Tyler Slay, LPC, is a licensed professional counselor and anxiety specialist based in Madison, Mississippi. Tyler specializes in treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anxiety disorders, trauma, stress & burnout. He has completed advanced training through the International OCD Foundation (with a focus on both pediatrics and adults) and uses evidence-based approaches such as Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). To help you find relief, Tyler works with you to understand how your unique life experiences have shaped your relationship with anxiety. By making sense of your past, you can gain new insight and find a path forward in the here and now. Tyler works with children, teens, and adults across Mississippi, providing specialized anxiety treatment both online and in-person.

What Types of Anxiety Do You Treat?

Social Anxiety

People struggling with social anxiety often wonder what others are thinking about them in social settings. Because of past experiences and an overactive imagination, they feel like they are being judged. You don’t have to be someone who is obviously shy to struggle with social anxiety. Often, these individuals have a lot of energy and social ability, but they’re exhausted by the constant feeling that they have to keep up a performance.

Health Anxiety

Health anxiety can involve excessive worry about your own health, the health of family members, specific medical events, chemical contaminants, perfect nutrition, and more. Media companies often amplify these fears by drawing attention to hidden risks and scary headlines. Common manifestations of health anxiety include:

• Fear of choking

• Fear of throwing up (emetophobia)

• Fear of falling (especially in older adults)

• Fear of getting cancer

Health anxiety can take many forms and, when intense, it can significantly interfere with day-to-day life.

Generalized Anxiety

People with generalized anxiety tend to worry about a wide range of issues, often feeling tense throughout the day. Instead of focusing on a single topic, they may worry about:

• Being late

• Staying on top of every task

• Health

• Grades

• Budget

• Relationships

• The whereabouts of family members

This person often finds it difficult to be flexible and to let things unfold naturally.

Panic Disorder

Panic disorder is diagnosed when panic attacks become recurrent, unexpected, and a person spends significant time fearing future attacks. A panic attack (also known as an anxiety attack) often includes symptoms such as:

• A sense of impending doom

• Rapid heart rate

• Dizziness or lightheadedness

• Shortness of breath

• Inability to concentrate

While many people may experience a panic attack once in their lifetime, those with panic disorder live in fear of unpredictable attacks that may embarrass them or put them or their loved ones in danger.

Phobias

A phobia is a persistent fear of a specific object or situation, leading someone to avoid it altogether. To others, the fear and avoidance may seem irrational or extreme. Common phobias include:

• Small spaces

• Heights

• Water

• Snakes

• Dogs

• Lightning

• Bugs

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

OCD is diagnosed when someone experiences distressing thoughts and feels the need to take action to relieve the discomfort those thoughts cause. For example, a person might constantly worry they left the stove on and feel compelled to check it, sometimes returning home multiple times to make sure. In relationship OCD, people struggle with persistent doubts about being in the wrong relationship, even when they respect their partner. There are many ways OCD can manifest that aren’t listed here, just like all of the anxiety disorders mentioned above.

Relationship Anxiety

Anxiety can also stem from past relationship wounds (and possibly ongoing relationship wounds that need to be addressed). When someone has felt rejected, unseen, powerless, or dismissed by important people in their life, those emotional injuries can shape how they experience current relationships, decisions, and challenges. Even if those experiences happened years ago, the fear of repeating them can drive present-day anxiety. Therapy can help uncover and heal those patterns, restoring a greater sense of agency and connection.

Stress and Burnout

It’s possible that you experience some anxiety but you don’t identify with any of the categories listed above. You might just be dealing with a gnawing stress that you can’t quite put your finger on. I have written here in detail about how identifying exactly what is stressing you and exactly what to do about it requires a framework that considers multiple factors and doesn’t oversimplify the reasons you are struggling. If you are dealing with career burnout or stress that you haven’t been able to make sense of, you might be helped by this approach that considers all of the complex reasons you are experiencing stress that doesn’t seem to be resolving on its own.

Recovery from Anxiety is Possible

The good news is that effective treatments exist for each of the struggles mentioned above. There are general principles that support healing from anxiety, along with specific strategies that target different types of anxiety. With an approach designed for your specific needs by someone who specializes in treating anxiety, it’s possible to get your life back, even if your specific struggle wasn’t mentioned here.

Don’t stay stuck. Recovery is possible.