Anxiety disorders:
the alarm has a switch
Your body is on permanent alert with no danger in sight. Being told to simply calm down does not help, because anxiety lives in two systems: the brain and the autonomic nervous system. Both can be measured. And both can be regulated.
- Free
- No obligation
- Reply within 2 business days
- Outpatient · Bad Aibling
- Non-invasive
Free & non-binding · usually a reply within 2 business days · confidential
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Constant tension, a racing heart, the feeling that something could happen any moment: it wears you down, and many feel ashamed of it. Perhaps you have done psychotherapy that helped, and still the undertone remains. Perhaps the medication works but the side effects take their toll. Anxiety is not imagined. It has a neurobiological signature, and that signature can be made visible.
Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health conditions; an estimated one in four people is affected over a lifetime.
Symptoms have a map
In anxiety it is above all the salience network (anterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex) that is overactive: the gatekeeper flags too much as threatening and keeps you in hyperarousal. The limbic network with the amygdala amplifies the alarm, and the central executive network no longer applies the brake properly. This pattern has a body side. In anxiety the autonomic nervous system runs in sympathetic excess: fast shallow breathing, low heart rate variability, a vagus nerve that cannot find the brake. Heart rate variability and brain activity then show two sides of the same state, and the vagus is a route that leads through the body into the brain. And an overactive thyroid, high cortisol or a hormonal transition can create or intensify an anxiety picture; an overactive salience network in hyperthyroidism is a thyroid case first. That is why lab work belongs in the assessment, and a physician rules out organic causes.
For an overview of the six brain networks and a first orientation, see the Brain Network Analysis.
The assessment first, then your program.
In our program everything begins with a structured assessment: history, existing findings, questionnaires on anxiety, sleep and mood, clinical examination, lab work including thyroid, a heart rate variability measurement. A qEEG brain mapping is added when we want to see how strongly your salience network fires at rest, and it is a prerequisite once neurofeedback becomes part of the plan. Neuromodulation is one building block: neurofeedback to learn to steer your own arousal, taVNS as a route via the vagus nerve, and where the profile suggests it rTMS. Beside it stand breathing work, sleep and the psychotherapy you are already doing; we treat alongside it, not in its place. Your medication stays as it is unless your psychiatrist decides otherwise together with us.
Our aim stays the same: to restore functional balance, with as little medication as possible and a life with high quality of life as the measure.
You don’t have to decide anything today. A 15 to 20 minute conversation is enough to know whether an assessment is worth it for you.
Free & non-binding · usually a reply within 2 business days · confidential
Who it is for, and who it is not for
A good fit if …
- Medication or therapy has not been enough so far
- You are looking for a measurement-based, non-invasive path
- You are open to outpatient treatment in Bad Aibling
Less suitable if …
- You expect a purely remote or online treatment without on-site diagnostics
- You expect a guarantee — serious medicine cannot give one
In an acute crisis or having suicidal thoughts? Please seek immediate medical or emergency help — in Germany call 112, or the free 24/7 helpline Telefonseelsorge 0800 111 0 111.
The first consultation is free. We discuss the scope, duration and cost of any program openly afterwards, outpatient, here in Bad Aibling.
What the research shows
Peer-reviewed work on Anxiety Disorders and the relevant procedures, graded by evidence level. No study proves an individual outcome.
In short: for some procedures the evidence is solid, for others still early. Where your case stands is settled in the assessment, and the program follows from it.
Efficacy and acceptability of brain stimulation for anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of RCTs
Transcranial magnetic stimulation in anxiety and trauma-related disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Effects of rTMS of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on symptom domains in neuropsychiatric disorders: a systematic review and cross-diagnostic meta-analysis
Efficacy of neurostimulation across mental disorders: systematic review and meta-analysis of 208 randomized controlled trials
Brain stimulation and other biological non-pharmacological interventions in mental disorders: an umbrella review
Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation for treating emotional dysregulation and inflammation in common neuropsychiatric disorders
More studies across all conditions: Science & Studies.
Randomised trials and first meta-analyses exist for brain stimulation in anxiety disorders; the data are thinner than in depression and effects vary. Where your alarm is stuck, in the network or in the vagus, decides what we begin with.
A real doctor. A real clinic.
Dr. med. univ. Julian Douwes · Medical Director
Part of Clinicum St. Georg, under the medical direction of Dr. med. univ. Julian Douwes. Outpatient, evidence-graded, without medication as the first step — tailored to your profile. More on our program.
- 30+ Years of clinical heritage
- 90+ Countries patients travel from
- 30,000+ Treatment sessions delivered
In three calm steps
Anxiety Disorders: let’s talk about your path.
In a free consultation we clarify whether and how our measured program could fit you — no obligation, fully confidential.
Free & non-binding · usually a reply within 2 business days · confidential