Connect with licensed Marriage & Family Therapists who specialize in anxiety. Evidence-based care available in-person and via telehealth across all 50 states.
Anxiety therapy is a form of psychotherapy specifically designed to help individuals understand, manage, and reduce the thoughts, physical sensations, and behaviors that fuel excessive worry and fear. Therapists who specialize in anxiety use structured, evidence-based approaches to help clients identify the patterns maintaining their anxiety and develop practical tools to interrupt them.
Anxiety is one of the most common mental health concerns in the United States, affecting more than 40 million adults. While anxiety is a normal human emotion, anxiety disorders develop when worry becomes persistent, disproportionate, and significantly impacts daily life — affecting sleep, work performance, relationships, and physical health. Effective therapy addresses not just symptoms but the underlying beliefs and avoidance behaviors that keep anxiety cycles going.
Marriage and Family Therapists are uniquely equipped to treat anxiety because they understand how anxiety shows up in relationships and family systems. An MFT can help you manage anxiety as an individual while also exploring how your relationships may be contributing to — or helping buffer against — anxious patterns. Many MFTs offer both individual sessions and sessions that include a partner or family member when relevant.
MFTs use a range of research-backed treatments for anxiety. Your therapist will recommend an approach based on your specific concerns, history, and goals.
CBT is the gold standard treatment for anxiety disorders. It helps clients identify the distorted thoughts fueling anxiety, test them against reality, and replace them with more balanced perspectives — while using behavioral techniques to gradually reduce avoidance.
ACT teaches clients to stop fighting anxious thoughts and feelings and instead develop psychological flexibility — the ability to experience discomfort without letting it dictate behavior. By clarifying personal values, clients learn to act meaningfully even in the presence of anxiety.
MBCT blends mindfulness meditation practices with cognitive therapy techniques. Clients learn to observe anxious thoughts and physical sensations with curiosity rather than alarm, breaking the automatic escalation from a worried thought to a full anxiety spiral.
ERP is the frontline treatment for OCD and phobia-related anxiety. Clients gradually and safely confront feared situations or thoughts without engaging in avoidance or compulsive behaviors, allowing the brain to learn that the feared outcome does not occur and anxiety naturally decreases.
Showing 6 of 12,300+ verified anxiety therapists
LMFT, PhD · 16 Years Experience
Atlanta, GA · In-Person & Telehealth
Dr. Monroe specializes in GAD, panic disorder, and anxiety rooted in perfectionism and high achievement. She uses CBT and ACT to help clients unlearn the avoidance habits that keep anxiety entrenched. She has particular experience supporting professional women, graduate students, and first-generation college graduates navigating career transitions.
Insurance: Aetna, Cigna, United Healthcare, BCBS Georgia
LMFT · 10 Years Experience
Portland, OR · Telehealth Only
Daniel works with adults experiencing social anxiety, health anxiety, and OCD-spectrum concerns using ERP and ACT. He has extensive training in culturally responsive care and works frequently with Asian American clients navigating family pressure, identity, and intergenerational anxiety. All sessions are conducted via secure video.
Insurance: PacificSource, Moda Health, Out-of-Network Superbills
LMFT, MA · 8 Years Experience
San Antonio, TX · In-Person & Telehealth
Sofia specializes in anxiety at the intersection of relationships and family systems. She helps individuals whose anxiety is driven by people-pleasing, conflict avoidance, or enmeshed family dynamics. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and provides culturally affirming care for Latine clients navigating familismo, immigration stress, and generational expectations.
Insurance: Molina, Ambetter, BCBS Texas, Medicaid
LMFT · 14 Years Experience
Chicago, IL · In-Person & Telehealth
Thomas focuses on performance anxiety, work-related stress, and burnout in high-achieving professionals. Using a blend of CBT and mindfulness, he helps clients in demanding careers — finance, law, medicine — break the cycle of overwork and anxiety without sacrificing their ambition. He also works with athletes navigating performance pressure.
Insurance: Aetna, Cigna, United Healthcare, Blue Cross IL
LMFT · 7 Years Experience
Houston, TX · In-Person & Telehealth
Amara treats anxiety with a warm, culturally grounded approach drawing on ACT and somatic awareness. She works especially with Black women navigating racial trauma, hypervigilance, and anxiety rooted in chronic societal stress. Amara helps clients reconnect with their bodies and develop a nervous system that feels genuinely safe rather than just managed.
Insurance: United Healthcare, Ambetter, Cigna, Self-Pay
LMFT, MS · 11 Years Experience
Los Angeles, CA · Telehealth Only
Rachel brings expertise in MBCT and phobia treatment to adults dealing with health anxiety, agoraphobia, and anxiety that has built up over years of avoidance. She uses a compassionate, structured approach that helps clients rebuild their world gradually — from the avoidances that have felt safest to the activities they most want back in their lives.
Insurance: Anthem, Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield CA, Out-of-Network
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Browse licensed anxiety therapists in your state, filterable by city, insurance, and telehealth availability.
Most major insurance plans cover outpatient therapy for anxiety disorders, especially when a formal diagnosis is documented. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act requires most insurers to cover mental health treatment at the same level as physical health care. Coverage varies by individual plan, so it is worth calling your insurer to confirm your deductible, copay, and whether a referral is required. Many MFTs also offer sliding-scale fees for clients with limited or no coverage.
Treatment length depends on the type and severity of anxiety. Many people experience significant improvement in 8 to 16 sessions of CBT, which is the most researched approach for anxiety disorders. Social anxiety, OCD-related concerns, and anxiety rooted in trauma may require longer treatment — often 4 to 6 months or more. Some clients continue with periodic check-in sessions even after primary symptoms resolve, particularly during high-stress life transitions.
Anxiety is a normal, universal human emotion — a natural response to uncertainty, stress, or perceived threat. An anxiety disorder is diagnosed when anxiety becomes chronic, disproportionate to the actual situation, and significantly interferes with daily functioning across multiple areas of life. Anxiety disorders include Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Social Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Specific Phobias, and OCD-related conditions. You do not need a formal diagnosis to benefit from therapy — if anxiety is limiting your life, that is reason enough to seek support.
Yes. Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists are trained and licensed to assess and treat anxiety disorders. They use the same evidence-based approaches — CBT, ACT, ERP, MBCT — as other licensed mental health professionals. MFTs are often particularly effective with anxiety because they understand how anxiety affects not just the individual but the relationships and family systems around them. This systems perspective can uncover relational patterns that fuel and maintain anxiety.
Research consistently shows that telehealth therapy is as effective as in-person therapy for the most common anxiety disorders, including GAD, panic disorder, and social anxiety. Many people find that the convenience of attending sessions from home actually reduces a barrier to starting treatment. However, for anxiety disorders with a strong situational exposure component — such as specific phobias requiring real-world practice — some therapists may recommend in-person sessions for certain exercises. Discuss your specific concerns with a potential therapist to find the right format.