40 million American adults have an anxiety disorder, which makes it the most common psychiatric condition in both adults and children. Only about one in three will get appropriate treatment, which is the part worth sitting with, because anxiety disorders respond well to treatment.
We are an Austin, Texas practice, and every session is by video, so you do not need to live near the office to work with us.
The types we treat
Generalized anxiety
Persistent, excessive worry about ordinary things: money, health, the future, work, relationships. The worry moves from topic to topic and rarely settles.
Selective mutism
A child who speaks freely at home and cannot speak at school or with unfamiliar people. It is an anxiety condition, not defiance and not shyness, and it has specific treatment.
Social anxiety
Intense fear of social or performance situations, and of being judged in them. It quietly reshapes a life around avoidance.
Separation anxiety
Extreme distress at being away from a parent or caregiver. Most visible in children, and real in adults too.
Specific phobias
Acute fear of a particular thing or situation: heights, flying, needles, enclosed spaces, dogs.
What treatment looks like here
The core treatments are cognitive behavioral and exposure response prevention therapy. Here is what that actually means in practice.
Prior to the first appointment you will complete new client paperwork, which collects background information as well as standardized rating scales to further assess symptoms and areas of concern.
The first appointment is an assessment. We work out what your anxiety looks and feels like, when it started, what it has cost you and what keeps it going.
We map the cycle. Anxiety runs on a loop: a thought, a feeling in the body, and something you do to make it stop. The thing you do brings relief and teaches the brain that the danger was real. Seeing your own loop written down is often the first moment it stops feeling like a character flaw.
We test the thoughts rather than argue with them. Not positive thinking. Closer to gathering evidence about predictions that have never been checked.
You approach what you have been avoiding, gradually and by agreement. Avoidance is what keeps anxiety alive, so treatment has to involve facing things. It is done in steps you help set, and you are never ambushed or flooded with distress.
Practice between sessions is where most progress happens. An hour a week is not enough on its own, and we will say so at the start.
Who we work with
Children through adults. For children, treatment often involves parent collaboration, and sometimes a clinician may also work with the parents individually to teach tools for supporting their child’s independence with coping. See childhood mental health and SPACE.
If anxiety has taken over the household
Families usually adapt around an anxious person without deciding to: routines change, questions get answered again and again, difficult situations get quietly avoided. That is called accommodation, it is done out of love, and it tends to make anxiety stronger. Our page on family support explains what to do instead.
Getting started
The first step is a conversation, not a commitment. Insurance and practical questions are answered on our FAQ page, or you can just contact us.