We currently provide evidence based treatments using CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy), ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) and PE (Prolonged Exposure) models for the following conditions:
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Generalized anxiety involves a great deal of worry about a variety of things such as health, family, finances, work or school, and everyday life. People with these symptoms often fear something bad is going to happen and that it will be catastrophic when it does. This fear triggers the body’s threat response system and produces physiological symptoms such as racing heart, muscle tension, restlessness, poor concentration, and poor sleep. This typically leads to overdoing behaviors (such as reassurance seeking, need for control, perfectionism, checking, self-medicating) or under doing behaviors (procrastination, avoidance).
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
OCD involves experiencing unwanted, intrusive thoughts that are often very frightening such as “what if I get contaminated or contaminate someone else?” Other intrusive thoughts may relate to aggression such as “what if I hurt someone” and some are sexual in nature. These thoughts often lead to compulsive behavior or rituals designed to neutralize them or prevent them from coming true. It is also common for people with OCD symptoms to feel very critical and judgmental about themselves and to believe they are bad or weak for having these symptoms.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD is the result of experiencing a traumatic event such as combat, physical or sexual assault, accidents, or abuse. PTSD creates tremendous anxiety especially when remembering details related to the traumatic event. This anxiety leads to avoidance and may produce self-medicating or self-destructive behaviors as well as significant difficulty forming and maintaining healthy interpersonal relationships.
Panic Disorder
People with panic disorder experience a combination of sudden, intense fear with physiological responses such as shortness of breath, racing heart, dizziness, and chest pain and often feel like they are having a medical emergency. Once someone has had a panic attack, they usually develop the fear “what if I have another panic attack” and seek to avoid situations and activities that they fear might lead to another panic attack.
Social Anxiety Disorder
The central fear in social anxiety disorder is “what if I am critically judged or negatively evaluated by others?” This fear of judgement often leads to avoiding activities or places where other people are present such as parties, restaurants, even family gatherings.