Anxiety Treatment That Starts This Week
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is worry that is persistent, disproportionate, and hard to control, spanning work, health, money, and relationships most days for 6 months or more. It usually brings physical symptoms too: muscle tension, restlessness, irritability, poor concentration, and unsettled sleep.
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health conditions in the US, and among the most undertreated. The average gap between first symptoms and first treatment is measured in years. It does not need to be.
In the Mind and in the Body
Generalized anxiety shows up in 2 places at once, and a good plan treats both.
Many people with anxiety are high performers precisely because the worry drives them. That is also why they wait so long to get help. Functioning is not the same as being okay.
It can look like
The mental side runs constantly: a mind like a browser with 40 tabs open and no way to close them, rehearsing conversations that have not happened, and rechecking things you already know are fine.
The physical side is a body acting like something is wrong when nothing is: tight chest, clenched jaw, stomach trouble, and 3 am wakeups with a racing mind.
Treatment
How Anxiety Is Treated
First-line treatment for generalized anxiety is an SSRI or SNRI, cognitive behavioral therapy, or both. These medications reduce the baseline volume of worry over 4 to 8 weeks. Buspirone is a non-sedating daily option, and hydroxyzine can help as needed, without the risk of dependence.
You will notice benzodiazepines are not on that list. They work quickly but can build tolerance and dependence, and clinical guidelines rank them behind the options above for good reason. Siggy does not prescribe them, and for ongoing anxiety treatment, that is not a limitation. It is the guideline-recommended path.
What the first weeks look like
With Siggy
How Siggy Treats Anxiety
Structured intake and a video visit with a licensed prescriber. From there, your prescriber builds a plan that fits how your anxiety actually operates: daily medication, situational support, a therapy referral, or a combination. Your clinician determines follow-up timing as the plan develops.
Structured intake
Answer clinically structured questions with Siggy, on your own time. Free, private, and reviewed by a clinician.
Video visit
Meet a licensed prescriber via video. Diagnosis and plan are decided together.
Treatment decision
If medication is right, your clinician discusses prescription fulfillment and appropriate follow-up timing.
Served in the military? Learn about Siggy’s online psychiatric care for veterans.
FAQs.
- How is anxiety different from stress?
- Stress has a source and eases when the source resolves. Anxiety persists without one, or inflates small sources into large ones, for months at a time. If the worry outlives its causes, it is worth treating.
- Can you treat anxiety without benzodiazepines?
- Yes, and guidelines recommend exactly that. SSRIs, SNRIs, buspirone, and hydroxyzine cover daily and situational needs without dependence risk.
- What about panic attacks?
- Panic attacks can occur within generalized anxiety, or as their own condition. If sudden, intense episodes are your main problem, see our panic disorder page. Your prescriber will sort out the picture either way.