Anxiety Psychotherapists in Cape Town

Anxiety treatment is for fear and worry that persist and get in the way.

The treatments with the most evidence are based on cognitive-behavioural principles ¹. That includes exposure therapy, where you face what you have been avoiding, a step at a time.

A prescriber may also consider medicine, depending on age and severity ². Ask a practitioner how they work with anxiety.

Everyone on this page describes their work as psychotherapy. A psychotherapist works through talking with you about your thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

Psychotherapy usually runs longer than counselling and aims for clinical change. It works on patterns that repeat rather than on one current problem.

A psychotherapist trains in psychological treatment rather than in medicine. What that training covers, and which approach a practitioner uses, differ between practitioners. Ask which approach a psychotherapist trained in, and how long they usually work.

Groote Schuur Hospital - Psychiatry Outpatient Services. Phone +27 21 404 9111. Western Cape public hospitals charge on a means-tested scale. Patients in the lowest band pay nothing for specialist outpatient visits. Public patients are accepted by referral from a district or secondary service. Each specialty has its own eligibility criteria.

• Western Cape Government primary healthcare clinics in Cape Town offers mental-health assessment, treatment, counselling and referral at primary healthcare clinics.³

South Africa has no separate register for the title psychotherapist. A psychotherapist must register with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), most often as a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Regulations still in force (R993 of 2008) place the use of any psychotherapeutic method within the scope of psychology. You can check a name on the HPCSA iRegister.