Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Treatment in Ohio
Worry feels productive, but it's keeping you stuck. Treatment helps you stop trying to solve every hypothetical problem and start living in the present.
What Generalized Anxiety Disorder Looks Like
Generalized anxiety disorder involves persistent, excessive worry about multiple areas of life—work, health, relationships, finances, or daily responsibilities. The worry feels uncontrollable and disproportionate to actual risks. You know you're worrying too much, but you can't seem to stop.
The worry often jumps from topic to topic. You resolve one concern, and your mind immediately finds another. You might spend hours mentally problem-solving hypothetical scenarios that may never happen. The worry creates physical tension—restlessness, muscle tightness, difficulty concentrating, irritability, or sleep problems. You feel exhausted from constant vigilance, but the worry feels necessary—like if you stop paying attention, something bad will happen.
Worry can feel productive, like you're preparing for problems or preventing disaster. But it's not problem-solving—it's rumination. Real problem-solving leads to action or resolution. Worry loops endlessly without reaching conclusions, creating more anxiety rather than reducing it.
Why Generalized Anxiety Disorder Persists
GAD stays alive through worry itself and the behaviors designed to manage uncertainty. You might seek reassurance from others, research endlessly, create elaborate plans to prevent feared outcomes, or avoid situations that trigger worry. You mentally review scenarios repeatedly, trying to anticipate every possibility and ensure nothing goes wrong.
Each round of worry or reassurance-seeking provides brief relief—a moment where you feel prepared or certain. But the relief is temporary. A new concern emerges, or the same worry returns with a different angle. The cycle reinforces the belief that worry is necessary to stay safe, and that uncertainty is intolerable.
The feared outcomes rarely happen to the degree you anticipate, but worry prevents you from recognizing this. You attribute safety to the worry itself—"nothing bad happened because I thought it through"—rather than recognizing that most worries never materialize regardless of how much attention you give them.
How Treatment Helps
Treatment for GAD combines cognitive and behavioral approaches. We start by understanding what's driving the worry—not just the topics you worry about, but the beliefs underneath. Do you believe worry prevents bad outcomes? That uncertainty is dangerous? That you must have answers to function? Often, gaining insight into these patterns—recognizing when worry has crossed from helpful planning into unproductive rumination—shifts how you relate to anxious thoughts.
Using evidence-based cognitive and compassion-focused techniques, we explore the assumptions that fuel chronic worry: that anticipating problems prevents them, that uncertainty is intolerable, or that worry demonstrates responsibility. This isn't about thinking positively—it's about understanding whether worry actually serves the function you believe it does.
Behavioral work focuses on breaking worry habits. You'll practice tolerating uncertainty without researching, planning, or seeking reassurance. You'll limit worry time, redirect attention when worry spirals, and engage in valued activities even when anxious thoughts are present. We also work on recognizing the difference between productive problem-solving (which leads to action) and unproductive worry (which loops without resolution).
The cognitive work and behavioral changes reinforce each other. Understanding that worry doesn't prevent bad outcomes makes it easier to resist the urge to ruminate. Experiencing life without constant worry provides evidence that you can function—often better—without it. Over time, you learn that you can tolerate uncertainty, that most worries don't require immediate solutions, and that redirecting attention is more effective than trying to think your way to certainty.
What to Expect
Treatment for GAD is direct but gradual. You'll be asked to tolerate uncertainty without engaging in worry or reassurance-seeking. This is uncomfortable at first. The urge to problem-solve or plan will be strong, and anxiety may spike when you resist it.
Sessions are conducted via telehealth. We'll identify your specific worry patterns and practice strategies for recognizing and redirecting them. Progress is gradual—you'll notice yourself worrying less frequently, recovering faster when worry starts, and spending less mental energy on hypothetical problems. Worry won't disappear completely, but it will lose its grip. You'll be able to engage in work, relationships, and daily life without constant background anxiety demanding your attention.
Getting Started
If worry has become your default state and you can't remember what it feels like to be present without planning for disaster, more worry isn't the answer. Treatment helps you stop treating uncertainty as a problem to solve and start living without constant mental vigilance.