Care of You

Integrated Anxiety Treatment • Chicago

When Anxiety Starts Running Your Life, Treat More Than the Symptoms

A personalized anxiety program combining evidence-based counseling, mindfulness-based skills, measurable progress and neurofeedback when clinically appropriate.
Whether anxiety appeared gradually or began after a panic attack, accident, medical diagnosis, stroke, concussion or other frightening event, treatment begins by understanding what is keeping your fear active.
Doctor-led clinical care  •  Personalized treatment  •  Measurable progress  •  Chicago
Does this sound familiar?

Sometimes the Event Is Over, But Your Mind Still Feels in Danger

Anxiety can begin to organize your life around avoiding the next catastrophe, even when part of you understands logically that you cannot live this way forever.

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Fear After a Medical Event
After a stroke, diagnosis, hospitalization or frightening symptom, every new physical sensation may begin to feel like another emergency.
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Anxiety After an Accident
Driving, traffic, physical sensations or reminders of what happened may trigger fear long after the immediate danger has passed.
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Fear of Death or Illness
Thoughts about dying, becoming seriously ill or losing control repeat until they begin interfering with sleep, relationships and everyday life.
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Panic & Physical Sensations
A racing heart, dizziness, pressure, shortness of breath or another sensation can become the beginning of a frightening mental spiral.
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Constant Worry
Your mind keeps rehearsing what could go wrong even when there is nothing useful left to solve.
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Avoidance
You stop driving, traveling, exercising, staying alone or doing things you once enjoyed because avoiding them feels safer.
If anxiety is making your life smaller, treatment should help you start building it back.
One integrated plan

Anxiety Has More Than One Layer. Treatment Can Too.

We work with both the patterns that keep anxiety going and, when clinically appropriate, the regulation processes that may benefit from neurofeedback.
Psychological patterns
Integrative Counseling
Treatment may address:
  • fear of death or serious illness;
  • catastrophic thinking;
  • health anxiety and symptom monitoring;
  • rumination and chronic worry;
  • panic and fear of physical sensations;
  • avoidance and safety behaviors;
  • adjustment after medical events or accidents;
  • returning to meaningful everyday activity.
Brain regulation
Neurofeedback When Appropriate
Neurofeedback may be incorporated into the treatment plan when clinically appropriate. qEEG brain mapping may also be used to provide additional information about brainwave activity and help guide neurofeedback planning.
Neurofeedback is not a substitute for psychological treatment, medical evaluation or rehabilitation. It becomes one component of an individualized plan when it makes clinical sense.
Learn about qEEG brain mapping →

We Don't Treat Every Anxiety Story the Same Way

The structure is consistent. The clinical target is personal.

After a Stroke or Medical Scare
Treatment may focus on fear of recurrence, constant body monitoring, uncertainty, loss of confidence and gradually returning to activities that have begun to feel unsafe.
After an Accident
Treatment may focus on reminders of the accident, driving avoidance, physical hypervigilance, fear of another accident and rebuilding a sense of safety.
Fear of Death
Treatment does not try to convince you that mortality does not exist. The work focuses on changing your relationship with these thoughts so they no longer have to organize your everyday behavior.
Health Anxiety
Treatment may address repeated checking, reassurance seeking, symptom searching, catastrophic interpretation of sensations and difficulty tolerating uncertainty.
Your treatment journey

Understand. Personalize. Measure. Adjust.

01
Understand Your Anxiety
Clinical evaluation of triggers, primary fears, avoidance, sleep, functioning, medical context and personal goals.
02
Measure Your Starting Point
Baseline measures may include GAD-7, PHQ-9, sleep, anxiety intensity, functional interference, your primary fear and an individualized goal.
03
Look Deeper When Appropriate
qEEG brain mapping may be incorporated when clinically appropriate to provide additional information about brainwave activity and guide neurofeedback planning.
04
Build Your Personalized Plan
Structured counseling forms the psychological pathway. Neurofeedback may be added when indicated.
05
Measure What's Actually Changing
At the midpoint, symptoms, functioning and individualized goals are reviewed so treatment can be adjusted rather than simply continued automatically.
06
Measure the Outcome & Plan Forward
Completion measures, functional progress, maintenance planning and follow-up help clarify what changed and what support may still be useful.
The counseling framework

Eight Sessions. Built Around Your Anxiety.

The framework is structured, but treatment is not scripted. Your primary fear and real-life goals shape the work throughout the program.

SESSION 01
Understand
Your anxiety pattern, triggers, fears, avoidance and goals.
SESSION 02
Regulate
Grounding, breathing, mindfulness and regulation skills.
SESSION 03
Interrupt the Loop
Worry, rumination, checking and attention patterns.
SESSION 04
Respond Differently
Catastrophic predictions, uncertainty and cognitive flexibility.
SESSION 05
Stop Organizing Life Around Fear
Avoidance, safety behaviors and exposure when appropriate.
SESSION 06
Rebuild
Return to meaningful activities, confidence and everyday functioning.
THROUGHOUT THE PROGRAM
Your Personal Clinical Target
Fear of death, health anxiety, panic, post-accident fear, medical adjustment or another individualized concern.
SESSION 08
Maintain
Measure progress and create your plan for maintaining gains.

Learn to Notice Fear Without Automatically Following It

Mindfulness is not about emptying your mind or forcing yourself to relax. It is learning to notice a thought, sensation or emotion without immediately treating it as an instruction or an emergency.

Notice
Recognize what is happening.
Allow
Stop fighting the mere presence of the thought.
Choose
Decide what deserves your attention next.
Return
Come back to the life in front of you.

We Don't Just Ask If You Feel Better. We Measure Change.

Progress is reviewed from multiple angles, including symptoms, sleep, functioning and the personal goal that brought you into treatment.

ANXIETY
17 → 11 → 6
SLEEP
4 → 6 → 8
LIFE INTERFERENCE
8 → 5 → 3
PERSONAL GOAL
2 → 5 → 8
Baseline → Midpoint → Completion → Follow-up
Illustrative example only. Individual outcomes vary.

Progress Is More Than a Number on a Questionnaire

We also look at whether anxiety is giving your life back.

Driving again after an accident without organizing every trip around fear.
Feeling a normal body sensation without immediately assuming catastrophe.
Sleeping without repeatedly checking whether something is wrong.
Returning to exercise, travel, work or social activity that fear had taken away.
Thinking about illness or mortality without losing the rest of the day to the thought.
Making decisions based on what matters to you instead of what anxiety tells you to avoid.

Common Questions

What if my anxiety started after a stroke or another medical event?
Anxiety can sometimes develop or intensify after a frightening medical experience. Psychological treatment may focus on fear of recurrence, hypervigilance to physical symptoms, uncertainty, avoidance and restoring everyday functioning. The program does not replace medical evaluation, neurological care or rehabilitation.
What if my main fear is dying?
Fear of death can become repetitive and begin controlling everyday choices. Treatment may work with catastrophic thinking, uncertainty, physical sensations, avoidance and the way you respond to mortality-related thoughts rather than trying to convince you that such thoughts should never occur.
Is neurofeedback required?
No. Neurofeedback is incorporated when clinically appropriate. Your treatment recommendations are based on your evaluation and individual needs.
Does everyone need qEEG brain mapping?
Not necessarily. qEEG may be recommended when additional information about brainwave activity would be useful or when neurofeedback is being considered. It is not a standalone diagnostic test for anxiety.
Can I participate if I take medication?
Medication does not automatically exclude participation. Medication decisions should remain between you and the clinician who prescribes them. Do not change or stop medication because of progress in counseling or neurofeedback without consulting your prescriber.
What if my symptoms could be medical rather than anxiety?
New, severe or concerning physical or neurological symptoms require appropriate medical evaluation. Psychological treatment can address anxiety related to symptoms or medical experiences, but it does not replace medical diagnosis or emergency care.
The first step is understanding what is actually happening

Anxiety Does Not Have to Keep Deciding What Your Life Looks Like.

Start with an evaluation. We will look at what triggers your anxiety, what keeps it going, how it affects your life and which treatment options make sense for you.
Individual treatment recommendations and outcomes vary. Information on this page is educational and does not replace individualized medical or psychological evaluation.