Our Story
Anxiety Centers exists for one reason: to help people take their lives back from anxiety. We are an anxiety treatment program founded by Paul Peterson, LCSW, a therapist who did not set out to build a company. He set out to help his own family, and what he learned along the way became a program that has since helped thousands of people and families. This is the story of how Anxiety Centers came to be, and the mission that still drives it.
Anxiety Centers began at home. Early in his marriage, Paul Peterson recognized that two of the people closest to him, his wife and his son, were living with OCD. As a therapist trained to treat it, he expected to know what to do. But as his son’s struggles grew, he realized the standard approach he had been taught was not working, and that the people he loved needed something better.
So he went looking for it. He read everything he could find, attended workshops and trainings, and sought out the top clinicians in the world doing this kind of work. When he applied what he learned with his own clients, the results were dramatic, and he watched people rebuild lives they had nearly given up on. He also saw how many families were quietly facing the same fight his was.
That turned a personal search into a mission. To reach as many of those families as possible, Paul Peterson founded OCD Anxiety Centers and built a team and a proprietary intensive outpatient program (IOP) around the approach that had worked. Anxiety Centers carries that same program and clinical team to people whose lives are shaped by anxiety in all its forms, from panic and social anxiety to phobias and constant worry. And yes, his own family went through the program, and are living full lives today.
A Message from Paul Peterson, LCSW
When I started this work, all I wanted was to help my wife and my son. What I found was an approach so effective that I could not keep it to myself. I have watched thousands of people walk in overwhelmed by anxiety and walk out with their lives back, and I have felt that same relief in my own family.
If anxiety is running your life right now, I want you to know there is a way through it, and it is one built on evidence, not guesswork. My promise to you is simple: the most effective, compassionate care my team and I know how to provide.
Sincerely,
Paul Peterson, Founder and CEO
Our Approach
Anxiety, at its core, is a false alarm. The brain sounds the danger signal when there is no real danger, and the natural response, avoiding the fear and reaching for anything that brings quick relief, only teaches the alarm to keep firing. Our program is built to recalibrate that alarm.
We do it with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the evidence-based, gold-standard approach for anxiety. Clients gradually face what they have been avoiding while letting go of the safety behaviors and reassurance-seeking that feed the fear, until the brain learns that the feared outcome does not come. Delivered every day in our intensive outpatient program, this is what produces real change, with clients achieving an average 64% reduction in anxiety symptoms.
To keep that quality consistent, Paul Peterson built a training institute so every clinician on our team delivers the same proprietary approach, whether you attend in person or virtually.
Who We Help
Anxiety Centers treats the full range of anxiety, including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobias, health anxiety, and separation anxiety. We work with clients ages 8 and older, in person at our locations and through our virtual program. Wherever anxiety shows up in your life, our approach is built to meet it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Anxiety Centers?
Anxiety Centers was founded by Paul Peterson, LCSW, a therapist who developed the program after standard methods failed to help his own wife and son. That personal search led him to build a proprietary, evidence-based approach and, in time, a team and a training institute to deliver it to thousands of people and families.
What makes the program’s approach different?
The program is built on a clear idea, that anxiety is a false alarm, and on Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the gold-standard treatment for it. Rather than weekly talk therapy, care is delivered in an intensive outpatient program, several hours a day, so progress compounds. Clients achieve an average 64% reduction in anxiety symptoms.
What conditions does Anxiety Centers treat?
We treat the full range of anxiety, including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobias, health anxiety, and separation anxiety, for clients ages 8 and older. Care is available in person at our locations and through our virtual program, with the same approach in both.
Is Anxiety Centers connected to OCD Anxiety Centers?
Yes. Anxiety Centers is powered by OCD Anxiety Centers, sharing the same founder, clinical team, program, and locations. The anxiety-focused name simply makes it easier for people searching for anxiety help to find the care they need.
If anxiety has been making your decisions for you, the team Paul Peterson built is here to help you take them back. Call our admissions department at 866-303-4227, and we will talk through what you are facing and what treatment could look like for you. The first step is just a conversation.