Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
The therapists in our Child Anxiety Center and Anxiety Center provide anxiety treatments that have the most solid research support and do so in a flexible way that meets the needs of our individual clients. We are passionate about treating anxiety problems across the lifespan and strive to provide the best care possible to our clients and their families.
If you or your child are suffering from an anxiety disorder you are not alone. In fact, as a group, anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental health concern. Unfortunately , most people who suffer from anxiety do not receive treatment. Of those who do, many do not receive the treatments that have been proven to be the most effective. We have been leaders in providing gold-standard treatment for anxiety in the Seattle area for over 20 years.
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia involves fears of being in situations from which escape might be difficult or help might not be available if panic or other symptom attacks occur. These fears typically lead people to avoid a wide range of places and activities.
Avoided situations may include:
- Open spaces (e.g., parking lots, bridges)
- Enclosed places (e.g., stores, theaters)
- Public transportation (e.g., cars, buses, light rail, planes)
- Crowds or being in long lines.
- Being alone outside of the house
Over time, avoidance can lead to life feeling like it is shrinking, and can even lead to being homebound.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
People with GAD often describe themselves (or are described by others) as “worriers” with excessive, intrusive thoughts that are difficult to control. It is very common for these individuals to have a lot of “what if” thoughts about how a range of things could go wrong in the future.
Worries are typically about a wide range of topics, including:
- Health (self or others)
- Family
- Finances
- Work or school
- World events
People with GAD often have a range of symptoms that accompany their worry:
- Restlessness
- Fatigue
- Difficulty concentrating
- Irritability
- Muscle tension
- Sleep problems.
Health Anxiety (Illness Anxiety Disorder)
Health anxiety involves excessive fears about having or developing a serious illness (or illnesses). Anxiety often occurs in response to specific symptoms or sensations in the body, but can also occur in response to hearing about information related to specific illnesses.
People with health anxiety often engage in a wide range of behaviors in response to their anxiety:
- Excessive online research
- Body checking or scanning
- Repeatedly seeking medical care or tests
- Avoiding going to the doctor or seeking medical care
All of these behaviors bring can bring temporary relief from anxiety, but also maintain the problem in the long-term.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder involves recurrent panic attacks and subsequent worry about having future attacks and/or changing behaviors and routines in an effort to avoid having panic attacks. Some individuals also repeatedly seek medical care following panic attacks due to fears that the symptoms have a medical cause (e.g., heart attack).
Common symptoms of panic attacks include:
- Rapid or pounding heart rate
- Sweating
- Trembling/shaking
- Shortness of breath
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Nausea
- Feeling dizzy or lightheaded
- Feelings of derealization/depersonalization
- Fears of going crazy
- Fears of dying
Although scary, panic attacks are not medically harmful and effective treatment can both reduce the experience of panic attacks, as well as expand the range of things people can do more comfortably again.
Separation Anxiety
While fears about separation are normal in young children, separation anxiety disorder is diagnosed when a child seems excessively anxious about being away from home or loved ones.
Common features of separation anxiety disorder include:
- Unrealistic worry about harm coming to self or significant others
- Reluctance to be alone
- Physical distress at separation
- School refusal behaviors
Treatment typically involves working both with children and their parents to help change patterns of avoidance and distress around separation.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Treatment typically involves working both with children and their parents to help change patterns of avoidance and distress around separation.
Frequently, people with social anxiety experience fear in the following types of situations:
- Meeting new people
- Making small talk
- Attending parties or events
- Professional networking
- Talking in class or a meeting
- Giving a presentation/public speaking
- Eating or drinking in front of other people
Social anxiety can turn everyday interactions into overwhelming stress and can lead to making it difficult to make friends, be successful at work or school, and develop dating or romantic relationships.
Specific Phobias
Phobias involve high fear and distress in response to specific triggers that is out of proportion to real danger.
Common phobias include fears of:
- Driving
- Flying
- Heights
- Vomiting
- Animals
- Bugs/spiders
- Blood/injections
- Medical environments.
Phobias are very common but they don’t have to be debilitating. Effective treatment can reduce fear and restore confidence in daily life. Additionally, treatment for phobias can often be relatively brief.
Treatments We Provide at The Anxiety Center
Major advances have been made in the last 40 years with regard to the treatment of anxiety-related problems. At the Anxiety Center, we strive to stay up-to-date with research developments to ensure we are providing our clients with the most effective treatments possible. As a result, the care that we provide is continually evolving and improving as the science about the treatment of anxiety changes.
Click on each tab to expand more information about the treatments we provide.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT emphasizes links between thoughts, body sensations, and behaviors in anxiety problems, helping clients understand symptoms and break unhelpful patterns. Common strategies in CBT include relaxation techniques, tools for identifying and changing anxious thought patterns, and working on facing feared situations.
Exposure Therapy
Exposure involves facing fears and feared situations until they feel less scary and more tolerable. It’s a core part of CBT for anxiety related problems and one of the most effective ways to treat anxiety problems. Therapists help clients break this process down into small manageable steps to help achieve greater mastery in facing anxiety over time..
Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Treatments
Mindfulness and acceptance-based strategies (from treatments such as ACT and DBT) are often used in anxiety treatment alongside other evidence-based approaches.These strategies are particularly helpful when more traditional CBT strategies have not worked, or when including them can make it easier to do other treatments (such as exposure therapy).
Standard Outpatient Therapy
Our clinicians provide evidence-based treatment for anxiety, OCD, and trauma-related disorders.
Anxiety Intensive Treatment Program
Intensive services provide highly structured therapy multiple days per week for severe OCD and anxiety disorders when daily functioning is impaired or outpatient hasn’t worked.
Consultation
Clinicians offer consultations for those considering care at EBTCS or providers seeking clinical guidance to clarify fit, diagnoses, or next steps.
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Address
1200 5th Avenue, Suite 800 Seattle, WA 98101