ANXIETY & PANIC THERAPY · TELEHEALTH ACROSS TEXAS

Anxiety Therapy Built Around Your Values, Not Just Your Symptoms

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Anxiety Is Exhausting in a Very Specific Way

It is not just worry. It is the body alarm that fires before you can think — the tight chest, the racing heart, the sudden certainty that something is wrong when nothing obvious is. It is the hours spent mentally rehearsing what could go wrong, scanning for symptoms, checking twice, avoiding the thing that triggered it last time. And underneath it all, the quiet erosion of territory — places you no longer go, things you no longer try, a life that keeps getting smaller without you quite deciding that.

Most people who reach out have already tried the usual answers. The breathing exercises. The mindfulness apps. The journaling. Maybe even a round of therapy that focused on understanding where the anxiety came from. These things are not useless — but they tend to address the symptoms without changing the underlying mechanism. The cycle — trigger, alarm, escape, temporary relief, larger fear — keeps running because nothing disrupted it at the level it needed to be disrupted.

There is a different way to approach this. Not eliminating anxiety — anxiety is not the problem — but changing what you do with it, so it stops making decisions about your life.
THE APPROACH

What This Treatment Actually Does

Treatment is grounded in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) — two approaches that are evidence-based, well-researched, and distinct from supportive conversation. This is not a space to vent and feel better for an hour. It is a structured process designed to change what anxiety does to your daily life.

ACT starts from a different premise than most anxiety treatment: anxiety is not a malfunction to be fixed. It is a signal the brain sends — sometimes accurately, often not — and the problem is what you do with that signal. ACT-informed treatment focuses on building psychological flexibility — the ability to feel anxiety without letting it drive. The goal is not an anxiety-free life. It is a values-driven life that does not shrink around fear. Results vary by individual, and treatment timelines depend on the specific presentation and consistency of practice.

The anxiety cycle persists because the brain learns the wrong lesson from escape. CBT and exposure-based work interrupt this at the mechanism level. Exposure — gradual, paced, and never reckless — teaches the nervous system that it can tolerate the discomfort without the feared outcome materializing. This includes interoceptive exposure for panic and situational exposure for avoidance patterns. You will always know what you are practicing, why it matters, and have a real say in the pace.

The Therapist You Work With Matters as Much as the Model

Most people who reach out have done the reading. They know CBT exists. Some have heard of ACT. A few have even done a round of therapy that nominally used these approaches — and are not sure why it did not quite take. Technique applied without genuine clinical understanding of the specific person sitting in the room is a common reason.

This practice is built around the opposite. I have been doing this work for 14 years. Anxiety and fear-based presentations are not one specialty among many — they are the core of what I do. I have also done this work personally: I know what it is like to use CBT not as a concept but as a practice, on your own nervous system, in real life. That informs how I work — not as a point of excessive disclosure, but because it shapes what I understand treatment to actually require of someone.

This is a solo private practice, not a group practice or insurance panel. I keep a selective caseload of 15 to 20 clients. That means I know your history before you walk in the door, I am not reading notes five minutes before your session, and your treatment is designed around you — not a template.

Felix Murad, M.Ed., LPC-S, LMHC, CMHC, NCC · Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor · CBT & ACT Anxiety Specialist · Licensed by the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council / Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors · Licensed in: Texas | Washington | New Hampshire | Florida (telehealth)

How This Works

01
Free Consult Call
A 15-minute call to see whether this is the right fit. Not a session — a conversation. You can ask questions, share what you are dealing with, and get a sense of how I work before committing to anything.
02
Assessment and Plan
The first two sessions are an intake and assessment. We map out your specific anxiety presentation — what triggers it, what maintains it, what safety behaviors are involved. From there, we build a treatment plan with concrete targets you understand.
03
The Work
Structured sessions with exposure practice, ACT exercises, and between-session work. Progress is tracked against your specific goals. Individual results vary based on presentation and engagement.
WHY THIS PRACTICE

This Is Not Generic Therapy

A lot of therapists list anxiety as a specialty. What that means varies enormously — from open-ended supportive conversation to manualized CBT delivered by the book to something closer to what is described here. These are not the same thing, and the difference matters when you have been stuck for a while.

Insurance panels and high-volume group practices prioritize efficiency. That is not a criticism — it is a structural reality. This practice is built differently: a small, selective caseload, private pay, and a therapist who is actually thinking about your specific presentation between sessions. The $200/session rate reflects a level of access and attention that high-volume models cannot provide.

This also is not therapy that avoids the difficult parts. Anxiety treatment that works involves doing the thing that is uncomfortable — deliberately, repeatedly, with support. If you are looking for a space to process and be heard without a treatment structure, that is legitimate, but it is not what this is. If you are ready to actually work on the cycle, this might be a fit.

Questions People Ask Before Reaching Out

COMMON QUESTIONS

No. Exposure-based work does involve deliberately approaching the sensations and situations that trigger anxiety — that is how the nervous system learns the alarm is false. But it is paced, collaborative, and never reckless flooding. You will know exactly what you are practicing, why it is part of treatment, and you will have a real say in the pace. Nobody gets thrown in the deep end without warning.

It depends on the specific presentation. Focused anxiety or panic with a clear trigger often responds in 12 to 20 sessions. More complex or longstanding presentations with significant avoidance history take longer. Treatment timelines are discussed during the assessment phase and revisited as we go. There are no guarantees of specific outcomes or timelines — that would not be honest.

No. This is a private-pay practice. The rate is $200 per session. Insurance panels require volume, documentation overhead, and a treatment model oriented toward managed care requirements. None of that serves the kind of work described on this page. A superbill can be provided for potential out-of-network reimbursement if your plan allows it — check with your insurer directly on that.

That is worth talking through on the consult call. Sometimes prior therapy was supportive rather than structured — a different model, not a reflection of your capacity to change. Sometimes the fit was off. Sometimes the timing was not right. A previous experience that did not work is not evidence that nothing will. It is information about what to do differently.

The consult call is exactly for this question. You get to ask whatever you want, I will be direct about whether I think I can help with what you are dealing with, and neither of us commits to anything on that call. It is a no-pressure fit check, not a sales pitch.

Start With a Consultation Call

Book a free 15-minute consult call. No commitment. Just a conversation to see whether this is the right match for what you are dealing with.

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