Expert Anxiety Therapy in NYC
When Your Body and Mind Won’t Calm Down
You might feel it in your chest or stomach before you even have words for it. A racing heart, tight muscles, trouble sleeping. Maybe your mind won't stop spinning, or it goes strangely blank. You feel off-balance, jumpy, or exhausted—sometimes all at once.
Sometimes the anxiety seems to come out of nowhere. Other times it feels wildly out of proportion to what's actually happening. It settles into your body, makes everyday things feel harder, and starts to bleed into how you see yourself, your relationships, your future.
When anxiety becomes chronic, it doesn't just show up in moments of stress—it reshapes your whole internal landscape. You start bracing even when nothing's wrong. You feel like your nervous system is working against you.
Anxiety, much like fear, is part of being human. It evolved as a survival response—it began as fear and once helped us react to danger quickly and decisively. It then turned into anxiety—a response to dangers that are no longer present. But when that drumbeat of hypervigilance and urgency is constant, that internal alarm can get stuck in overdrive. Even small things can start to feel overwhelming. Sometimes, there's no clear reason beyond a constant hum of unease in your body and mind.
Modern life demands clear thinking and steady presence. Ironically, it often tempts you toward exactly the opposite. When we can't identify what we're truly feeling — or when those feelings seem too risky to experience fully — anxiety often fills that space and becomes debilitating.
Through therapy, we create a safe space where your mind and body can learn it's okay to feel what you're actually feeling. Together, we can examine what past experiences, relationships, and especially feelings are driving your anxiety — without judgment, and at your own pace.
Types of Anxiety I Treat
While every experience is unique, people often come to me struggling with:
- Generalized Anxiety
Persistent worry or nervousness without a clear cause - Panic Attacks
Sudden, intense episodes of physical and emotional distress (might seem like you’re having a heart attack) - Social Anxiety
Fear of judgment, embarrassment, or rejection in social situations - Performance Anxiety
Fear of failure or being evaluated in high-stakes settings - Health Anxiety
Preoccupation with physical symptoms or fear of illness - Avoidant Personality
Avoiding social situations, intimacy… Feeling overly self-conscious persistently across many situations - Anxiety tied to trauma, relationships, or attachment issues
Some clients don't have a name for what they're feeling, only that they're on edge, exhausted, and want relief. That's more than enough to begin.
Meet Dr. Gottdiener
- PhD psychologist with 25+ years treating complex anxiety cases
- Board-certified specialist in psychoanalytic & psychodynamic psychology, psychoanalysis, and addiction psychology
- Professor & former director of doctoral program in clinical psychology at CUNY
- Both in-person (Midtown Manhattan) and telehealth options available
My Approach to Treating Anxiety
In my practice, I don’t just treat anxiety as a set of symptoms to reduce. I see it as a meaningful response—one that deserves understanding, not avoidance. Together, we’ll explore what your anxiety might be trying to tell you about your underlying feelings (emotions), the wishes and needs that have gone unmet, and how you can get those wishes and needs gratified with others.
Many of my clients struggle to name their emotions or feel disconnected from them entirely. That’s not a weakness—it’s often the result of years of self-protection. Through our work, we begin to gently undo those layers.
In our sessions, you'll bring whatever is on your mind—a panic attack you had, a sleepless night, or even something that seems completely unrelated to your anxiety. I've found that what might seem like a random worry is often a thread that, when we follow it, connects to the deeper patterns that fuel your anxiety.
We'll pick up these threads together—noticing where they lead, what they're connected to, and how they weave into the larger fabric of your experience. You might start talking about a work deadline and discover it's connected to an old fear of disappointing people, or mention trouble sleeping and realize it follows certain types of conversations.
This is the heart of psychodynamic therapy. Not just managing anxiety, but helping you get underneath it. Not just coping better, but gaining insight into what drives your anxiety so you can relate to it differently and begin to live with more freedom, steadiness, empowerment, and joy.
Over time, clients typically notice their physical symptoms becoming less intense and frequent. The racing heart before phone calls might still happen, but it doesn't derail your whole day. You sleep better, feel less muscle tension, and find your mind can settle more easily. Most importantly, you develop a different relationship with anxiety itself. Less fear of the feeling, more curiosity about what it's telling you.
If you're curious to learn more about how psychodynamic therapy works or have other questions about the process, you can find detailed answers on my FAQ on all things psychotherapy.
Let’s Talk
Ready to understand what's driving your anxiety? I offer a 15-minute consultation to discuss your situation and see if we're a good fit. There's no pressure to commit - and if I'm not the right person to help, I'll gladly refer you to someone in my trusted network.
Sessions are currently available in person in Midtown Manhattan or virtually anywhere in New York State.