Denver Anxiety Therapist - Dr. David Shanley

Treatment for Anxiety

I specialize in the treatment of these specific types of anxiety – Generalized Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Specific Phobia, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Panic Attacks, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Driving Anxiety and Shy-Bladder. Click on the specific links to each one to find out more, or read about “My Approach” to get a better understanding of my philosophy of therapy. Treatment for anxiety will usually involve the following:

Face your anxiety in a supportive environment
Figure out what behaviors you can do more of to get the life you want
Learn how to handle unhelpful thoughts

Why do we feel anxious?
Plenty of things exist in the world to make us feel anxious. In fact, anxiety is a natural, evolutionary response to situations that either appear or are dangerous. However, this same system that keeps us safe can sometimes become activated in situations where it is neither necessary nor helpful, triggering an anxiety response that can be quite unpleasant. This response often leads to other responses by the individual, usually to escape from the perceived danger.

Furthermore, because we as humans are fast learners, over time we learn to avoid those situations and cues that may be dangerous before we even get there. Now this would be fine if our anxiety response only went off in situations of actual danger, such as the edge of a cliff, or a room full of lions. Unfortunately, our minds are wired such that anxiety often rears its ugly head in less threatening situations. When engaging in therapy for anxiety, you can learn new ways to respond to and cope with these situations that cause anxiety.