Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is the catch-all anxiety category, and the most common one we see. It's the worry that doesn't pick a topic — health, money, relationships, the email you sent on Tuesday, an offhand comment your boss made in October — it just keeps the engine running, day after day, on whatever fuel is at hand.
What this can feel like.
- Worry that won't quit. Not big-deal worry. Background worry. The hum that's there even when nothing is wrong.
- Sleep that's harder to keep than to start. You fall asleep fine. You wake up at 3 AM with a list.
- Body that won't unclench. Tight shoulders, jaw, low back. Headaches that have no obvious source.
- Decision fatigue. What to eat, what to wear, which email to answer first. Small choices feel weighted.
- "What if" loops. You catastrophize quietly — to yourself, never out loud, because you know how it would sound.
- Reassurance-seeking. Texting a friend "do you think I'm fine?" The relief lasts about ninety seconds.
- Looking competent. Most people with GAD are high-functioning. The cost is internal.
How therapy can help.
The most evidence-supported treatment for GAD is cognitive-behavioral therapy, especially the version designed for chronic worry. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is also strongly supported and often the better fit for people whose worry is so chronic it feels like part of who they are. We blend both.
Concretely, the work usually includes:
- Worry exposure. Counter-intuitively, the path through chronic worry is to face the imagined catastrophes deliberately, in a structured way, until your brain stops treating them as threats.
- Intolerance of uncertainty work. Most chronic worry isn't about specific risks; it's about not being able to tolerate not-knowing. There are ways to build that tolerance.
- Behavioral experiments. Testing the predictions worry makes (which are wrong far more often than they feel).
- Body-side tools. Real techniques for the chronic muscle tension and sleep disruption that come with GAD. Most internet advice on this is too generic to help.
- Coordinating with prescribers when an SSRI added in helps the body settle. We coordinate; we don't prescribe.
Most clients see meaningful change within 12–20 weekly sessions.
You don't have to figure this out alone.
Worry can feel like the part of you that keeps the wheels on. The hard truth — and the freeing one — is that most of the things you've worried about did not happen, and the ones that did, you handled. Therapy doesn't take your judgment away. It just stops the engine from running 24/7.
Book your first session Call (626) 354-6440