What Is Anxiety?

Anxiety can feel like a fire alarm going off when there’s no visible smoke. It activates the body’s fight-or-flight response, even when there’s no immediate danger. Some amount of anxiety is normal, however, when anxiety becomes persistent, disruptive and overwhelming, it can affect your overall quality of life. Anxiety disorders can cause high levels of overwhelm, intense worry, avoidance behaviors and physical symptoms to the point where the day-to-day can feel unmanageable.

Types of Anxiety We Treat

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD):
Ongoing, excessive worry that’s difficult to control. People with GAD often feel anxious about work, school, health, finances, or relationships, even when there’s no clear reason. This can lead to sleep problems, fatigue, and constant mental strain.

Panic Disorder:
Characterized by sudden panic attacks, panic disorder involves intense waves of fear that may include chest tightness, dizziness, shortness of breath, or heart palpitations. Without anxiety treatment, panic attacks can feel unpredictable and make people fear leaving their home or being alone.

Social Anxiety Disorder:
A deep fear of judgment, rejection, or embarrassment in social or performance settings. This can lead to avoidance of events, job interviews, or even everyday conversations. Therapy for social anxiety can help you build confidence and regulate nervous system responses. leaving you in a constant state of alert that can be physically draining and emotionally overwhelming.

You Might Be Living With Anxiety If You:

• Experience persistent dread or unease, even in safe environments

• Avoid places, people, or responsibilities out of fear

• Replay conversations or obsess over making the “wrong” decision

• Feel exhausted from chronic worry and overthinking

• Have difficulty sleeping, focusing, or relaxing

• Notice tension in your body, like shallow breathing or a tight chest

• Worry excessively about being judged or “not enough”

• Feel stuck in a cycle of anxiety that’s hard to break on your own

Evidence-Based Anxiety Therapy In Chicago, Illinois

At Through Therapy, we personalize every treatment plan based on your needs, preferences, and lived experience. We blend trauma-informed, somatic, and relational approaches with evidence-based therapies known to support anxiety relief.

Here are some of the modalities we may incorporate:

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT):
Guides you to accept difficult thoughts and feelings while building a life based on your values, rather than fear or avoidance.

Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP):
A trauma-informed, attachment-based approach that focuses on healing through emotional processing and the therapist-client relationship. AEDP helps shift old patterns shaped by fear, shame, or disconnection.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT):
Helps you recognize and shift unhelpful thought patterns that fuel anxiety. CBT is structured and goal-oriented, offering practical tools to challenge worry cycles and build resilience.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT):
Supports emotion regulation, mindfulness, and distress tolerance and is especially helpful for managing intense anxiety and overwhelming emotions.

Motivational Interviewing:
Strength-based and collaborative, this approach helps clarify your goals and boost motivation to make meaningful change, even when anxiety makes it hard to start.

Mindfulness-Based Therapy:
Offers tools to anchor in the present moment, reduce reactivity, and calm the nervous system. Mindfulness can be especially helpful for anxiety tied to looping thoughts or future-based fears.

Somatic and Experiential Therapies:
These approaches tune into the body as a key part of the healing process. We explore how anxiety lives in the body and offer practices to gently release tension and increase felt safety.

Every therapy plan is personalized. Together, we’ll co-create a path that honors your story and builds toward lasting ease.

How Therapy Can Help

Therapy offers more than symptom relief; it creates space for insight, regulation, and healing at the root. Working with an anxiety therapist can help you:

• Quiet looping thoughts and reclaim mental space

• Learn body-based tools to soothe anxiety in the moment

• Heal underlying trauma or attachment wounds

• Improve sleep, focus, and relationship dynamics

• Develop emotional resilience and self-trust

• Shift from survival mode to feeling more connected and at ease

  You don’t have to live in a state of high alert. Therapy offers a way forward.

Connect With an Anxiety Therapist in Chicago or Online

Living with constant worry, overwhelm, or fear can take a toll on your energy, relationships, and peace of mind. At Through Therapy, we offer individualized care to help you move through anxiety and not just manage it. Whether you're in Chicago or prefer virtual sessions, we’re here to support your healing with curiosity, intention compassion, and evidence-based treatment.

Ready to Feel More Like Yourself? Let’s take the next step together.