CBT for Anxiety
Structured, evidence-based support for the racing thoughts, physical tension and avoidance that anxiety builds around your life.
Signs this might be for you
- Persistent worry that feels hard to switch off, even when you know it's not helping
- Physical symptoms like a racing heart, tight chest, or restlessness with no clear medical cause
- Avoiding situations, decisions or conversations because of how anxious they make you feel
- Difficulty concentrating at work or in day-to-day life because your mind keeps jumping ahead
- A sense that you're constantly bracing for something to go wrong
Anxiety rarely announces itself as one clean problem. It might show up as a knot that sits in your chest before a meeting, a habit of running through worst-case scenarios at 2am, or a slow shrinking of what you're willing to do because so much now feels risky. CBT for anxiety starts by mapping that pattern with you, specifically, rather than treating anxiety as one generic thing to be managed.
In our work together, we'll look at the thoughts that tend to fire first (the predictions, the "what ifs"), the physical sensations that follow, and the things you've started avoiding or over-preparing for because of them. From there we build a plan using techniques with a strong evidence base: cognitive restructuring, graded exposure, and behavioural experiments that test your predictions against what actually happens rather than staying in the abstract.
This page covers anxiety broadly. If your anxiety centres on health worries, social situations, or panic attacks specifically, I've written more targeted pages for those, since the CBT approach shifts depending on what's actually maintaining the anxiety.
More specific support under CBT for Anxiety
CBT for Health Anxiety
For when a normal bodily sensation turns into hours of searching, checking, and asking other people to tell you you're okay.
Learn moreCBT for Social Anxiety
For the version of you that plans conversations in advance, replays them afterwards, and never quite believes it went okay.
Learn moreCBT for Panic Attacks
For when your body's alarm system fires without warning, and the fear of it happening again becomes its own problem.
Learn moreWhat treatment actually looks like
01
Assessment (sessions 1 to 2)
We map out how your anxiety actually operates: the triggers, the thought patterns, the physical symptoms and what you've changed in your life because of it.
02
Formulation (sessions 2 to 3)
Together we build a working model of what's keeping the anxiety going, and agree specific, meaningful goals for treatment, not vague ones like "feel less anxious".
03
Active treatment (sessions 4 onward)
Cognitive restructuring, worry management and graded exposure, introduced at a pace we agree together, with homework between sessions to build the change into daily life.
04
Consolidation and relapse prevention
In the final sessions we build a plan for maintaining progress and handling setbacks, so the gains don't depend on staying in therapy indefinitely.
A formulation built around your triggers
We map the specific thoughts, situations and safety behaviours keeping your anxiety going, not a generic anxiety checklist.
GAD-7 tracked from session one
We check in with the GAD-7 every few sessions, so progress becomes something concrete we can both point to, not something you're left guessing at.
Tools for outside the room
Worry time scheduling, thought records and grounding techniques you can actually use in the moment, adapted if standard formats don't suit how your mind works.
A pace that's negotiated, not assumed
Exposure work only happens once we've built it together and you understand why, at a pace you have a say in.
Questions about anxiety at Pamoyo Therapy
How many sessions does CBT for anxiety usually take?
Most clients work within the standard 12-session programme. Anxiety that's been present for a long time, or that comes with a lot of avoidance built up over years, sometimes needs the extended 15 to 20 session option. We'll have a clearer sense after the assessment and can agree the right length together rather than committing upfront.
Do I need a diagnosis before I book?
No. Plenty of people come to me with anxiety they've never had formally assessed. Part of the first couple of sessions is working out, together, what's actually going on and whether CBT is the right fit.
Will I have to face my fears straight away?
No. Exposure work is one of the most effective parts of CBT for anxiety, but it's built gradually and only with your agreement at each stage. Nothing gets sprung on you.
I have ADHD and struggle with 'homework'. Will that be a problem?
Not in my experience. I've worked with a lot of neurodivergent clients and I'd rather adapt how we structure between-session tasks (shorter, more visual, voice-note based, whatever actually works for your brain) than hand you a worksheet format that isn't going to get used.
Is there a waiting list?
No. You can usually start your assessment within a week or two of getting in touch, rather than the months-long wait that's common on the NHS.
What if my anxiety is tangled up with my faith or cultural background?
That's welcome in the room to whatever degree matters to you. I won't assume what your background means for you, and I won't bring faith into the work unless you do; but if it's part of how you make sense of things, we can absolutely build on it.
Related pages
CBT for Health Anxiety
For when a normal bodily sensation turns into hours of searching, checking, and asking other people to tell you you're okay.
Learn moreCBT for Social Anxiety
For the version of you that plans conversations in advance, replays them afterwards, and never quite believes it went okay.
Learn moreCBT for Panic Attacks
For when your body's alarm system fires without warning, and the fear of it happening again becomes its own problem.
Learn moreCBT for Depression
For when everything takes more effort than it should, and the things that used to help have quietly stopped happening.
Learn moreReady to talk about anxiety?
Book a free 15 minutes consultation. No pressure, no commitment, just a chance to ask questions and see if working together feels right.