Anxiety is a general term that covers a wide range of triggers, symptoms, and severity. The best online therapy for anxiety is through providers with the staff, resources, and pricing to accommodate patients regardless of where they fall in the anxiety spectrum.
Those things aren’t always straightforward, so we’ve got a list of considerations and our picks of the all-around best teletherapists for treating anxiety disorders.
The Best Online Anxiety Treatment Apps:
| Provider | Try Now | Logo |
|---|---|---|
| Online-Therapy.com | Try Now |  |
| Talkspace | Try Now |  |
| BetterHelp | Try Now |  |
| Pride Counseling | Try Now |  |
Why We Like These Online Therapy Providers
Variety of Anxiety Therapy Approaches
With a large staff of experts, clients benefit from access to different therapeutics. Some will stick to CBT, while others specialize in exposure therapy, or thought-challenging.
Treatments for Body and Mind
Top online therapy providers consider the physical manifestations of anxiety disorders as part of mental health concerns.
Frequent Therapist Communication
Treatment for anxiety can extend beyond weekly (or monthly) appointments to daily therapist-client interaction. Patients can reach out to their counselor as they experience anxiety-driven situations.
Access for All Budgets – Including Free Tools
Online therapy for anxiety is more accessible than traditional in-office sessions. There’s no long-term commitment, plus bundled services, including messaging, sessions, and materials, can run up to 75% with online therapy compared to in-person.
Considerations
Teletherapy is designed to address anxiety disorders effectively. The best online therapy providers for anxiety have a large staff with varied expertise. Each patient has a customized proposed treatment plan that considers the following:
- Budget
- Type of anxiety
- The severity of the condition
- Preferred therapeutic approach
- Access to counselors and therapists
- Telepsychiatry and medications
- Duration
- Insurance benefits
Types of Anxiety Treated
The label may be “anxiety,” but it’s not all-encompassing. There are mild, manageable, and severe conditions. Additionally, anxiety breaks out into different categories with corresponding triggers and symptoms.
The best online therapy for anxiety considers a broad range of categories.
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Panic attacks
- Social anxiety
- PTSD – post-traumatic stress disorder
- Phobias – like agoraphobia
- Separation anxiety
- OCD – obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Illness-driven
How Does Online Therapy Help with Anxiety?
According to the Mayo Clinic, an anxiety disorder is best summarized as “a mental health disorder characterized by feelings of worry, anxiety, or fear that are strong enough to interfere with one’s daily activities.”
It can be persistent or brought on by life changes, experiences, and other conditions. Anxiety has its own set of symptoms and can also lead to panic attacks with new physical manifestations.
General anxiety symptoms:
- Restlessness
- Difficulties with concentration
- Breathing challenges
- Increased heart rate
- Too much or too little sleep
Indicators of panic attacks:
- Overwhelming fear
- Dizziness
- Dry mouth
- Sweating
- Hot flashes or chills
- Faintness
- Shaking
Online Therapy for Anxiety Customized Services
Anxiety sufferers might come across the very occasional indicators brought on by an extreme condition. Other patients have an overwhelming fear, irrational thought patterns, and other hot buttons that regularly lead to one or more symptoms. Online therapy for anxiety can tackle these extremes through customized services including:
- Talk therapy
- Assessments
- Group sessions or chat rooms
- Calming techniques – meditation, breathing exercises, etc.
- Trigger identification
- Frequent therapist communication – messaging between sessions
- Short and long-term treatment plans
- Access to telepsychiatry and medication when warranted
- Thought challenging
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy
- Exposure therapy
Three-Prong Approach to Online Anxiety Therapy
Regardless of the program’s specifics, online therapy for anxiety covers the three essential components of treatment.
- Identifying the problem (triggers, thought patterns, etc.)
- Reprogramming those triggers with new thought patterns and healthier habits
- Establishing coping skills for the future (preparedness, relaxation, self-soothing, etc.)
Identify
Moving from one step to the other could be accomplished without anyone’s help with enough self-motivation and as long as the symptoms are relatively mild. But counselors, therapists, and psychologists, and psychiatrists are trained in guiding clients through the process.
Adjust
During therapy, you’re asked pointed questions and gently prodded into more self-awareness. From there, your sessions move into the next stage, where you break the patterns and habits you may have practiced for years. Your therapist then works with you on the next steps, including preparing for future events and how you’ll handle them.
Prepare for Post-Therapy
That third step is vital to the success of anxiety treatment. Without a post-therapy plan, more than 50% of patients revert to old patterns.
When you address the underlying causes of anxiety, physical symptoms are alleviated.
Does Online Therapy Work for Anxiety?
- Therapy is one of the most effective treatments for anxiety
- Online therapy for anxiety provides similar results as traditional in-person therapy
If you’re wondering whether online therapy for anxiety is successful, the answer is a definitive yes.
Top Anxiety Treatment
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most effective methods for treating anxiety disorders across the board, and many online counselors employ CBT as their primary technique. In addition to the sessions that address the thought-behavior connection, the top-rated online anxiety specialists are available for questions and support between sessions.
Support Beyond Weekly Appointments
Most of our top picks for the best online therapy providers treating anxiety will center their care on therapy sessions but then build upon them. Bundled plans involve therapist-client text messaging or a private chat room where patients can leave a question or concern and receive answers before their next official appointment.
The online toolbox also includes group sessions or peer support, self-evaluations, journaling, meditation, breathing techniques, homework (practicing new thought patterns and behaviors), and access to telepsychiatrists. For severe conditions, patients can expand their scope of treatment to include medication when warranted. Prescribing is also through a virtual session or phone call.
So, the proven high success rate of therapy combined with the additional resources exclusive to online providers should give hope to anyone suffering from mild to severe anxiety disorders.
Benefits of Online Therapy for Anxiety
- Immediate access – same-day appointments
- No long-term commitment – book one appointment or set up a treatment plan
- Effective regardless of the severity or type of anxiety
- Access to counselors, therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists
- Includes teen and youth specialists
- Comprehensive approach with assessments, sessions, messaging, and real-life practice
- Sessions can address depression as well as anxiety
- Clients can select from different approaches – one-on-one appointments, messaging-only, medication-driven
- More affordable than in-office therapy
- Many providers now accept health insurance
- Patients paying out of pocket receive all-inclusive treatment for much less than live counseling sessions
- Group therapy is available
- Online support and peer groups
- Targeted anxiety treatment with specialists in social anxiety, OCD, panic attacks, phobias, PTSD, and more
- Top providers have hundreds on staff, so clients benefit from the best possible match
- More attractive office hours – earlier and later appointment times available