Anxiety and Panic
Anxiety Therapy in Austin
Anxiety is an alarm system doing its job too well. In our sessions we work on both ends of it: the physiology, so your body can come down from high alert, and the thinking, so the catastrophic forecast loses some of its authority.
When the alarm will not switch off
Anxiety is not a character flaw. At its root it is protection, a part of you scanning for danger and getting your body ready to respond. The trouble starts when that alarm sounds for an unanswered text, a quiet room or an ordinary Tuesday, and keeps sounding long after the moment has passed. You may know, logically, that you are safe and still feel your chest tighten and your thoughts speed up. That gap between what you know and what you feel is where we work. Nothing about it means you are weak or overreacting.
- A mind that runs ahead to every worst case
- Physical symptoms with no medical explanation
- Waves of panic that seem to come from nowhere
- Lying awake rehearsing what could go wrong
- Avoiding things that used to be ordinary
Helping your body come down from high alert
When anxiety is running high, arguing with it rarely works, because your body is still braced for danger. So we often start with the physiology. Mindfulness-based practice, in plain terms, means coming back into the body when the mind has raced ahead. That might be a slower exhale, the weight of your feet on the floor, or naming three things you can hear. These are brief, practical tools meant for real life: a tense meeting, the school pickup line, the middle of the night. You can read more about mindfulness-based therapy and how it fits with the rest of the work.
If your faith is part of how you steady yourself, prayer or scripture can be woven into these practices, but only if you want it. Faith is never assumed or introduced without your say-so. Either way, the aim is a small set of practices that feel like yours, repeated often enough that your body begins to recognize the way down from high alert, even on the days your mind insists there is none.
Taking the worst-case forecast less seriously
Once your body has a little more room, we turn to the thinking. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy gives us a simple sequence: notice the thought, test the rule, practice a response that serves you better. Anxious thoughts speak in certainties, such as "If I make one mistake, everything falls apart" or "This feeling means something is terribly wrong." We slow those predictions down and separate what is possible from what is probable. The goal is not to argue you out of every fear. It is to help the forecast lose some of its authority, so it becomes one voice in the room instead of the only one.
Panic, physical symptoms and avoidance
Panic can feel like an emergency: a pounding heart, shaky hands, tingling, a sense that you cannot get enough air or are about to lose control. New or frightening physical symptoms deserve a doctor's attention first. When your body has been checked and the alarm still fires, we learn how panic rises and falls, and we practice staying with the wave instead of fighting it. Understanding the pattern takes away some of the mystery, and mystery is part of what makes panic so frightening.
Avoidance deserves the same respect. Skipping the party, the meeting or the crowded store made sense, because it brought relief. Over time, though, your world can quietly shrink. Together we choose small, manageable steps back toward the things you miss, in an order you agree to. You can say no to a step and nothing bad happens. Practice happens between sessions too, so the work lives in your week and not only in my office.
When anxiety has deeper roots
Sometimes anxiety stands on its own. Sometimes it is tangled up with something older: a frightening experience, a home where you had to stay on guard, or years of believing your worth depended on getting everything right. As a marriage and family therapist, I also look at the relationships around the worry, because anxiety rarely lives in one person alone. If trauma sits underneath, we move as fast as your nervous system allows and as slow as your story requires, and trauma therapy can become part of the work. Safety comes before breakthrough.
Anxiety also wears different clothes. If yours centers on what other people think, therapy for social anxiety goes deeper into that fear. If it shows up as a bar that keeps rising no matter what you achieve, therapy for perfectionism may fit. Anxiety can also arrive in the months after a baby, the focus of postpartum anxiety therapy, or right before competition if you are an athlete. Wherever yours shows up, you do not need a diagnosis to start.
Meeting in Austin, outdoors or online
My office is at 5900 Southwest Pkwy, Building 5, Suite 230, in Southwest Austin, with in-person sessions on Fridays and some select other times and days as schedules allow. If sitting still makes your mind race, a walk-and-talk session lets us work outdoors, side by side. On weeks when leaving the house is the hardest part, online therapy across Texas keeps the work going by secure video, as long as you are located in Texas during the session. Sessions are available in English and Spanish. Individual sessions are $190 for 50 minutes or $275 for 80 minutes.
Common Questions
Do I need an anxiety diagnosis to start?
No. You do not need a diagnosis or a tidy explanation to begin. The free 15-minute phone consultation is a chance to describe what has been hardest lately, ask about fit, and talk through scheduling, cost and format.
What does anxiety therapy cost?
The initial assessment is 80 minutes for $275. After that, individual sessions are $190 for 50 minutes or $275 for 80 minutes. This is a self-pay practice with monthly superbills for possible out-of-network reimbursement, and a limited sliding scale between $90 and $190 is available.
Can I mix telehealth with in-person sessions?
Yes. You can meet by secure video from anywhere in Texas, as long as you are located in Texas during the session, and come to the Southwest Austin office on Fridays or select other times when that suits you better. Walk-and-talk sessions are another option.
How long does anxiety therapy take?
It depends on what you are working on. We review progress openly as we go, and the goal is that you do not need me indefinitely.
The consultation is free and there is no obligation on either side.
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