Warwickshire Specialist Anxiety Centre
Warwickshire Specialist Anxiety Centre is headed by Psychotherapist Sarah Steventon, one of the UK’s leading experts in anxiety disorders.
Sarah holds an MSc in Neuroscience of Mental Health from King’s College London and has a specialist background in Psychopathology. This advanced training gives her a deep understanding of how the brain predicts, wires in threat, and creates the state we call anxiety. By combining clinical expertise with cutting-edge neuroscience, Sarah offers an approach that goes beyond traditional talking therapies.
Why Anxiety Feels Uncontrollable
Anxiety is not “all in your head” — it is built into how the brain works. Neuroscience shows that the brain is a prediction machine. Every moment it anticipates what will happen next, preparing the body before you are consciously aware.
Neurons send signals using electrical impulses and chemical messengers. When they fire together repeatedly, the pathway strengthens — this is how the brain wires in learning.
Prediction errors happen when reality doesn’t match what the brain expected. If the event feels threatening, it is more likely to be stored, shaping future predictions.
The salience network filters which signals matter most. If your brain once paired a racing heart with danger, this network tags it as important — so the same sensations can trigger anxiety again.
Concepts are built from this process: the brain categorises the experience as “threat” before your conscious mind has had time to think.
This is why anxiety feels so fast and automatic: the body has already reacted before you’re aware of it.
Why Traditional Talking Therapy Falls Short
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) assumes anxiety starts with thoughts. But research shows the sequence is reversed:
Prediction
Body response
Thought
By the time a thought like “I’m going to have a heart attack” appears, your body has already been set into alarm. CBT works “top-down” at the level of conscious thought, but anxiety is wired “bottom-up.” This is why CBT often helps only briefly and rarely creates lasting change.
Sarah’s Approach
Sarah works with the brain at the level where anxiety is actually created: its predictive wiring. This is not just talking — it is about using the brain’s natural plasticity to rewire threat pathways. This approach is fast, effective, and designed for lasting change.
It is suitable for a wide range of anxiety-related conditions, including:
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Panic Disorder & Panic Attacks
Health Anxiety
Social Anxiety
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Phobias
Booking Information
To book with Sarah, please use the Contact Page.
Due to high demand, Sarah cannot discuss individual cases by phone before booking.
Texts and WhatsApp are not monitored and will not receive a response.
Sarah works with individuals aged 18+ only.
Phone or text should only be used in an emergency.
A Final Word
Anxiety is not a weakness. It is the result of the brain’s prediction systems working too fast and too often. The same brain that wires in fear can also wire in safety. With the right approach, change can be rapid, effective, and lasting.
Am I having a Panic Attack?
Have I got Anxiety? What is an Anxiety attack?
These are some of the common physical symptoms of anxiety are:
Increased heart rate
Increased muscle tension
“Jelly legs”
Tingling in the hands and feet
Hyperventilation (over breathing)
Dizziness
Difficulty in breathing
Wanting to use the toilet more often
Feeling sick
Tight band across the chest area
Tension headaches
Hot flushes
Increased perspiration
Dry mouth
Shaking
Choking sensations
Palpitations
You may on occasion experience a panic attack - which can feel like any of the following:
Thinking that you may lose control and/or go “mad”
Thinking that you might die
Thinking that you may have a heart attack
Feel sick and like you might faint
Feeling that people are looking at you and observing your anxiety
Feeling as though things are speeding up/slowing down
Feeling detached from your environment and the people in it
Feeling like wanting to run away/escape from the situation
Feeling on edge and alert to everything around you
Unfortunately, once you have one panic attack, it can then produce a run of them, because the brain is predicting it will happen again, this is simply how the brain works, however the good news is Panic Attacks can be sorted out fairly simply.
Sarah is is experienced in dealing with clients experiencing panic attacks along with all other Anxiety conditions, such as:
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Panic Attacks
Panic Disorder
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Stress
Phobias of any kind including Agoraphobia, Claustrphobia, Fear of Flying, Fear of public speaking
Health Anxiety - constantly worrying you have something wrong with you
Social Phobia/Social Anxiety
Anxiety medication can actually sometimes exacerbate the symptoms and ironically, some medications have side effects of anxiety.
Sarah works with some of the most successful and proven methods to deal with all symptoms of anxiety, ranging from unpleasant feelings to full blown panic attacks, and unnecessary worrying to over-thinking. To find out more about the therapy, and how the process works, please refer to the tab on the main page listed 'The process and neuroscience behind it'.
If you are suffering with Anxiety, please get in touch by completing your details on the contact page and we will get back to you within 24 hours.
Sarah works from both her consulting room in Warwick and her Marylebone practice in London.
Anxiety Treatment / Anxiety Therapist / Generalised Anxiety Disorder
What can cause Anxiety?
Modern neuroscience shows your brain is constantly constructing your experience of reality. It uses scraps of sensory data and your past experiences to predict what’s happening and what to do.
When you’ve had a frightening experience – like a panic attack where your heart raced so much you thought you were having a heart attack – your brain remembers that as a danger template.
Next time your heart beats quickly, your brain predicts the same catastrophe, triggering anxiety or even another panic attack.
This is why panic often becomes a cycle: The first attack is unexpected. The brain predicts it will happen again. The prediction itself creates the anxiety that fuels the next attack.
How This Therapy Works
This therapy targets the root of the anxiety: the brain’s prediction templates.
It bypasses slow, logical thought and works directly with the brain’s fast survival circuitry.
It updates the brain’s outdated predictions so it no longer expects panic or threat.
It trains your brain to predict calm where it once predicted fear.
Clients often report a rapid change, because we’re working with the same mechanism that created the anxiety in the first place.
Many people with anxiety are not just afraid of the situation – they are afraid of the feeling of fear itself.
You had a panic attack once, and now your brain predicts you’ll have another.
You once felt your heart race and thought you’d have a heart attack – now every heartbeat feels dangerous.
You didn’t know what was happening to you, so your brain learned to stay on constant alert.
This prediction cycle is exhausting. But it can be broken. We can replicate how the brain learns at speed in the first instance to 'relearn' a different response.
We rewire the brain so it stops expecting the worst and starts predicting safety.
When the brain learns a new way to respond, anxiety loses its grip. The fear of fear disappears – and with it, the panic cycle.
OCD
One of the most debilitating forms of Anxiety is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder or OCD for short, which can completely take over your life.
This is simply the brain tying to manage the uncertainty - and OCD shows itself in many different formats.
There are the compulsions, which is the brain's way of trying to stop the uncertainty - so it says, 'if I touch the desk three times as I walk past, then nothing bad will happen'.
Through to obsessive thoughts, known as Pure O - which is the constant 'what if this or that happens' or 'Did I do something', such as did I hit a cyclist with my car when I drove home' - which then creates a need to drive back to the place you felt you may have hit someone and retrace your steps, often driving back several times.
Many therapies are purely talking therapies, and therefore are not effective.
We need to change the neural connections to change response patterns before they reach consciousness. The OCD trigger is caught and stopped in it’s tracks preventing it from firing up again in the future.
We work on both the triggers and behavioural elements of OCD, provides long lasting results without the need for any ongoing coping strategies.
Anger Managment
Anger can be split into categories.
Chronic anger, which is prolonged, and can impact the immune system.
Passive anger, which doesn’t always come across as anger and can be difficult to identify
Overwhelmed anger, which is caused by life demands that are too much for an individual to cope with.
Self-inflicted anger, which is directed toward the self and may be caused by feelings of guilt
Judgmental anger, which is directed toward others and may come with feelings of resentment
Volatile anger, which involves sometimes-spontaneous bouts of excessive or violent anger
Do you ever get so angry that you want to lash out, shout or throw something? Does your partner enrage you so often that you find yourself screaming at them? Maybe you are finding yourself frequently wanting to hurt your child or a pet because they irritate you all of the time?
We have all experienced the heated surge of anger, and while being angry from time to time is an integral part of our evolutionary make up (it can help us detect and respond to threatening situations or motivate us to change aspects of our lives we are not happy with), constant, uncontrollable anger can be an incredibly destructive and dangerous emotion.
Anger and high adrenaline trigger physiological reactions such as raised heartbeat, higher temperature and palpitations. This level and intensity of emotion over a prolonged period of time can lead to serious physiological and psychological health problems including depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, and lower-functioning immune system to name just a few.
Repeated angry outbursts can also have a devastating impact on our relationships, both professionally and personally, causing us even more misery and even putting us and those close to us in danger.
If your anger is causing distress to you and those around you, then getting help is essential before it does any irreparable damage. The style of therapy that Sarah offers is fast becoming the 'go to' therapy for anger helping to change your response gives an immediate result.
PTSD
At the extreme end, constant high levels of arousal are generated by post-traumatic stress. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be a truly terrifying experience - however this can be resolved, both safely and quickly.
PTSD doesn't just affect people who have served in the military, or worked in the forces - PTSD can be brought on by any trauma that is experienced.
Someone with PTSD may be very anxious and find it difficult to relax. They may be constantly aware of threats and easily startled.
This state of mind is known as hyperarousal.
Hyperarousal often leads to:
irritability
angry outbursts
sleeping problems (insomnia)
difficulty concentrating
Resolving trauma of any kind, including abuse, whether sexual, physical, or emotional, or a trauma from an accident or an attack can be done just as effectively.
All of these events can be worked on without the need to actually disclose what the events was. The work can be done without the need to go over the event or events again - which means there is no need to talk about the detail. It is an extremely fast, effective way to help clients who are experiencing any kind of psychological distress.
If you are suffering from stress, or feel you maybe experiencing anxiety or having panic attacks, or dealing with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder known as OCD, Anger issues, Depression or Trauma - Sarah Steventon is an Anxiety Specialist. She is a Psychotherapist with a wealth of experience which means she is able to work with you in a unique way to help resolve your issue and fast.
Sarah sees clients on a one-to-one basis at her Specialist Anxiety Centre in Warwick. Her consulting room is ideally placed to serve clients across the whole of the Warwickshire area.
Leamington-Spa - Warwick - Stratford Upon Avon
Fear of public speaking is the number one fear in the UK
Sarah is a phobia expert. Sometimes only one visit is all that is needed to resolve a simple phobia.
A specific phobia is a type of anxiety disorder defined as an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.
Although people with specific phobias realise their fear is irrational, the thought of these fear alone is often enough to cause tremendous, debilitating anxiety.
The number one phobia in the UK is fear of public speaking, or performance anxiety.
"One of the most common issues I deal with is the fear of doing presentations or having to stand up, or in fact sit down and talk to a group of people, which can sometimes constitute any number more than a couple of people - essentially any time when there is a focus on the individual. This is a phobia that can easily be resolved, often in just one visit.
This isn't specific to junior roles, in fact more often than not I work with Managing Directors, Chief Execs, and business owners, who have either always had a fear of public speaking and just not addressed it. Or they have never had an issue, and then suddenly find themselves feeling nervous whenever they have to address an audience of any kind - even just a small group around a table.
The process is fairly simple and if it is purely a simple phobia, such as the fear of public speaking, the therapy can often resolve the issue in one visit.
The advantages are that it doesn’t require a lengthy course of treatment like some psychological therapies, so it is extremely cost effective.
Often clients do not know where their phobia stemmed from - but this doesn't matter. Sarah is adept at working with all forms of phobias.
You can develop a phobia from one event. Emetophobia, a fear of being sick yourself, or being near someone who is being sick, can be created from a one off event when you were a child. It can feel like a completely unrelated event, such as having a stomach bug, or just being sick once yourself when you were a child, or seeing someone else being sick and then seeing them look embarrassed - even this scenario is enough to leave the brain predicting (fearing it might) happen to you.
A simple phobia can often be resolved in one visit. If the phobia is a little more complex, it may require a further session.
Sarah works from her consulting room in Warwick and her practice on Harley Street in London.
This style of therapy also lends itself to working via Zoom and the therapy works in exactly the same way as it would face-to-face.
