Condition
Anxiety disorders
Anxiety is a normal and often healthy emotional experience that we all have from time to time. It becomes a disorder when it is out of proportion to the situation, persists over time, and starts to limit work, school, relationships, or sleep.
Signs and symptoms
- Specific phobias — animals, blood/injury, flying, vomiting, choking
- Separation anxiety in children, adolescents, and sometimes adults
- Social anxiety: fear of judgement, scrutiny, or humiliation
- Generalised anxiety: persistent worry across multiple domains
- Health anxiety: ongoing fears about serious illness despite reassurance
- Panic attacks: sudden surges of intense physical anxiety
How therapy helps
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioural therapy has the strongest evidence base for anxiety disorders across the lifespan. Treatment usually combines understanding the cycle of anxiety, gradually approaching avoided situations, and working with the thoughts and behaviours that keep anxiety going. For children and adolescents, parents are typically part of the work.
Who Dr Turner works with
Dr Turner works with anxiety presentations in children, adolescents, and adults, including school refusal, social anxiety, panic, health anxiety, and perinatal anxiety.
Frequently asked questions
How is normal worry different from an anxiety disorder?+
Worry becomes a disorder when it is persistent, out of proportion, hard to control, and starts to interfere with work, school, relationships, or sleep. The line is not about how unusual the worry sounds — it is about how much room it is taking up in someone's life.
Does avoiding the things I fear make anxiety worse?+
Avoidance brings short-term relief but reliably maintains anxiety over time. Evidence-based treatment helps a person re-approach what they have been avoiding, in a paced and supported way.
Can children outgrow anxiety?+
Some short-lived worries pass with development. Persistent anxiety that is interfering with school, sleep, or friendships responds well to evidence-based therapy and is worth addressing rather than waiting.
What is a panic attack?+
A panic attack is a sudden surge of intense anxiety with strong physical symptoms — racing heart, breathlessness, dizziness, a sense of unreality. It feels dangerous but is not; it always passes.
Related conditions
Sources & review
- NICE and Australian clinical guidelines: CBT is first-line for anxiety disorders across the lifespan.
Last clinically reviewed: July 2026
This page is general clinical information and does not constitute personal clinical advice. For assessment and treatment, please make an enquiry.
Considering an appointment?
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