The referral pathways guide
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Meet the cliniciansCondition information
Anxiety is the body’s threat response going off at the wrong moment, then not switching off. It affects around one in six Australian adults in any year. Evidence-based therapy can help.
“Anxiety” is not one condition. The pattern matters, because it changes what helps.
The main patterns we see
Generalised anxiety
Persistent, hard-to-control worry about everyday things (work, health, money, family), present most days for six months or more, often without one clear cause. DSM-5: 300.02 · ICD-11: 6B00.
Panic attacks and panic disorder
Sudden surges of intense fear with strong physical symptoms (racing heart, breathlessness, chest tightness, a sense of unreality) that peak within minutes. Many people first meet panic in an emergency department, having reasonably assumed it was their heart. DSM-5: 300.01 · ICD-11: 6B01.
Social anxiety
Intense fear of being judged, scrutinised or humiliated, enough to shape which invitations you accept and which conversations you avoid. Often mistaken for shyness, and often present since adolescence. DSM-5: 300.23 · ICD-11: 6B04.
Specific phobias
Marked fear of a particular thing or situation (flying, needles, heights, dogs), where the avoidance costs more than the fear itself. DSM-5: 300.29 · ICD-11: 6B03.
Health anxiety
Preoccupation with having or developing a serious illness, where checking, scanning the body and seeking reassurance bring relief that never lasts. ICD-11: 6B23.
Common experiences
- Worry that feels uncontrollable once it starts
- Difficulty concentrating, or the mind going blank
- Muscle tension: jaw, shoulders, back
- Trouble falling asleep, or waking at 3am with the mind already running
- Irritability out of proportion to the situation
- Fatigue that rest does not fix
- Physical symptoms: headaches, stomach upset, racing heart, breathlessness
- Avoiding places, people or tasks, and the world getting slowly smaller
- Reassurance-seeking and checking that helps for an hour, then less
Clinical notes
Australian context: Anxiety disorders affect roughly 17% of Australians aged 16–85 in any twelve-month period, making them the most prevalent group of mental health conditions nationally. Generalised anxiety disorder alone accounts for about 1 in 25 adults each year. Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
What the evidence supports: Cognitive behaviour therapy has the strongest evidence base across every anxiety presentation and remains first-line. Acceptance and commitment therapy has good support, particularly where worry and avoidance have become entrenched. For specific phobias and panic, graded exposure is the active ingredient and often works quickly.
This page is general information only. It is not a diagnosis or personal medical advice. A registered psychologist or doctor can help work out what is happening in your situation.
Questions people often ask
Is this anxiety, or just stress?
Stress is usually time-limited and attached to something identifiable; it eases when the situation does. Anxiety disorders persist, often without a clear external cause, and start to change what you do: what you avoid, what you check, what you turn down. The dividing line clinicians use is interference. If it is shaping your decisions, it is worth addressing.
Will I need medication?
Psychological therapy is often used on its own. Some benefit from a combination of therapy and medication, prescribed by a GP or psychiatrist. Medication is not always needed and, when it is, is not always long-term. Your psychologist will talk options through with you rather than decide for you.
How long does treatment take?
A course of CBT for anxiety is often 10 to 16 sessions. Specific phobias are often much faster. Longstanding social anxiety can take longer. We review progress every six weeks, so you are never guessing whether it is working.
Can I get a Medicare rebate?
Yes. With a Mental Health Treatment Plan from your GP, Medicare rebates up to 10 individual sessions per calendar year. Our Medicare rebates page explains how to get one and what you will pay, and fees and rebates sets out the full detail.
My anxiety is mostly physical: chest tightness, racing heart. Is that still anxiety?
Very often, yes. The physical symptoms are the threat response itself, not a separate problem, and they are the part people find most frightening because they feel like something is medically wrong. Treatment works with both: the thinking patterns and the body’s alarm system. If you have not had chest symptoms checked medically, do that first; then we can get to work.
I have tried therapy before and it did not help. Is there any point?
It depends a great deal on what was tried. Supportive counselling helps some people feel heard without shifting anxiety much, and generic advice to relax rarely touches avoidance. Structured CBT with graded exposure is a different intervention. It is worth asking what specifically was done before, and we will do that at the first session.
Need help deciding what to do next?
Reception can help you choose the right appointment type or clinician. If you feel unsafe or at immediate risk, please use the urgent help page first.
