Our Service
Online Anxiety Treatment in New York and Connecticut
Compassionate Psychiatric Care for Worry, Panic, Fear, and Anxiety
Anxiety can make it difficult to relax, sleep, concentrate, make decisions, or feel present in your own life. You may understand that your fear is out of proportion to the situation and still feel unable to turn it off.
You do not have to wait until anxiety controls your schedule, relationships, work, or health before asking for help.
Mind and Body Balanced provides personalized online anxiety treatment for eligible clients in New York and Connecticut. Care may include a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-informed support, medication management when appropriate, education, and ongoing follow-up.
Your treatment begins with listening. We take time to understand what you are experiencing, how anxiety affects your daily life, and what you want to change.
Your care may include:
- A comprehensive psychiatric evaluation
- A personalized anxiety treatment plan
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-informed psychotherapy
- Education about anxiety and treatment options
- Medication evaluation and management when appropriate
- Support for panic symptoms and excessive worry
- Treatment for co-occurring mental health concerns
- Monitoring of symptoms, functioning, and side effects
- Referrals to specialized services when needed
Virtual appointments are available for eligible clients in New York and Connecticut.
What Is an Anxiety Disorder?
An anxiety disorder is a mental health condition involving persistent or excessive fear, worry, nervousness, or avoidance that causes significant distress or interferes with everyday life.
Anxiety is a normal response to pressure or danger. It can help you prepare, pay attention, or respond quickly. It becomes more concerning when it feels difficult to control, continues when no immediate threat is present, or begins limiting your work, relationships, sleep, health, or daily activities.
Anxiety disorders can affect thoughts, emotions, behavior, and the body. They are treatable, and care may include psychotherapy, medication, or a personalized combination.
Anxiety Versus Everyday Stress
Stress and occasional worry are normal. An anxiety disorder usually involves symptoms that are more persistent, difficult to control, or disruptive.
| Everyday stress or worry | An anxiety disorder may involve |
|---|---|
| Usually connected with a clear event | May continue when no immediate threat exists |
| Often improves after the problem passes | May remain or return across many situations |
| Can feel manageable | May feel difficult or impossible to control |
| Does not always change behavior | May lead to avoidance or repeated reassurance-seeking |
| Usually has a limited effect on functioning | May interfere with sleep, work, relationships, health, or self-care |
| May improve with rest or problem-solving | May require professional assessment and treatment |
This comparison is educational rather than diagnostic. A professional evaluation considers the duration, severity, context, physical symptoms, avoidance, and effect on your life.
Who Can Benefit From Anxiety Treatment?
An evaluation may be helpful when anxiety is:
- Difficult to control
- Present on most days
- Affecting sleep or energy
- Causing panic attacks
- Making work or school harder
- Limiting social situations
- Creating repeated physical symptoms
- Leading you to avoid travel, driving, appointments, meetings, or public places
- Affecting relationships
- Increasing alcohol or substance use
- Making it difficult to concentrate
- Returning after previous treatment
- Continuing despite self-help efforts
- Creating concern about medication or side effects
- Occurring alongside depression, ADHD, or another mental health condition
You do not need to know which diagnosis fits before scheduling. The purpose of an evaluation is to understand the symptoms and identify an appropriate next step.
Common Emotional and Cognitive Symptoms
Anxiety may affect how you think and feel.
Possible symptoms include:
- Excessive or uncontrollable worry
- Racing thoughts
- Repeated worst-case-scenario thinking
- Feeling nervous or on edge
- A sense of impending danger
- Irritability
- Fear of losing control
- Difficulty making decisions
- Difficulty concentrating
- Repeatedly reviewing conversations or events
- Fear of judgment or embarrassment
- Constantly seeking reassurance
- Feeling unable to relax
- Difficulty being present
- Feeling overwhelmed by uncertainty
Physical Symptoms of Anxiety
Anxiety is not only an emotional experience. The body’s stress response may produce physical sensations such as:
- Rapid heartbeat or heart palpitations
- Chest tightness
- Shortness of breath
- Sweating
- Trembling
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Muscle tension
- Headaches
- Stomach discomfort
- Nausea
- Difficulty swallowing
- Fatigue
- Restlessness
- Frequent urination
- Difficulty falling or staying asleep
Physical symptoms should not automatically be assumed to be anxiety. New, severe, or unexplained symptoms may require medical evaluation.
Behavioral Signs of Anxiety
You may also notice changes in what you do:
- Avoiding feared situations
- Cancelling plans
- Procrastinating because a task feels overwhelming
- Leaving events early
- Avoiding phone calls, meetings, or appointments
- Checking repeatedly
- Preparing excessively
- Asking others for repeated reassurance
- Using alcohol, cannabis, or other substances to relax
- Restricting activities to prevent panic
- Avoiding unfamiliar places
- Remaining close to exits
- Turning down opportunities because of fear
Avoidance may reduce anxiety briefly, but it can also reinforce the belief that the situation is unsafe or unmanageable.
Anxiety Conditions We Evaluate and Treat
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder may involve excessive worry about several areas of life, such as work, finances, health, family, relationships, or daily responsibilities.
The worry may feel difficult to control and may occur with restlessness, fatigue, irritability, muscle tension, concentration problems, or sleep disturbance.
Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder
A panic attack is a sudden period of intense fear or discomfort that may include a racing heart, sweating, trembling, dizziness, shortness of breath, chest discomfort, nausea, or fear of losing control.
Panic disorder involves repeated unexpected panic attacks and ongoing concern or behavior changes related to future attacks.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Social anxiety is more than shyness. It may involve a strong fear of being judged, embarrassed, rejected, or closely observed.
A person may avoid conversations, meetings, presentations, eating in public, social gatherings, dating, or other situations even when they want to participate.
Specific Phobias
A specific phobia involves intense fear related to a particular object or situation, such as flying, driving, heights, animals, needles, or enclosed spaces.
Treatment needs vary. Exposure-based treatment is commonly used for phobias, but availability of formal exposure therapy through Mind and Body Balanced should be confirmed during consultation.
Excessive Worry Without a Clear Diagnosis
You do not need to meet a specific label before seeking support. Persistent overthinking, dread, tension, sleep problems, or avoidance may still deserve professional assessment.
Anxiety Related to Other Conditions
Anxiety symptoms may occur with depression, ADHD, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, trauma-related symptoms, substance use, sleep disorders, medical conditions, or medication side effects.
These concerns require careful assessment because the most appropriate treatment may differ.
Anxiety and Co-Occurring Mental Health Concerns
Anxiety rarely exists in complete isolation.
Your evaluation may consider:
- Depression and low motivation
- ADHD and difficulty organizing thoughts
- Bipolar symptoms
- Obsessive thoughts or compulsive behavior
- Substance or alcohol use
- Sleep disruption
- Chronic stress
- Trauma-related symptoms
- Relationship difficulties
- Medication side effects
- Weight concerns related to stress or medication
- Physical health conditions
Mind and Body Balanced takes a whole-person psychiatric approach. The goal is to understand how the symptoms interact rather than assume that every concern comes from one diagnosis.
Our Anxiety Treatment Process
1. Free 15-Minute Consultation
The free consultation gives you an opportunity to ask initial questions, briefly describe what you are experiencing, and learn whether a full psychiatric appointment may be appropriate.
It is not a complete diagnosis or treatment session. It is a first step toward understanding your options.
2. Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation
During the initial evaluation, your provider may discuss:
- When anxiety began
- How often symptoms occur
- Situations that trigger symptoms
- Worry, panic, fear, or avoidance patterns
- Physical symptoms
- Sleep and energy
- Work, school, and relationship effects
- Medical history
- Current medications and supplements
- Caffeine, alcohol, cannabis, or other substance use
- Previous treatment
- Previous medication response and side effects
- Depression, ADHD, mood, or obsessive symptoms
- Family psychiatric history
- Current stressors
- Safety concerns
- Your treatment goals and preferences
A careful evaluation may also identify situations in which coordination with primary care or another medical professional is appropriate.
3. Personalized Care Plan
After the assessment, your provider explains the clinical findings and available options.
Your plan may include:
- CBT-informed psychotherapy
- Supportive counseling
- Coping and emotional-regulation strategies
- Medication evaluation
- Medication management
- Sleep and routine recommendations
- Stress-management strategies
- Education about anxiety
- Monitoring of symptoms and functioning
- Treatment for co-occurring conditions
- Coordination with another healthcare professional
- Referral for specialized psychotherapy
- Referral to a higher level of care when needed
Treatment decisions are collaborative. The provider explains why an option is being recommended, what alternatives may exist, and what to expect.
4. Treatment
Treatment may focus on:
- Recognizing anxious thought patterns
- Reducing catastrophic thinking
- Understanding triggers
- Developing healthier responses to uncertainty
- Building coping skills
- Reducing avoidance
- Improving sleep habits
- Regulating physical tension
- Setting realistic daily goals
- Improving communication
- Developing more balanced self-talk
- Preparing for anxiety-provoking situations
- Rebuilding activities anxiety has restricted
- Addressing depression, ADHD, or other overlapping symptoms
5. Follow-Up Care
Follow-up visits allow your provider to monitor:
- Worry and fear
- Panic attacks
- Sleep
- Physical symptoms
- Avoidance
- Concentration
- Work and relationship functioning
- Medication response
- Side effects
- New stressors
- Treatment adherence
- Safety
- Whether the current plan still fits your needs
Treatment may be adjusted when symptoms, priorities, or circumstances change.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, often called CBT, examines how thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and behavior influence one another.
An anxiety cycle may look like this:
- A situation or sensation is interpreted as dangerous.
- Anxious thoughts become more intense.
- The body’s stress response increases.
- The person avoids, escapes, checks, or seeks reassurance.
- Anxiety decreases temporarily.
- The brain learns that avoidance was necessary.
- Future anxiety becomes stronger.
CBT-informed treatment may help you:
- Identify automatic anxious thoughts
- Examine predictions more realistically
- Reduce all-or-nothing thinking
- Respond differently to uncertainty
- Understand physical sensations
- Reduce reassurance-seeking
- Change avoidance patterns
- Practice coping skills
- Build tolerance for discomfort
- Reconnect with meaningful activities
CBT is not about telling yourself that everything is fine. It is about developing more accurate and useful responses to thoughts, feelings, and situations.
What About Exposure Therapy?
Exposure therapy is a CBT method that helps a person gradually and safely approach feared situations, sensations, or thoughts instead of continuing to avoid them.
It is commonly used for panic disorder, social anxiety, and phobias. The process should be structured, collaborative, and appropriate for the person’s diagnosis and needs.
Mind and Body Balanced may use CBT-informed strategies or recommend a specialist when formal exposure treatment is needed. Confirm the exact treatment scope during consultation.
Medication Management for Anxiety
Medication may be considered when anxiety is persistent, significantly affects functioning, occurs with another psychiatric condition, or has not improved sufficiently with non-medication strategies.
Mind and Body Balanced does not take a medication-first approach.
Medication management may include:
- Reviewing previous medication trials
- Reviewing other medications and supplements
- Discussing possible benefits
- Discussing risks and side effects
- Considering physical health conditions
- Selecting an option based on individual needs
- Explaining how and when medication should be taken
- Monitoring response
- Monitoring side effects
- Adjusting treatment when clinically appropriate
- Discussing alternatives when response is limited
- Planning medication changes carefully
Different people may respond differently to the same medication. Treatment should be developed with a qualified provider based on the person’s medical situation, symptoms, and preferences.
Therapy, Medication, or Combined Care?
| Option | Primary focus | May be considered when |
| CBT-informed psychotherapy | Thoughts, avoidance, coping, behavior, and emotional skills | You want practical strategies and support changing anxiety patterns |
| Medication management | Psychiatric symptoms, medication response, and side effects | Symptoms are persistent or significantly affecting functioning |
| Combined care | Therapy skills plus psychiatric medication management | Multiple symptoms or areas of functioning need to be addressed |
| Specialized referral | Exposure therapy, intensive treatment, or other specialty care | The required treatment falls outside routine virtual psychiatric care |
| Higher-level care | Increased safety, monitoring, or treatment intensity | Routine outpatient care is not sufficient |
No option is automatically right for everyone. The plan should reflect your diagnosis, health, symptoms, previous treatment, safety, and preferences.
What If Previous Anxiety Treatment Did Not Help?
A previous treatment that did not work does not necessarily mean anxiety cannot improve.
A reassessment may consider:
- Whether the original diagnosis fully explains the symptoms
- Whether panic, social anxiety, OCD, ADHD, depression, or bipolar symptoms were missed
- Whether a medical condition contributes
- Whether caffeine, substances, or sleep problems are worsening anxiety
- Whether medication was taken consistently
- Whether the dose or treatment duration was appropriate
- Whether side effects prevented continued treatment
- Whether psychotherapy matched the anxiety condition
- Whether avoidance patterns were addressed
- Whether the level of care was sufficient
- Whether a specialist referral is appropriate
The next step may involve a revised plan, additional evaluation, coordination with another provider, or referral.
Benefits of Virtual Anxiety Treatment
Virtual psychiatric care can reduce barriers that often make anxiety treatment difficult to begin.
Potential benefits include:
- Receiving care from a private location
- Avoiding traffic and waiting rooms
- Easier scheduling around work or family
- Access across eligible areas of New York and Connecticut
- Less travel when crowded or unfamiliar places increase anxiety
- Convenient medication follow-up
- Greater continuity when local options are limited
- Reduced disruption to daily responsibilities
Telehealth can support psychiatric assessment, psychotherapy, medication management, monitoring, and treatment adjustment. Evidence for telebehavioral care is promising, with strong patient preference and outcomes comparable to in-person care in many settings.
When Virtual Outpatient Care May Not Be Enough
Mind and Body Balanced is a routine outpatient psychiatric practice. It is not an emergency department, inpatient hospital, or crisis-response program.
Virtual outpatient treatment may not be sufficient when someone:
- Cannot remain safe
- Is at immediate risk of harming themselves or another person
- Has severe confusion or rapidly worsening symptoms
- Is experiencing psychosis
- Cannot complete basic self-care
- Requires continuous monitoring
- Needs inpatient stabilization
- Needs medically supervised withdrawal
- Does not have a safe and private environment for appointments
For an immediate medical or safety emergency, contact emergency services or go to the nearest emergency department.
Do not use the website contact form for urgent help.
Why Choose Mind and Body Balanced?
Care Begins With Listening
Your provider seeks to understand your symptoms, experiences, concerns, and goals before recommending treatment.
Direct Psychiatric Expertise
Anxiety is evaluated within a psychiatric practice that can consider diagnosis, psychotherapy, medications, medical factors, and co-occurring conditions.
A Non–Medication-First Approach
Medication is one possible option rather than the automatic answer for every client.
Collaborative Decisions
The provider explains recommendations, benefits, risks, alternatives, and expectations so you can participate in treatment decisions.
Whole-Person Care
Treatment considers mental health, physical health, sleep, stress, lifestyle, relationships, medications, and daily functioning.
CBT-Informed Support
Care may include practical strategies for worry, catastrophic thinking, avoidance, physical tension, and coping.
Convenient Virtual Appointments
Eligible clients can receive care from a private location in New York or Connecticut.
Ongoing Follow-Up
Treatment can be reviewed and adjusted based on symptoms, response, side effects, and changing goals.
Meet Your Provider
Cassandra Augustine, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
Cassandra takes a warm, client-centered, and collaborative approach to psychiatric care.
She believes that effective treatment begins with understanding the whole person rather than focusing only on a diagnosis. Her goal is to help you understand:
- What your symptoms may mean
- How a diagnosis is reached
- Why a treatment is being recommended
- What other options may be available
- What benefits and risks should be considered
- What progress and follow-up may involve
- When another provider or level of care may be appropriate
What Progress May Look Like
Progress is not always the complete absence of anxiety.
It may look like:
- Sleeping more consistently
- Having fewer panic attacks
- Recovering from anxious moments more quickly
- Spending less time overthinking
- Attending an event you previously avoided
- Completing tasks without excessive preparation
- Needing less reassurance
- Feeling more able to tolerate uncertainty
- Speaking in a meeting
- Driving or traveling with greater confidence
- Recognizing physical anxiety symptoms earlier
- Using coping skills before anxiety escalates
- Making decisions more easily
- Feeling more present in relationships
- Knowing when to seek additional support
No specific result can be guaranteed. Progress should be evaluated against your own symptoms, functioning, and treatment goals.
Before Treatment and With Appropriate Support
| Before seeking care | With appropriate support, you may work toward |
| Feeling confused by physical symptoms | A clearer understanding of anxiety patterns |
| Avoiding important situations | Gradual and safer re-engagement |
| Feeling controlled by worry | More balanced responses to anxious thoughts |
| Experiencing repeated panic without a plan | Recognizing symptoms and using a response strategy |
| Unsure whether medication is necessary | An informed discussion of options |
| Stopping medication because of side effects | Careful monitoring and adjustment |
| Constantly seeking reassurance | Greater confidence tolerating uncertainty |
| Anxiety returning unexpectedly | Earlier recognition and follow-up |
This is not a guaranteed before-and-after transformation. Each person responds differently.
Insurance and Payment
Mind and Body Balanced lists insurance and payment options including:
- Aetna
- Cigna
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield
- Optum
- UnitedHealthcare
- Carelon Behavioral Health
- Providence Health Plan
- Medicare
- Self-pay
Network participation and coverage may differ by state, plan, service, and provider.
Contact the practice and your insurer to verify:
- In-network status
- Copay
- Deductible
- Coinsurance
- Telehealth coverage
- Referral requirements
- Prior authorization
- Coverage for evaluation
- Coverage for psychotherapy
- Coverage for medication management
Contact Mind and Body Balanced to verify coverage.
Frequently Asked Questions About Medication Management
What is an anxiety disorder?
An anxiety disorder involves persistent or excessive fear, worry, nervousness, or avoidance that causes significant distress or interferes with everyday life.
How do I know if my anxiety is more than normal stress?
Consider an evaluation when anxiety feels difficult to control, continues after a stressor has passed, causes physical symptoms, leads to avoidance, or interferes with work, relationships, sleep, or daily responsibilities.
Can anxiety be treated online?
Yes. Virtual treatment may be appropriate for eligible clients who are located in New York or Connecticut, have a private setting, and do not require emergency or inpatient care.
What happens during an anxiety evaluation?
The provider reviews your symptoms, triggers, duration, physical sensations, avoidance, medical and psychiatric history, medications, substance use, previous treatment, daily functioning, safety, and goals.
Can a psychiatric nurse practitioner diagnose and treat anxiety?
No. Medication is not automatically required. Treatment may include psychotherapy, coping strategies, medication, or a combination based on your symptoms, health, preferences, and clinical needs.
Does anxiety treatment always require medication?
CBT is commonly used for anxiety. It can help identify anxious thought patterns, avoidance, reassurance-seeking, and behavior that may reinforce fear.
Can CBT help with anxiety?
CBT is commonly used for anxiety. It can help identify anxious thought patterns, avoidance, reassurance-seeking, and behavior that may reinforce fear.
Can panic attacks be treated?
Yes. Treatment may include education, CBT-informed care, exposure-based treatment, medication, or a combination depending on the person’s symptoms and needs.
Why does anxiety cause physical symptoms?
Anxiety activates the body’s stress response. This may affect heart rate, breathing, muscles, digestion, sweating, sleep, and energy.
Can anxiety and depression be treated together?
Yes. Anxiety and depression frequently overlap. An integrated psychiatric evaluation can help determine how the symptoms interact and which treatment options may address both.
Can anxiety and ADHD occur together?
Yes. Anxiety and ADHD may overlap or occur together. Difficulty concentrating, restlessness, procrastination, and feeling overwhelmed require careful assessment because they can have different causes.
How long does anxiety treatment take?
There is no universal timeline. Treatment length depends on the anxiety condition, severity, avoidance, co-occurring concerns, previous treatment, response, and goals.
What if my current anxiety treatment is not helping?
A provider may review the diagnosis, treatment approach, medication dose, duration, adherence, side effects, medical factors, sleep, substance use, and whether specialized care is needed.
Does insurance cover online anxiety treatment?
Many insurance plans cover telehealth psychiatric care, but benefits vary. Confirm network status, copay, deductible, and service coverage with the practice and your insurer.
Do I need to be in New York or Connecticut?
Mind and Body Balanced currently serves eligible clients in New York and Connecticut. Contact the practice to confirm that the provider can treat you based on your physical location and clinical needs.
Take the First Step Toward Calmer, More Confident Days
Anxiety may tell you to wait, avoid the situation, or solve everything before reaching out.
You do not need to have all the answers before scheduling a conversation.
A thoughtful first appointment can help you understand your symptoms, explore treatment options, and develop a manageable next step.
At Mind and Body Balanced, care begins with listening. You receive clear education, collaborative decisions, and a treatment plan shaped around your needs—not a one-size-fits-all solution.
All Services
- Supportive Care
- Medication Management
- GeneSight Testing
- Psychotherapy — Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- ADHD Assessment, Testing & Treatment
- Substance Use Disorder — Counseling & Treatment
Conditions We Treat
- Depression
- Anxiety Disorders
- ADHD
- OCD
- Personality Disorders
- Bipolar Disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Substance Use Disorder
- Weight Gain Related to Mental Health
Get in Touch
- (914) 252-3976
- (914) 416-5658
- mindandbodybalancedllc@gmail.com
- Virtual Appointments Accepted
- New York and Connecticut