Social anxiety disorder involves intense fear of judgment, embarrassment, or humiliation in social situations. You might avoid speaking up, making eye contact, or attending gatherings. The fear feels disproportionate to the actual threat, but it's powerful enough to limit your relationships, career, and daily life. You might rehearse conversations obsessively, replay interactions for mistakes, or avoid situations entirely. Treatment uses exposure therapy to gradually face feared social situations, helping you learn that the catastrophic outcomes you fear rarely happen and that you can tolerate discomfort without avoidance.

Panic disorder involves recurrent, unexpected panic attacks—sudden surges of intense fear with physical symptoms like rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, dizziness, or chest pain. The attacks feel terrifying and uncontrollable, often leading to fear of having another attack. You might avoid places or situations where you've panicked before, or where escape feels difficult. This avoidance can spiral into agoraphobia. Treatment helps you understand panic attacks as uncomfortable but not dangerous, using exposure to feared sensations and situations to break the cycle of fear and avoidance.

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 might experience physical tension, restlessness, difficulty concentrating, or sleep problems. The worry often jumps from topic to topic, creating a constant state of vigilance and exhaustion. Treatment helps you recognize worry patterns, tolerate uncertainty without needing to resolve every concern, and redirect attention toward what actually matters rather than hypothetical fears.

Illness anxiety disorder involves excessive worry about having or developing a serious illness, despite minimal or no symptoms. You might check your body constantly, seek medical reassurance repeatedly, or avoid health-related information that triggers panic. Normal bodily sensations feel like evidence of disease. Sometimes physical symptoms are present but medically unexplained—doctors find nothing wrong, yet the sensations persist, fueling more monitoring and fear. Treatment helps you stop treating your body as a threat requiring constant surveillance, learning to tolerate uncertainty about health without compulsive checking or reassurance-seeking.

Agoraphobia involves intense fear of situations where escape might be difficult or help unavailable if panic symptoms occur. You might avoid public transportation, open spaces, enclosed spaces, crowds, or being outside your home alone. The avoidance often starts after experiencing panic attacks, but the fear becomes about the situations themselves. Over time, your world can shrink dramatically. Treatment uses gradual exposure to feared situations, helping you learn that panic is uncomfortable but manageable, and that avoidance only strengthens the fear.

Specific phobias involve intense, persistent fear of particular objects or situations—flying, heights, needles, blood, animals, vomit, or enclosed spaces. The fear feels disproportionate to actual danger and leads to avoidance that interferes with your life. You might go to great lengths to avoid the feared object or endure it with extreme distress. Treatment uses gradual, systematic exposure to the feared stimulus, helping your brain learn that the danger you anticipate doesn't materialize and that you can tolerate the discomfort without fleeing or avoiding.