Therapy for Anxiety in Overland Park & Kansas City
Many people live with chronic anxiety that makes their days stressful, difficult to manage, and less enjoyable. Over time, the years of anxious thinking, feeling, and acting take their toll and erode your sense of mental peace.
The good news is that you don’t have to live with that kind of anxiety.
When is it Really Anxiety and Not Just Worry?
Clinical anxiety or anxiety disorder, is a condition that causes people to experience an elevated level of worry, fear, or alertness that is not warranted by their circumstance. We all experience anxiety in our daily life to keep us alert, help us stay safe, and encourage us to perform at our highest level. When anxiety is chronic or disordered, it can have a negative effect on our lives.
Chronic and disordered anxiety doesn’t usually happen overnight. Instead, it’s a gradual process that goes unnoticed until it interrupts your ability to lead a happy, healthy life. You can take steps to change the way anxiety impacts your life experience, so you don’t feel consumed with worry, fear, or anxiety.
Some of the common symptoms of disordered anxiety include:
- Anxious or worried thinking
- Hypervigilance or heightened alertness to surroundings
- Restlessness and difficulty concentrating
- Irritability and mood swings
- Racing thoughts or negative, cyclic thinking
- Elevated levels of fear that are unwarranted by the immediate environment
- Feelings of impending doom
- Increased heart rate, racing pulse, palpitations, etc.
- Sweating and chills
- Fatigue
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Eating too much or too little
- Nausea or stomach pain
How Does Therapy Help with Anxiety?
I take a results-oriented approach to psychotherapy built on the idea that an increased understanding and the development of coping skills gives people the power to combat disordered levels of anxiety. You shouldn’t have to live with constant worry and distress. You deserve to be happy, and therapy can help. Psychotherapy for anxiety includes a combination of work in your sessions with me and homework where you apply your new skills in the real world.
Specifically, I incorporate cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and similar practices that help individuals to:
- Recognize anxious thinking
- Reassess their thought processes
- Gain distance from their worry thoughts
- Understand the underlying sources of difficult emotions
- Start changing the ways these thoughts and feelings impact their actions
Schedule Your Introductory Session
If you’re interested in learning more about Gaughan Psychological Services or what it’s like to work with me, please get in touch. We’ll get started with a short, complimentary consultation over the phone. This session gives you the opportunity to ask questions and discuss your psychotherapy solutions before your first full session. It’s a great first step toward investing in your long-term goals.
Getting Started with Psychotherapy
I do my utmost to make the intake process simple and stress free. When you contact Gaughan Psychological Services, we’ll begin the psychotherapy process with a complimentary phone consultation to discuss the issues you are seeking help with, questions you may have about the practice, and whether we might be a good fit to begin work together.
To schedule the initial consultation:
- Please call (913) 562-9588 or email me at drg@kcpsychologist.com
- Leave your name, phone number, and a few good times to reach you that you’ll have enough privacy to briefly discuss the issues you hope to work on in therapy.
- I will return your call, typically within 24 hours unless you have specified another time, to conduct the free brief consultation that lasts about 10 minutes.
Fees & Payment
Payment may be made by debit/credit card, HSA/FSA card, check, or cash and is collected at the time of service.
If the price of treatment is the only thing getting in the way of starting work with me, I invite you to contact me. There are options available to help those with need to fit the cost of psychotherapy into their budgets. It is my goal to offer as much flexibility and accessibility as possible to ensure those who would benefit from psychotherapy can work with me.
Additionally, I encourage individuals to think of psychotherapy as a short-term investment in long-term happiness. Therapy involves a significant commitment of time and money but also gives you the tools to achieve relief that lasts. My goal with every client is to help them to become their own therapist, so they can effectively manage their anxiety or depression on their own.
Individual Psychotherapy Session
45 minutes: $185
Sessions will typically be scheduled for 45 minutes. Occasionally, we may decide to continue with a session beyond your 45 minute appointment, rather than stop or postpone work on a particular issue. Extended sessions will generally be charged on a prorated basis in 15-minute increments.
Insurance
I am considered an “out-of-network” provider, and I don’t participate in any insurance plans. Although I don’t accept insurance as a form of payment, many insurance plans will reimburse their members a percentage of out-of-pocket expenses after a deductible is met, and you may be able to seek reimbursement from your insurance company for your treatment depending on your coverage.
Through my patient portal, you can access and download a billing statement for your sessions that includes all the information necessary to submit a claim to your insurer to apply for reimbursement. You will then be reimbursed directly by your insurance company based on the terms of your policy.
Please keep in mind that if you choose to utilize your insurance, a psychiatric diagnosis is typically required for reimbursement.
If you plan to independently file claims for reimbursement, I recommend you contact your insurance company to better understand your benefits and reimbursement procedures. You can start by asking:
- Do I have out-of-network behavioral health benefits to see a psychologist?
- If so, what is the coverage amount per therapy session?
- Do I have a deductible for mental health benefits (a deductible is a set amount that you must pay before your insurance company begins providing benefits)?
- If so, how much of the deductible have I met?
- How many therapy sessions are covered, and for what time period?
- How do I submit requests for reimbursement?
For Medicare Beneficiaries: Please note that Gaughan Psychological Services is not a covered provider under Medicare. Medicare-eligible patients may not seek reimbursement from Medicare or their supplemental coverage for services provided.
Notice of Privacy Practices
The Notice of Privacy Practices provides information about your rights and protections related to the use and disclosure of your identifiable health care information. You can download and read the Notice of Privacy Practices below. Since you will complete all necessary forms, including the Notice of Privacy Practices, using the patient portal, there is no need to print and complete this document unless you would like to do so for your own records.