Understanding Anxiety Treatment

When Your Anxiety Feels Different

If you’ve always called yourself “a worrier,” you might notice that the typical advice—think positive, relax more, try mindfulness, distract yourself—hasn’t moved the needle. You may feel like your anxiety isn’t really like other people’s anxiety. You may have tried therapy before but felt like there were some things it just didn’t help with. You are not alone. Many people arrive here after months or years of well‑intended therapy that didn’t change the cycle. 

Why Prior Therapy May Not Have Helped

There are many different types of therapy and therapists out there, and no therapist or therapy is right for every person. Many people tell me they have done “talk therapy” before… which doesn’t tell me much. Since all psychotherapies involve talking, that means any number of techniques may have been used. General talk therapy can be supportive and insightful for many people, but evidenced based therapies are those that are actually shown to be effective for the disorders they are meant for.

When someone is dealing with severe anxiety, the right diagnosis and treatment are essential. 

Why Specialized Therapy Is Different

Large‑scale data show how often people never reach the methods most likely to help: in U.S. health‑record analyses, only about 1 in 6 people likely living with OCD were ever diagnosed with OCD in routine care, and only ~2% were documented as receiving ERP, the recommended therapy. It’s part of a systemic problem, and it’s why choosing a clinician with explicit exposure‑based training matters.

Access matters, too. There simply aren’t enough therapists to meet the need—about 40% of Americans (137 million people) live in federally designated mental‑health shortage areas—and states report thousands more clinicians are needed just to meet current demand. This shortage affects every specialty and contributes to long waits and under‑treatment.

So, if you’ve been asking yourself why it is so hard to find a good therapist, this is why.

Across everyday practice settings, exposure‑based treatments for OCD and Anxiety Disorders are highly effective yet underused. So how can you ensure that you get the treatment you actually need? Simply put, it’s the skill set, not the label. For specific phobias, well‑delivered in‑vivo exposure can work in very few visits—sometimes one extended session or a short series—results you generally won’t see with open‑ended talk therapy. For OCD, ERP remains the recommended behavioral treatment and starts with careful assessment and a structured plan. Effective anxiety care is different when it’s delivered by clinicians who are actually trained to do it.

What An OCD/Anxiety Specialist Is

Anxiety and OCD specialists have explicit training in exposure‑based care and use it routinely.

OCD and anxiety specialists are licensed clinicians with verifiable training in ERP/exposure. We begin with careful assessment, build a structured plan, and run active in‑session practice (with homework and progress tracking) because that’s what first‑line guidance recommends for OCD and many anxiety problems. Although we come from different professional backgrounds (psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, social workers, and more), we are a small, specialized, and highly trained community. To keep care current and effective, specialists commit to ongoing continuing education, participate in case consultation (to refine complex formulations and exposure plans), and—in many cases—provide supervision or training for other clinicians. Many also review new research, update protocols, and contribute to professional learning communities—so that treatment remains aligned with the strongest evidence and best practices. Many of us also maintain membership in national organizations dedicated to evidence‑based care, such as the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF), the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), the TLC Foundation for BFRBs, APA Division 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology), and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT)—organizations that emphasize training, research, and standards for high‑quality CBT, ERP, and exposure‑based treatment.  When finding a specialist in anxiety, look for someone who can name the methods and approach they’ll use (ERP, exposure, ACT, inhibitory learning, CBT), explain where they learned it, and describe how they will measure change over time. These are the strongest signs you’ll receive treatment that is aligned with the research—and the treatment most likely to help.

Anxiety Treatment at Burnett CBT

At Burnett CBT, we begin by taking the time we need to understand you clearly—then we match the method to the problem and measure change you can feel in daily life. It starts with a 15–20 minute discovery call with a psychologist to make sure you’re in the right place, followed by a thorough intake and formulation so we’re treating your anxiety cycle—not applying generic coping tips. Ongoing care uses active, structured sessions that incorporate ERP or targeted exposure when indicated, with CBT/ACT‑informed skills where they fit.

Between sessions, you’ll have access to secure practice plans, shared materials, and progress tracking so you can review steps, log homework, and stay supported. We keep everything organized and available to you during treatment and afterward, so you can return to exercises, handouts, and personalized guidance whenever you need a refresher.

If you’ve worked hard and haven’t improved, it’s reasonable to seek care that is specialized, structured, and evidence‑based because it increases the chances you’ll receive the right diagnosis and the right treatment. The gap between what helps and what most people receive is well‑documented; choosing a clinician trained to close that gap is the most reliable way to change the trajectory.

If you are wondering if this type of care is right for you, reach out to see if your symptoms fit an OCD/anxiety pattern and what a targeted plan would look like.