Alex, a 27 year old female who is dressed very professionally for our first meeting, breaks into tears almost as soon as she sits down on my couch. “I’m losing my mind. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I’m in a constant state of panic. I’m not even sure if I remember what it feels like to be normal.” She shakily takes a tissue out of the box beside her and wipes her eyes. Alex goes on to explain that she’s always been a “worrier” but that over the past couple of years, her chronic worry has turned into relentless anxiety that is negatively affecting almost every area of her life. She tosses and turns in bed at night and often wakes before her alarm and is unable to fall back to sleep. She’s lost weight, although she’s not sure how much, as she finds most food unappetizing. “My thoughts just keep coming and I cannot shut them off. I’m so tired of thinking and worrying that the worst case scenario will happen.”

As a child, Alex’s mother recognized her excessive worry and had her see a talk therapist for a few months. Alex hasn’t sought help for her anxiety since then and has never taken medications. Along with poor sleep and poor appetite, Alex reports trouble with finishing her work and has found dating to be “nearly impossible the past few months. Who would want to be around me? I’m a mess.”

Alex agrees to start seeing one of our therapists weekly for a type of therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT. She meets with the therapist four times and then comes back to see me. “My therapist thinks I’m making progress but that I might be doing better if I got on some medication to help as well.” We decide to start a daily medication that will help reduce her anxiety, promote better sleep and help slow the onslaught of thoughts that relentlessly bombard her daily. Alex continues in therapy and, along with medication, her treatment begins to work very well. Two months later, Alex reports that she is sleeping 7 hours a night, falls asleep quickly with a guided meditation she’s been using on her phone, has gained 5 pounds and actually enjoys meals now and, most shocking to her, she reports “my mind is finally quiet. My thoughts aren’t attacking me and I finally feel like myself again. I’ve even been on a couple of dates that went pretty well!”