What We Treat
Evidence-based, individualized treatment for anxiety from licensed clinicians, in person in San Pedro or online.
Anxiety is more than the ordinary nerves everyone feels before something stressful. It is persistent, excessive worry and fear that is hard to switch off and that starts to interfere with daily life. It shows up in the mind as racing thoughts and a sense of dread, and in the body as tension, a racing heart, and trouble sleeping. It often pushes you to avoid the very things that set it off, which can shrink your world over time. It is common, it is not a sign of weakness, and it is one of the most treatable conditions in mental health.
A steady stream of worry or dread that is hard to switch off, even when you know it is out of proportion.
Your mind jumps from one worst-case scenario to the next, making it hard to focus or settle.
A keyed-up, jittery feeling, easily startled, and never quite able to relax.
A racing heart, a tight chest, muscle tension, sweating, or shortness of breath that come with the worry.
Difficulty falling or staying asleep as your mind keeps turning, leaving you tired and more on edge.
Steering around the places, people, or situations that set off the anxiety, which can quietly narrow your life.
Anxiety takes different shapes and often overlaps with related conditions, and our clinicians treat the whole picture rather than a single label. Each area below has a page that explains how we approach it.
Sudden surges of intense fear with physical symptoms, and the fear-of-fear cycle that follows.
Intense fear of judgment or embarrassment that leads you to avoid social and performance situations.
Intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors, treated with exposure and response prevention.
Strong, focused fears of a particular object or situation, treated with gradual exposure.
Anxiety rooted in past trauma, where the nervous system stays on high alert long after the event.
Anxiety and depression often occur together, so we treat them as one connected picture, not two separate problems.
Anxiety responds to evidence-based therapy, and our clinicians are trained to deliver it. We build a plan with you, match the approach to what you are experiencing, and work at a pace you can manage.
A practical, structured approach that targets the thinking and avoidance patterns that keep anxiety going, helping you question the worried predictions and respond differently.
Helps you make room for difficult feelings and act on what matters to you, instead of letting fear set the terms of your life.
Step by step, you face the situations you have been avoiding in a planned, supported way, so they lose their grip and your confidence returns.
Body-based work to settle a nervous system stuck on high alert, so the physical side of anxiety eases and you can think more clearly.
| Approach | Best suited for | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| CBT | Worry, avoidance, and catastrophic thinking | Identifies and reworks the thought and behavior patterns that fuel anxiety. |
| ACT | Anxiety tangled up with values and life direction | Builds willingness to feel discomfort while acting on what matters to you. |
| Gradual exposure | Phobias, panic, and avoidance | Faces feared situations step by step so they lose their charge. |
| Somatic regulation | A nervous system stuck on high alert | Settles the body so the physical symptoms of anxiety ease. |
Starting therapy should feel clear, not overwhelming. Here is how it works at Coastwise.
We start with a short, private conversation to understand what you are dealing with and what you want from therapy.
We pair you with a licensed clinician who treats anxiety and fits what you are working through, not whoever happens to be free.
Your clinician builds a plan with you and works at a pace you can manage, so progress feels steady and sustainable.
We work with adults and teens across the full range of anxiety, from a low hum of worry that never quite switches off to anxiety severe enough that it shapes daily decisions. We also treat the related conditions that often sit alongside it, including panic attacks, social anxiety, and OCD. Anxiety and depression often occur together, so our clinicians treat the whole picture rather than a single label.
See us in person at our San Pedro office or work with a clinician securely online anywhere in California. Therapy for anxiety translates well to telehealth, and for people whose anxiety makes leaving the house or new places hard, virtual sessions remove a real barrier to getting started.
We use evidence-based approaches including CBT to change the thinking and avoidance patterns that keep anxiety going, ACT to help you act on your values even when fear is present, gradual exposure to lower the charge on the situations you have been steering around, and somatic regulation to settle a nervous system stuck on high alert. Your therapist builds a plan with you and works at a pace you can manage.
Therapy alone helps many people get their anxiety under control, and CBT and exposure are among the most effective treatments we have. For some people a combination of therapy and medication works best. We focus on the therapy side and coordinate with your prescriber when medication is part of the picture, so you are not managing it in isolation.
Many people feel meaningful relief within a few months of consistent work, though it varies with how long the anxiety has been present and what is driving it. The goal is not only to quiet the current worry but to build skills you can use on your own so anxiety has less hold over time.
Yes. Therapy for anxiety translates well to secure video, and for people whose anxiety makes leaving the house or new places hard, virtual sessions remove a real barrier to getting started. We see clients in person in San Pedro and virtually across California.
We work with insurance, and many clients use their benefits toward therapy with us. Call (424) 536-3002 to learn how your insurance can help cover the cost of therapy.
Anxiety tends to build and linger as ongoing worry, tension, and dread, while a panic attack is a sudden surge of intense fear that peaks within minutes, often with a racing heart, shortness of breath, and a feeling of losing control. Many people experience both. If panic attacks are your main concern, our panic attacks page goes deeper.
It may be time to reach out when worry is hard to control, sticks around most days, interferes with sleep, work, or relationships, or leads you to avoid people and places you used to manage. You do not have to be at a breaking point to benefit. Therapy helps at any level of anxiety, and starting earlier usually makes the work shorter.
Call us at (424) 536-3002 or request a consultation online. We start with a short, confidential conversation to understand what you are dealing with, then match you with a licensed clinician who treats anxiety. We see clients in person in San Pedro and virtually across California.
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Anxiety is treatable, and you do not have to keep pushing through it on your own. Call us for a free, confidential consultation and we will match you to a clinician who treats it.
Call (424) 536-3002 Get Started