A: Yes. I treat adults experiencing a wide range of specific phobias, including fear of flying (aviophobia), heights (acrophobia), driving, elevators, enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), dogs, insects, and other animals. Using evidence-based CBT, ERP, and ACT, treatment helps retrain your brain’s alarm system so fear no longer dictates where you go, what you do, or the experiences you miss.

A: A psychogenic gag reflex is an involuntary gagging response triggered primarily by anxiety and conditioned fear rather than a medical problem. Anxiety can cause protective muscle tightening in the throat and mouth, making the gag reflex much more likely before a dental instrument, toothbrush, medication, or medical procedure even touches your mouth.
Many people also fear embarrassing themselves by gagging, choking, vomiting, or panicking in front of a provider. Ironically, this fear increases muscle tension and makes gagging even more likely. Treatment helps break this cycle so medical and dental care becomes much more manageable.

A: Difficulty swallowing pills is often caused by anxiety rather than a physical problem with swallowing. After one unpleasant experience – or even hearing about someone choking – the brain may begin treating pills as dangerous despite swallowing food without difficulty. Over time, fear causes throat muscle tension, hypervigilance, and repeated failed attempts, reinforcing the anxiety. Treatment uses gradual exposure and evidence-based strategies to rebuild confidence and make pill swallowing feel natural again.

A: Because these behaviors become deeply ingrained habit loops within the brain. Picking, pulling, or biting briefly reduces internal tension, sensory discomfort, boredom, or emotional distress. That momentary relief activates the brain’s reward system, strengthening the behavior until it becomes increasingly automatic. Treatment focuses on interrupting this cycle and developing healthier ways to respond to urges without relying on repetitive behaviors.

A: It is often both. Skin or scalp conditions such as acne, eczema, dry skin, or healing wounds can initially trigger picking. However, repeated picking interferes with healing, creates additional irritation, and produces new imperfections that encourage even more picking. Once this “itch-scratch cycle” develops, the behavior itself begins maintaining the problem, making psychological treatment just as important as dermatological care.

A: Over time, the brain begins actively scanning for tiny imperfections even when none are causing problems. This pattern, sometimes called body-focused attention, causes completely normal skin texture, pores, cuticles, or hairs to feel unusually noticeable. Your brain starts interpreting harmless sensations as problems that need fixing, creating powerful urges to pick or pull even during periods of low stress.

A: Health anxiety often begins long before the appointment itself. Once your brain identifies an upcoming medical event as threatening, anticipatory anxiety can build for days or weeks. People commonly experience racing thoughts, difficulty sleeping, repeated internet searching, reassurance seeking, or even canceling appointments. Treatment helps reduce anticipatory anxiety so medical appointments no longer dominate your life.

A: This is one of the most common questions people with health anxiety ask. While legitimate medical concerns should always be evaluated by your physician, health anxiety often persists even after appropriate reassurance. The goal of therapy is not to convince you that every symptom is harmless. Instead, treatment helps you become less trapped by catastrophic interpretations, excessive checking, reassurance seeking, and intolerance of uncertainty.

A: Reassurance provides temporary relief, but it also teaches the brain that uncertainty is dangerous and must be eliminated. As a result, the relief fades quickly, creating a cycle of repeatedly asking loved ones, searching online, or seeking medical reassurance. Therapy helps you build confidence in your ability to tolerate uncertainty so reassurance gradually becomes less necessary.

A: Emetophobia is an intense fear of vomiting, seeing someone else vomit, or feeling nauseated. Many people begin avoiding restaurants, public transportation, travel, certain foods, pregnancy, or situations where they worry vomiting could occur. Treatment focuses on reducing avoidance and safety behaviors while helping your nervous system learn that anxiety and uncertainty can be tolerated.

A: A panic attack is a sudden surge of intense physical symptoms such as a racing heart, dizziness, chest tightness, shortness of breath, sweating, and a feeling that something terrible is about to happen. Panic Disorder develops when people begin fearing the panic attacks themselves and organize their lives around preventing another one. Treatment teaches your brain that these uncomfortable physical sensations are not dangerous, reducing both panic attacks and avoidance.

A: I specialize in evidence-based treatments for anxiety disorders, OCD, Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs), health anxiety, panic disorder, and specific phobias.

Treatment may include:

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

• Gradually facing feared situations, thoughts, or bodily sensations while resisting avoidance and compulsions.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

• Identifying and changing unhelpful thinking patterns that fuel anxiety.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

• Learning to make room for uncomfortable thoughts and feelings while taking meaningful action aligned with your values.