Anxiety and Panic Therapy

What This Page Covers

 

Persistent worry that attaches itself to whatever is in front of you. Panic attacks, and the fear of the next one that quietly shrinks your life. Health anxiety that keeps you checking, searching, and booking appointments without relief. Social anxiety that makes meetings, small talk, and visibility at work feel dangerous. Anxiety that arrived with a new baby. Anxiety that comes with feeling unreal or detached. And anxiety that has not responded to previous therapy or medication, which often means something underneath it has not yet been addressed.

 

How Treatment Works

 

Treatment is matched to the pattern. Cognitive behavioural work addresses the thinking and avoidance cycle that keeps anxiety alive, including the reassurance-seeking and checking that feel protective and aren't. DBT-informed skills build tolerance for the physical surge of anxiety so it no longer dictates behaviour. Grounding and body-based work calm a nervous system that has been running hot for years. Where anxiety is rooted in earlier experiences, EMDR processes those memories so the present stops setting off alarms that belong to the past. Our guide to anxiety covers symptoms, causes, and the evidence for each approach.

 

Panic Attacks

 

A panic attack is a false alarm at full volume: the body's emergency response firing without an emergency. Treatment teaches you what is actually happening in your body during an attack, removes the fear of the symptoms themselves, and dismantles the avoidance that panic builds around itself. Most people who understand their panic stop fearing it, and panic that is no longer feared tends to fade. Our guide to panic attacks explains the physiology and how to get through one.

 

Health Anxiety

 

Health anxiety is worry that has fixated on the body: a sensation becomes a symptom, a symptom becomes a diagnosis, and reassurance from a doctor lasts a day. Treatment targets the checking, searching, and reassurance loop directly, because that loop is the illness. Our guide to health anxiety describes the pattern and what breaks it.

 

When Anxiety Is Trauma in Disguise

 

A large share of anxiety that doesn't respond to standard treatment is a nervous system shaped by earlier threat: a childhood of unpredictability, a frightening relationship, an event that was never processed. The worry and hypervigilance are accurate responses to a danger that is no longer present. Jason's clinical background is in complex trauma, which means this pattern is recognized early rather than after years of symptom management. When it applies, the work shifts to the trauma itself, using approaches paced to what you can manage.

 

Anxiety and Feeling Unreal

 

Many people with anxiety also experience depersonalization or derealization, the sense of being detached from yourself or that the world has gone flat and dreamlike. It is common during panic and can persist between attacks. It is not psychosis, and it responds to treatment that addresses both the anxiety and the dissociation. Our guide to depersonalization and derealization explains it.

 

Rates and Insurance

 

Individual sessions are $150 for 50 minutes or $220 for 80 minutes. The initial 15-minute consultation is free. Receipts are provided for extended health benefits; many plans reimburse sessions with a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) or Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC), so check your plan's coverage for counselling.

 

Online Across Western Canada

 

Sessions take place by secure video for clients in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, with limited in-person availability by appointment in Calgary. Online therapy for anxiety is well supported by research and removes one source of anxiety entirely: getting to the appointment. Daytime and evening appointments are available Monday to Friday, with Saturday mornings.

 

About Jason Chang

 

Jason Chang, MA, is a Canadian Certified Counsellor and Registered Clinical Counsellor with extensive training in CBT and DBT, EMDR training, and a clinical specialization in complex trauma and dissociation. Read more about Jason.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

How long does anxiety therapy take?

 

Many people notice meaningful change within eight to twelve sessions for a focused problem such as panic or health anxiety. Anxiety with trauma underneath takes longer because the trauma itself needs to be addressed. Progress is reviewed together so you always know where things stand.

 

Do you prescribe medication?

 

No. Counsellors do not prescribe. Therapy and medication can work alongside each other, and if medication seems worth considering, that is a conversation to have with your family physician or a psychiatrist.

 

Will I have to face the things I'm afraid of?

 

Gradually, and with preparation, yes, because avoidance is what keeps anxiety alive. Nothing is forced or rushed. You set the pace, and the skills come before the exposure.

 

Does online therapy work for anxiety?

 

Yes. Online CBT and related approaches for anxiety and panic have been studied extensively and perform comparably to in-person treatment. Being at home can also make it easier to practise skills in the setting where anxiety actually shows up.

 

My anxiety hasn't responded to previous therapy. Why would this be different?

 

Often because something underneath the anxiety was never addressed: trauma, dissociation, or a pattern of reassurance-seeking that earlier treatment unintentionally fed. The first sessions here look for that specifically rather than repeating what has already been tried.