Anxiety Treatment in Toronto
Doctoral-Level Psychological Care

Anxiety treatment at Laksman Doell Psychology is delivered by doctoral-level registered psychologists, both in person at our office in the Annex neighbourhood of Toronto and virtually across Ontario.

What Anxiety Looks Like — And When It Stops Being Useful

“Not all worry is created equal. Productive worry leads to decisions and action. Unproductive worry spins on things you can’t control.”

We all experience anxiety from time to time. It’s associated with the part of your nervous system that scans for danger, that prepares your body to act, and that tries to keep you safe. The difficulty occurs when this system won’t stand down.

Fear and anxiety aren’t the same thing. Fear ignites when a threat is right in front of you. Anxiety is more forward-looking, and emerges in rehearsing what might go wrong, in bracing for something that hasn’t happened yet, or in scanning for danger that isn’t in the room.

At times, anxiety can hijack our thinking and can send us into loops of unproductive worry. Productive worry leads somewhere: it identifies a real problem, generates a next step, and moves us forward. Unproductive worry spins: it hooks onto things that may actually be quite unlikely, it leads us to focus on things that are uncontrollable, and it often exaggerates potential negative outcomes to catastrophic proportions.

Moreover, when worry and anxiety build, they don’t just stay in your head. They move into your body, your sleep, your relationships, and even your capacity to be present in your own life.

Anxiety puts us on alert, but it is important to note that anxiety itself, even severe anxiety, is not dangerous. The racing heart, the dizziness, the chest tightness, the feeling of not being able to get a full breath are real, but they are the direct result of a nervous system that is functioning and that is doing its job. Not because something is wrong with you, but because your body is mobilizing you for action.

This awareness matters especially for panic. During a panic attack, the physiological sensations in our body can feel so extreme that people genuinely believe that something catastrophic is happening. Many go to the emergency room, where they are told that their heart is fine. They leave feeling relieved, but may still find themselves bracing for the next one. That dread becomes its own loop.

When anxiety and worry start to take up more and more of your time, when they are generating excessive distress, or when they are getting in the way of you living your life – this is when it’s important to reach out for support.

IF YOU ARE READING THIS

You may not be sure what you need, but something brought you here…

Your anxiety and worry have been louder than usual for quite some time. You don't know exactly when it started. You just know that it's here now, and that it won't go away.
Worry is always in the background. You're tired of thinking about what might go wrong, and you've tried to think your way out of it. However, your mind just keeps spinning.
You've started to notice signs of anxiety in your body. Your chest feels tight. Your sleep is off. You can't remember the last time you felt fully relaxed.
You're not falling apart. You're still functioning. But the cost is increasing.

This is what has brought you here. And you are in the right place.

Anxiety treatment in Toronto

The anxiety presentations that we treat:

At Laksman Doell Psychology, we treat a broad range of different anxiety presentations across a number of different areas of life. For some of us, anxiety shows up more in areas of performance, at work, at school, or in our relationships. For others, anxiety may focus around different topics, like a specific fear, an existential dread, or an obsessive thought that we are having difficulty shaking.

Our doctoral-level psychologists treat a number of different anxiety disorders, including:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Generalized anxiety disorder involves excessive anxiety and worry that tends to shift from topic to topic: work, health, relationships, money, the future. The worry feels out of control, and fatigue, restlessness, muscle tension, and difficulty concentrating are its frequent companions.

Panic Disorder

Panic disorder occurs in the context of multiple, unexpected, panic attacks. A panic attack can feel like a medical emergency: heart racing, chest pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, a terrifying sense that something is catastrophically wrong. The fear of having another one becomes its own source of anxiety and avoidance. This cycle is very treatable.

Social Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorder is an intense fear of being judged, observed, embarrassed, or humiliated in social situations: for example, public speaking, meeting new people, eating in public, or being evaluated. Often, the anticipation is harder than the moment itself, it may lead to avoidance of social situations all together, or it can contribute to self-critical interpretations of our performance after the fact.

Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is commonly misunderstood as a fear of open spaces. What it actually involves is a fear and avoidance of situations where escape might be difficult or help might not be available. It often develops alongside or after panic disorder.

Specific Phobias

Specific phobias are focused and intense: fear and avoidance of flying, of medical procedures, of particular environments, events or objects. We often may know that this fear is out of proportion to the actual risk. However, that knowledge doesn’t make the fear any smaller.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves emotional distress or interference in functioning that is associated with persistent, recurrent and intrusive thoughts, mental checking, reassurance-seeking, or compulsive behaviour. It may also include specific presentations that are often missed or misunderstood: harm OCD, relationship OCD, scrupulosity, existential OCD, and contamination OCD.

Our Approach

Treatment that starts with understanding you.

Anxiety is something that shows up differently in different people, and understanding how it shows up for you is the starting point for addressing it well. It is also true that anxiety rarely travels alone. It commonly runs alongside depression, perfectionism, burnout, and the longer fallout of trauma, a hard life chapter, or a period of transition. At Laksman Doell Psychology, our doctoral-level psychologists are equipped to work with the full picture.

The first few sessions are about assessing and understanding both you and your anxiety: where it shows up, what triggers it, what it has cost you, and what you want your life to look like on the other side. Some individuals see meaningful change in their anxiety in six to twelve sessions. Some need longer. We won’t pretend to know which one you are until we’ve sat across from each other. Taking the time to understand and formulate both you and your anxiety is an important step in allowing us to work collaboratively with you to decide what treatment approach will work best for you.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is the treatment with the strongest evidence base for anxiety, and it is the foundation of how many of our psychologists approach this work. CBT helps you to tell the difference between worry that is useful and worry that is hurting you, then helps to build the skills to address both situations. It involves learning to explore and respond to our anxious thinking differently, to engage in strategies that help us to reduce behavioural avoidance, and to build a repertoire of enhanced coping skills. It is structured, collaborative, and grounded in decades of research.

Where it is appropriate, our psychologists will also speak with you about incorporating other evidence-based treatment modalities, for example Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), or Motivational Interviewing (MI). For individuals who are living with experience of obsessions or compulsions, we have clinicians trained in Exposure with Response Prevention (ERP) and Inference-based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (I-CBT). When anxiety lives loudly in the body, we work with the body too, by building behavioural skills to help settle the autonomic nervous system.

OUR DIFFERENCE

Specialist training.
Private practice access.

Every clinician at Laksman Doell Psychology is a doctoral-level psychologist who is registered with, or working toward registration with, the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO). Our team has trained at sites including, but limited to, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto General, North York General, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and the University of Toronto.

Sessions are available in person at 27 Prince Arthur Avenue in the Annex neighbourhood of Toronto, or virtually across Ontario via PHIPA-compliant video. All services are available virtually to any Ontario resident. No referral required.

We are not here to simply teach you to push through your anxiety. We are here to help you feel genuinely different, and to help you to understand the part of you that has been working so hard to keep you safe.

GET STARTED

Ready to take the next step?

Life can be complicated, finding support shouldn’t be. At Laksman Doell, we take that seriously.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does CBT actually work for anxiety?

Yes. CBT for anxiety has some of the strongest evidence-base in all of psychotherapy. Most individuals notice a real shift in their anxiety within the first few sessions. It starts with a genuine sense of understanding what we are dealing with and then works towards building a comprehensive set of tools that work to help us address our anxious thoughts, the physiological arousal, and the behavioural avoidance that both cause our anxiety and that keep it going.

How long does anxiety therapy take?

This varies. Many clients see meaningful change within six to twelve sessions of CBT. Others benefit from longer engagement, particularly when anxiety has been present for many years or runs alongside other concerns. You will have a clearer picture after the first few sessions.

Do I need a referral for anxiety treatment in Toronto?

No. You can contact us directly. No referral from a physician or psychiatrist is required.

Is anxiety treatment covered by OHIP?

Services are not covered by OHIP. Coverage may be available through extended health benefits, as many plans cover the services of a registered psychologist. We recommend confirming with your provider before commencing treatment.

Can I be seen virtually?

Yes. All services are available virtually via PHIPA-compliant video for any Ontario resident.

Do you treat OCD specifically?

Yes. We have clinicians trained specifically in ERP and I-CBT for OCD — which are different from anxiety therapy in general. If OCD is your concern, please mention it when you reach out so that we can help to match you with the right clinician.

Life is complicated. We give you clarity.

The first step is a brief consultation to help understand what you are looking for. No referral required.
Email us at [email protected] or complete our contact form online.