Understanding Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders are among the most treatable conditions in mental health, but most people never get treatment that actually targets the problem. At Azimuth, we use Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) to treat anxiety at its source: avoidance. We work with people dealing with panic disorder, social anxiety, health anxiety, generalized anxiety, and specific phobias, via telehealth across Texas, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Relating Differently to Fear
ERP doesn't try to get rid of fear. It teaches you to stop running from it. The more you face what makes you anxious, without doing the behaviors that temporarily relieve the discomfort, the less power that anxiety has over your choices.
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Most anxiety gets worse over time because avoidance works in the short term. Leaving a situation, seeking reassurance, or checking something gives you immediate relief. But it teaches your brain that the threat was real and the escape was necessary. Over time, the list of things you avoid grows, and anxiety that started in one area starts spreading to others.
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ERP reverses that pattern. You gradually face the situations or thoughts that trigger your anxiety, without the usual escape behaviors. Over time, your nervous system learns that it can tolerate the discomfort and that the feared outcome either doesn't happen, or isn't as catastrophic as it seemed.
