DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY THERAPY IN DC

Depression and Anxiety Therapy in Washington DC

Therapy for when you're dealing with both — because most people are.

60–90% of people with depression also experience significant anxiety — you're not unusual
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You came looking for help with depression. Or maybe anxiety. But the more you think about it, the less those categories make sense. You’re exhausted and wired at the same time. Hopeless about the future and worried about everything in it. Some days you can’t get off the couch; others you can’t stop your mind from racing.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Between 60–90% of people with depression also experience significant anxiety symptoms. The conditions feed each other — anxiety depletes your energy, depression makes everything feel pointless, and the combination makes it hard to imagine things getting better. Mental health professionals increasingly recognize anxious depression as a distinct pattern with its own trajectory and treatment needs.

At Therapy Group of DC, we specialize in treating depression and anxiety together. Our therapists use psychodynamic therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and interpersonal approaches to address what you’re experiencing as the interconnected pattern it actually is — not two separate problems requiring two separate solutions.

You don’t need to figure out whether you’re “more depressed” or “more anxious” before reaching out. That’s something we explore together. What matters is that you’re tired of carrying both — and ready for treatment that addresses the whole picture.

From Our Practice

We see a lot of people who’ve tried therapy or antidepressant medications that only targeted one piece — anxiety treatment that didn’t touch the hopelessness, or depression treatment that left the worry running in the background. When we treat both conditions as part of the same pattern, things start to shift differently.

Our Depression and Anxiety Therapists
Psychodynamic, CBT & interpersonal approaches for co-occurring depression and anxiety.
Dominique Harrington Dominique
Dana Treistman Dana
Kevin Isserman Kevin
Paul Rizzo Paul
Michael Burrows Michael
Regan Mayo Regan
Meet the full team ↓
Ready to treat both — not just one?
Our therapists specialize in the overlap between depression and anxiety. You don't have to choose which to address first.

Do You Recognize Yourself?

Anxious depression affects people in ways that can be hard to name. You might benefit from depression and anxiety therapy if you:

Feel exhausted but can’t turn off your mind — tired to your core but unable to rest
Experience persistent worry alongside feelings of hopelessness or emptiness
Notice your mood and anxiety affecting your work, relationships, or daily life
Have trouble concentrating, sleeping, or making even simple decisions
Feel like you’re functioning on the outside but drowning on the inside
Wonder whether what you’re experiencing is “bad enough” to need help
Have tried addressing one condition only to have the other get worse
Cycle between rumination about past failures and worry about future catastrophes
Over-prepare at work because “good enough” feels like failure — then collapse at home from the effort
Have been told you seem fine — but internally, you’re running on adrenaline and emptiness

Anxiety disorders co-occur with major depressive disorder more often than not — you’re not imagining the connection. Mental health treatment that addresses both conditions simultaneously is more effective than treating them separately. Many people with anxious depression have tried therapy or antidepressant medications that only targeted one piece — integrated treatment works differently. With the right treatment approach, both anxiety and depression symptoms can improve significantly.

What Is Depression and Anxiety Therapy?

Depression and anxiety therapy isn’t about choosing which condition to address first. It’s an integrated approach that treats both the low mood and the chronic worry as interconnected experiences — because that’s how they actually work in your brain and in your life.

60–90%
of depression cases include anxiety
2–4 mo
to meaningful improvement
2x
more effective treating both together

Identifying the feedback loop. Treatment starts with understanding how anxiety and depression trigger and reinforce each other — how worry depletes your energy until hopelessness sets in, and how depression’s fatigue amplifies anxious responses.

Addressing the underlying patterns. For many people, anxious depression connects to early experiences, attachment patterns, or deeply held beliefs about yourself and your worth. Treatment goes deeper than symptom management.

Building practical skills. Cognitive behavioral techniques, mindfulness-based approaches, and interpersonal skills give you tools for managing both anxiety symptoms and depression symptoms in daily life — not as separate problems but as connected parts of the same experience.

Changing your relationship with both. The goal isn’t just reducing symptoms. It’s understanding why you developed these patterns and building a more sustainable way of living.

Effective mental health treatment for anxious depression requires a therapist who understands the interplay between both conditions — not someone who treats them as a checklist of separate diagnoses.


Understanding Depression and Anxiety Together

Depression and anxiety are the two most common mental health conditions — and they rarely travel alone. Among anxiety disorders, generalized anxiety disorder appears alongside depression most frequently, but panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and other anxiety disorders also commonly co-occur with depressive disorders. The relationship isn’t coincidental — they share biological pathways, respond to similar life circumstances, and trigger each other in a feedback loop.

Chronic worry depletes your emotional resources until hopelessness sets in. Depression’s fatigue makes it harder to cope with stress, amplifying anxious responses. This overlap is so common that mental health professionals increasingly recognize anxious depression as a distinct pattern — not simply depression plus anxiety, but a specific presentation with its own trajectory and treatment needs.

The Exhausted Worrier

You lie awake at night cycling through everything that could go wrong, then wake up too depleted to face any of it. The anxiety drives the overthinking; the depression strips away your confidence that you can handle what you’re worried about. Negative thoughts compound until both conditions feel permanent.

The High-Functioning Struggler

You’re still showing up — still performing at work, still maintaining relationships — but internally you’re drowning in emotional distress. Others might not know anything is wrong. You might not even fully recognize it yourself until the exhaustion becomes impossible to ignore.

The Stuck-in-Your-Head Pattern

You can’t stop thinking, but the thinking goes nowhere. Rumination about past failures blends with worry about future catastrophes. Decision-making feels impossible. Your mind is a loop of depression symptoms and anxiety symptoms feeding each other.

The Shutdown-Overdrive Cycle

You alternate between periods of intense anxiety — racing thoughts, restlessness, muscle tension — and periods of complete shutdown where motivation disappears and everything feels pointless. Your nervous system swings between extremes with no neutral ground.

You Don't Have to Keep Carrying Both Alone

Our therapists understand what it's like to live with both anxiety and depression. Treatment can address the whole pattern — not just one piece.


Depression Symptoms vs. Anxiety Symptoms — How They Overlap

When you’re experiencing both anxiety and depression, the shared symptoms intensify. Understanding the overlap helps explain why anxious depression feels different from either condition alone.

Core depression symptoms include persistent sadness or emptiness, loss of interest in activities, fatigue and low energy, difficulty concentrating, changes in appetite and sleep, feelings of worthlessness, and in severe depression, suicidal thoughts. Major depressive disorder fundamentally changes how you experience daily life.

Core anxiety symptoms include persistent worry that feels difficult to control, restlessness, muscle tension, racing thoughts, sleep disturbances, irritability, and avoidance of situations that trigger intense anxiety. Anxiety disorders keep your nervous system in a state of chronic alert.

Where they converge: Concentration problems, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and difficulty functioning appear in both conditions. When you’re experiencing both, these shared symptoms intensify. The cognitive symptoms — negative thoughts, difficulty concentrating, rumination — become particularly pronounced. This is why treating both simultaneously matters more than treating either alone.

From Our Practice

Many of our clients are high-functioning professionals who manage demanding careers while carrying both depression and anxiety. They’ve been doing it so long they’ve forgotten what it feels like to not be tired and worried at the same time. The most common thing we hear is: “I thought this was just how life is.” It’s not.


How We Treat Depression and Anxiety

At Therapy Group of DC, we take an integrated approach to treating depression and anxiety. Our therapists draw from multiple evidence-based modalities tailored to your specific presentation.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Explores the underlying emotional patterns — often rooted in early experiences and attachment — that shape how you relate to yourself and others. Particularly valuable when anxious depression connects to long-held beliefs about your worth. Rather than just managing symptoms, psychodynamic therapy helps you understand why you developed these patterns.

Learn More →

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

One of the most well-researched treatments for both anxiety and depression. CBT helps identify and change the negative thought patterns and behavior patterns that maintain both conditions — rumination, catastrophizing, avoidance, and the self-criticism that fuels anxious depression.

Learn More →

Interpersonal & Integrative Approaches

Interpersonal therapy focuses on the relationship patterns that contribute to depression and anxiety. For people whose anxious depression involves relational difficulties — conflict, isolation, life transitions — IPT addresses the roots directly. Our therapists also draw from ACT, mindfulness-based approaches, and EMDR when trauma underlies both conditions.


Why DC Professionals Are Particularly Affected

Washington DC’s professional culture creates conditions ripe for anxious depression. High-stakes work environments, constant evaluation, and pressure to always perform take a predictable toll on mental health. The combination of anxiety and depression thrives in environments where you’re expected to be both perpetually alert and perpetually productive.

Achievement-driven environments reward pushing through depression symptoms rather than addressing them. You’ve built a career on being capable — admitting you’re struggling feels like failure. Hill staffers, attorneys, consultants, and nonprofit leaders carry the weight of consequential work while minimizing their own emotional distress.

DC’s transient population means many people lack the support networks that buffer stress. You may have moved here for work and never built the friendships that help people weather difficult periods. Competitive work culture normalizes chronic stress — when everyone seems equally overwhelmed, it’s easy to dismiss your experience as part of the job rather than recognizing it as a mental health condition that responds to treatment.

What to Expect in Treatment

Depression and anxiety therapy follows a path from stabilization through deeper understanding to lasting change. Here’s what treatment typically looks like:

1

Getting Oriented

Your therapist will work to understand how depression and anxiety show up in your life — not just your symptoms, but the patterns behind them. What triggers the anxiety. What deepens the depression. How the two interact. We’ll assess both depression symptoms and anxiety symptoms, how long they’ve been present, and what you’ve tried before. This isn’t a diagnostic checklist — it’s a conversation designed to see the full picture of your experience.

2

Building Understanding

You’ll begin exploring both the symptoms and what’s underneath them. For many people, anxious depression connects to deeper patterns — early experiences, relational dynamics, beliefs about yourself formed long before DC. Your therapist may introduce cognitive behavioral techniques, mindfulness-based approaches, or interpersonal therapy tools as complements to this deeper exploration.

3

Active Change

Therapy shifts from understanding your depression and anxiety to changing your relationship with both. You’ll start recognizing moments where old patterns would have taken over — the rumination spiral, the anxiety-driven avoidance, the depression-fueled withdrawal — and responding differently. Clients often describe this as the point where they stop white-knuckling through the day and start actually living in it.

4

Integration & Maintenance

The final phase focuses on consolidating gains and building resilience. You’ll develop strategies for recognizing early warning signs, navigating setbacks without spiraling, and maintaining the changes you’ve made. Some clients transition to less frequent sessions — checking in monthly rather than weekly as they build confidence in managing both conditions on their own terms.


Our Depression and Anxiety Therapists

Our therapists bring specialized training in treating co-occurring depression and anxiety. We match you with a therapist whose approach fits your specific experience — not whoever has an opening.


Individual Session Rate
$230–$300
Many clients receive partial reimbursement through out-of-network benefits.
View payment details and insurance information →

Frequently Asked Questions About Depression and Anxiety Therapy

What is the best therapy for anxiety and depression?
The best therapy depends on your specific situation. Cognitive behavioral therapy has the strongest research base for both anxiety and depression. Interpersonal therapy is particularly effective for depression with relational components. Psychodynamic therapy addresses the deeper patterns that maintain both conditions. For people with anxious depression, integrated approaches that address both conditions simultaneously tend to produce better outcomes than treating either alone.
Do anxiety and depression go together?
Yes — and more often than not. Studies show 60–90% of people with depression also experience significant anxiety symptoms. The conditions share biological pathways, respond to similar stressors, and trigger each other in a feedback loop. Mental health professionals increasingly recognize anxious depression as a distinct presentation requiring integrated mental health treatment.
How to help with anxiety and depression?
Effective mental health care for anxiety and depression typically includes talk therapy with a qualified mental health professional who understands both conditions. Self-care practices — exercise, consistent sleep, social connection — support treatment but usually aren’t sufficient alone. For some people, antidepressant medications prescribed by a psychiatrist complement therapy. The most important step is finding a mental health provider who treats both conditions as interconnected rather than separate.
What kind of therapist helps with depression and anxiety?
More important than credential type is whether the mental health professional has specific training and experience treating co-occurring anxiety and depression. Look for a therapist who takes an integrated approach — someone who understands how the conditions interact rather than treating them as a checklist of separate diagnoses. Our therapists at Therapy Group of DC specialize in this overlap and draw from psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, and interpersonal therapy approaches.
Can depression and anxiety be treated at the same time?
Yes — and treating them together is usually more effective than addressing them separately. Cognitive behavioral therapy, for example, addresses the negative thought patterns that maintain both conditions. Psychodynamic therapy explores the underlying experiences that drive both anxiety and depression. When treatment only targets one condition, the other often fills the gap. Integrated treatment breaks the cycle.
How long does treatment for depression and anxiety take?
Most people notice meaningful improvement within 2–4 months of weekly therapy. More severe or longstanding presentations of major depressive disorder with anxiety may take longer. Treatment duration depends on the severity of your symptoms, how long you’ve been experiencing them, and your goals. Some clients benefit from shorter-term cognitive behavioral therapy, while others do deeper work through psychodynamic therapy over a longer period.
What about medication for depression and anxiety?
Antidepressant medications — including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors — can be an important part of treatment for some people with depression and anxiety. Our therapists can help you evaluate whether medication might complement your therapy and coordinate with a prescribing psychiatrist. We don’t prescribe medication directly, but we work closely with prescribers when medication is part of the treatment plan.
Do you offer in-person and online therapy for depression and anxiety?
Yes. We offer both in-person sessions at our Dupont Circle office and teletherapy for clients throughout Washington DC. Many of our clients find that consistent weekly sessions — whether virtual or in-person — are the most important factor in effective treatment for depression and anxiety.

Begin Depression and Anxiety Therapy in Washington DC
You've been managing this alone for long enough — the low mood, the constant worry, the exhaustion of fighting yourself on two fronts. Our therapists understand anxious depression and provide evidence-based treatment that addresses both conditions as the interconnected pattern they actually are.