English-speaking therapist in Berlin-Pankow CBT for anxiety and panic attacks

Anxiety is a healthy emotion. It warns us of danger and gets the body ready to act. It becomes a burden when it is too strong, comes too often or appears for no real reason. Many people then avoid more and more situations, and their lives grow narrower.

Around 15 in 100 adults in Germany have an anxiety disorder in any given year. Common forms include:

Many people at first mistake a racing heart, trembling or sweating for a physical illness. Others feel ashamed or do not know that help is available. This is one reason why anxiety disorders often go unrecognised and untreated for a long time.

A panic attack starts suddenly. Your heart races or skips a beat, you feel short of breath and your chest tightens. Some people get dizzy, sweat or tremble, and everything seems strangely unreal. In that moment, many fear they will faint, lose control or die.

The symptoms build to a peak and then subside, usually within 5 to 20 minutes. It feels threatening. If a doctor has ruled out physical causes, though, it is not dangerous: the body is sounding a false alarm.

Once you have been through this, you may start to dread the next attack. This fear of fear leads many people to avoid places where it might happen again, such as a crowded train, the supermarket or a lift. That brings brief relief but keeps the cycle going: you never find out that the panic passes even if you stay.

If you have sudden chest pain or severe breathlessness, please call 112 immediately. Have any new symptoms you cannot explain checked by a doctor first. At the start of therapy, a physical check-up is also advisable, for example of the heart and thyroid. I will give you a recommendation for it.

If you are thinking about ending your life or need help straight away, you will find the numbers under In an acute crisis.

As a licensed psychological psychotherapist, I work with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). For anxiety disorders, it is the most thoroughly researched approach. It typically has three building blocks: understanding what keeps the anxiety going, examining frightening thoughts and facing feared situations. How much weight each one gets depends on you.

The professional standard in Germany is the S3 clinical guideline on the treatment of anxiety disorders (version 2, 2021). For panic disorder, agoraphobia, generalised anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder, it names CBT and certain types of medication as first-line treatments. If one does not help enough, it advises switching to the other. Combining both is then also an option. For specific phobias, it recommends CBT with exposure exercises.

You have a say in which route suits you. Only doctors can prescribe medication. I offer CBT. If I think it would help to discuss medication with a doctor, I will tell you openly.

Online programmes based on CBT can bridge the gap until therapy starts or be used alongside it. The guideline advises against using them as the only treatment. For panic disorder and agoraphobia, regular aerobic exercise can be a useful addition.

A session lasts 50 minutes and usually costs €151.55. The fee may vary depending on the work involved and is exempt from VAT.

Mine is a private practice for privately insured patients, people entitled to Beihilfe (the medical allowance for civil servants) and self-paying patients. I do not bill your health insurer directly. You receive an invoice from me based on the official German fee schedule for psychotherapists (GOP). Whether and how much your private health insurer or Beihilfe reimburses depends on your policy and the rules that apply to you. It is best to check with them beforehand, including if they require a report from a doctor.