Anxiety therapy in Naperville, IL, and wherever you need it!

Taking the first step is often the hardest part. Reach out - I'd love to hear what's going on.

What anxiety actually is. And isn't.

Anxiety is not weakness. It's not something you can simply "push through" or "think your way out of." It is your nervous system doing what it was designed to do, detect threat and prepare you to respond. The problem is when that system becomes overactive, firing off alarms when there's no real danger, or when reasonable caution becomes something that shrinks your world.

Anxiety becomes a disorder when it is excessive, persistent, and gets in the way of living the life you want. It shows up differently for everyone, in how it feels in the body, in the thoughts it generates, and in the situations it targets.

The good news: anxiety disorders have some of the highest treatment success rates of any mental health condition. With evidence-based treatment, most people see meaningful, lasting improvement.

PANIC DISORDER

Panic attacks are sudden, intense surges of fear with physical symptoms including racing heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, chest tightness, a feeling of unreality, or terror that something catastrophic is happening. They can feel like a heart attack, or like you're losing your mind.

Panic disorder develops when fear of the panic attacks themselves begins to change your behavior, whether that's avoiding situations where attacks have happened, always needing an exit, or living in anticipatory dread. Over time, this avoidance can significantly narrow your world.

Treatment helps you understand what's actually happening in your body during a panic attack, reduce the fear of the sensations themselves, and gradually re-engage with avoided situations so panic stops calling the shots.

Approaches used: CBT, ERP, ACT, interoceptive exposure

GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER (GAD)

GAD is characterized by persistent, excessive worry about a wide range of everyday things, including health, finances, work, relationships, safety, and the future. The worry feels difficult or impossible to control, and it's often accompanied by physical symptoms like muscle tension, fatigue, restlessness, or difficulty sleeping.

People with GAD often describe feeling like they can never fully relax. There's always something to worry about, and when one worry resolves, another takes its place. Treatment focuses on building real tolerance for uncertainty, challenging the beliefs that keep worry going, and interrupting the cycle.

Approaches used: CBT, ACT, ERP

Social anxiety is much more than shyness. It's an intense fear of being judged, embarrassed, or humiliated in social situations, and it often leads to significant avoidance of social interactions, performance situations, or anything where you might be observed or evaluated.

Social anxiety can interfere with friendships, relationships, school, work, and everyday situations like eating in public, making phone calls, or speaking in a meeting. The avoidance that comes with it provides short-term relief but keeps the anxiety strong over the long term.

Treatment builds real confidence in social situations through gradual, supported exposure, not just reassurance that you'll be fine.

Approaches used: CBT, ERP, ACT

SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER

SEPARATION ANXIETY DISORDER

Separation anxiety involves excessive fear or worry about being separated from attachment figures. It's most common in children, but it also affects teenagers and adults. In children, it often shows up as refusal to go to school, difficulty sleeping alone, physical complaints before separations, or clingy behavior. In adults, it can appear as intense worry about loved ones' safety or difficulty with independence.

Separation anxiety in children is one of my most frequent referrals and one of the most rewarding to treat. Working with both the child and the family together produces the most meaningful and lasting results.

Approaches used: CBT, ERP, SPACE, family involvement

Taking the first step is often the hardest part. Reach out - I'd love to hear what's going on.

Specific Phobias

A specific phobia is an intense, persistent fear of a particular object or situation that is disproportionate to the actual danger and leads to avoidance. Phobias are extremely common, and they respond very well to exposure-based treatment.

Phobias I treat include:

• Emetophobia: Fear of vomiting or seeing others vomit. One of the more complex phobias, often intertwined with OCD, food restriction, and social avoidance.

• Health Anxiety (Illness Phobia): Persistent fear of having or developing a serious illness. Often involves body-checking, reassurance-seeking, and medical avoidance or over-utilization.

• Driving Anxiety: Fear of driving, highways, bridges, or being in cars. Can significantly limit independence and daily functioning.

• Fear of Flying: Avoidance of air travel that limits personal or professional life.

• Fear of Needles / Medical Procedures: Avoidance of medical care due to fear of injections, blood draws, or procedures.

• Claustrophobia: Fear of enclosed spaces, elevators, MRI machines, or crowded areas.

• Agoraphobia: Fear of situations where escape might be difficult or where help might not be available during a panic attack. Often leads to significant restriction of movement and independence.

• Animal Phobias: Fear of dogs, insects, birds, or other animals.

• Natural Environment Phobias: Fear of storms, heights, water, or darkness.

• Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia: A unique phobia involving a vasovagal response, which requires a specific treatment approach called applied tension technique.

• Other Specific Phobias: If your fear isn't listed here, reach out. If it's interfering with your life, it's worth treating.

How anxiety is treated at Untangled

The foundation of anxiety treatment here is CBT, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, the most researched and evidence-based treatment for anxiety disorders. Within CBT, ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) is used to address the avoidance and safety behaviors that keep anxiety going.

Other approaches used:

• ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy): For building psychological flexibility and reducing struggle with anxious thoughts.

• iCBT: Internet-delivered CBT for flexible, structured support.

• DBT skills: When emotional regulation support is needed.

• SPACE: For parents of anxious children.

What treatment involves:

• Assessment: Understanding your anxiety history, triggers, patterns, and goals.

• Psychoeducation: Learning what anxiety actually is, how it works, and why avoidance makes it worse.

• Cognitive work: Identifying and shifting the thinking patterns that fuel anxiety.

• Exposure work: Gradually and collaboratively facing feared situations, thoughts, and sensations so anxiety loses its power.

• Real-world practice: Exposures often take place outside the office, in the actual situations that trigger anxiety.

• Building your toolkit: Leaving treatment with strategies you can use on your own, for life.

Q: How do I know if what I have is an anxiety disorder?
A: If anxiety is getting in the way of your life, your relationships, work, school, or the things you want to do, it's worth talking to someone. You don't need a formal diagnosis to reach out.

Q: Won't exposure make my anxiety worse?
A: It's a natural concern. Exposure feels uncomfortable in the short term, but it's that temporary discomfort that teaches your nervous system the feared situation is manageable. Done well and at the right pace, exposure reduces anxiety over time rather than intensifying it.

Q: My child is very young. Can you still help?
A: Yes. I work with children as young as 4. Treatment is adapted to be age-appropriate, engaging, and family-inclusive.

Q: I've had anxiety my whole life. Is it too late to treat it?
A: It is never too late. Many of my adult clients have lived with anxiety for decades and made significant gains in treatment. Long-standing anxiety absolutely responds to evidence-based treatment.

Q: Do you treat anxiety with medication?
A: I am a therapist, not a prescriber. I offer psychotherapy, specifically the evidence-based approaches that research shows work for anxiety. If medication is part of your care, I'm happy to collaborate with your prescribing provider.

Q: Do you take insurance?
A: Untangled is an out-of-network, private-pay practice. I provide superbills after each session that you can submit to your insurance for potential out-of-network reimbursement. Many PPO plans offer partial reimbursement for out-of-network mental health services.

Beyond the therapy room

Anxiety treatment at Untangled is short-term and goal-oriented. Most clients make meaningful progress in 12 to 20 sessions, though this varies by presentation.

When needed, treatment goes beyond weekly 50-minute sessions:

• In-vivo exposures: Practicing in real-world situations wherever anxiety actually shows up.

• Intensive formats: Multiple or extended sessions for faster progress when weekly sessions aren't enough.

• Home visits: For clients whose anxiety has made leaving home difficult.

• Telehealth: Available throughout Illinois and Iowa for clients who prefer or need remote sessions.

Common questions about Anxiety treatment

Adress:

PHONE: +1 630-394-5878

Serving Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook, Wheaton, Warrenville, Lisle, Woodridge & surrounding suburbs · Telehealth in IL & IA · © 2025 Untangled OCD and Anxiety Specialists

Links:

EMAIL: jelena@untangledocd.com

ADDRESS: 640 South Washington St. Suite 212 Naperville, IL, 60540, United States

LICENSED IN: Illinois & Iowa | Indiana coming soon

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I offer in-person sessions in the Naperville area and telehealth across Illinois and Iowa. If you need a home visit for school refusal, anxiety support, or family coaching, I can do that. If you need intensive sessions, I can do that too.