Briarwood Detox Center

Mental healthAnxiety

Anxiety and addiction, treated together

Anxiety is the condition most often underneath a drinking problem, and alcohol is the fastest unhelpful treatment for it available without a prescription.

Admissions answered 24 hours a day · Most major insurance accepted

4.7 from 182 Google reviews Verified Google ReviewsExcellent Rating

Includes reviews of Flourishing Foundations Recovery, now part of Briarwood

The essentials

Anxiety and detox, in short

Anxiety and drinking form a loop that tightens. Medical detox with psychiatric support in Austin, Houston and San Antonio, including supervised benzodiazepine tapers.

Not sure whether anxiety is part of what is going on?

An assessment answers that, free.

Call (866) 710-7710

At a glance

Co-occurring · Anxiety

Condition
Anxiety
Treated
Alongside medical detox, not instead of it
Locations
Austin · Houston · San Antonio
What we do
4 things, in full below
Signs to call about
4 listed — recognition, not a checklist
What we do not do
We treat anxiety as it sits alongside withdrawal and substance use. We do not run a standalone anxiety program, and if that is what you need we will t
Admissions
(866) 710-7710 — answered 24 hours a day
Insurance
In network with most major carriers; benefits verified free

Coverage

Our center is in-network with many insurances

Type your plan below to check it, or call and we will verify your benefits with your insurer directly. Free, and with no obligation to admit.

  • Harbor Health
  • Evernorth
  • Oscar
  • Optum
  • Curative
  • Carelon
  • Ambetter
  • Anthem
  • Multiplan
  • Cigna
  • United Healthcare
  • BlueCross BlueShield
  • Beacon Health
  • Aetna
  • Christus Health
  • Baylor Scott & White
  • Sendero Health
  • TRICARE West
Verify my benefits — free

Takes about two minutes · Or call (866) 710-7710

The Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval
  • Accredited The Joint Commission
  • Rated 4.7 · 182 Google reviews Flourishing Foundations Recovery, now part of Briarwood
  • Admissions 24 hours a day

How the two feed each other

A drink genuinely reduces anxiety for about an hour. What follows is a rebound above where you started, so the next morning is worse than the one before and the obvious fix is another drink. The same loop runs faster with benzodiazepines, which were often prescribed for the anxiety in the first place.

What withdrawal does to it

Anxiety and panic are the most common symptoms of the first 72 hours, and they are treated rather than waited out. If you have been taking benzodiazepines, stopping abruptly is genuinely dangerous and the taper is the medical reason to do this somewhere with a physician.

Reasons people call us about this

  • You drink before things that other people do sober.
  • You wake early with your heart going and cannot get back to sleep.
  • Your prescription runs out before the month does.
  • You have tried to stop and the panic that followed frightened you into starting again.

What we do

  • A supervised benzodiazepine taper rather than an abrupt stop, where one is needed.
  • Comfort medication for panic and physical symptoms from the first hours.
  • A psychiatric evaluation, so the anxiety is assessed rather than assumed.
  • Somewhere to be for the days when sleep is the hardest part.

What we do not do

We treat anxiety as it sits alongside withdrawal and substance use. We do not run a standalone anxiety program, and if that is what you need we will tell you on the call. What we can do is get you through the part where stopping makes the anxiety worse.

More on how the two are handled together during a stay: dual diagnosis support during detox.

Straight answers

Anxiety and detox — common questions

Do you get anxiety when you quit drinking?

Yes — anxiety and panic are the most common symptoms of the first 72 hours. A drink reduces anxiety for about an hour and is followed by a rebound above where you started, so stopping removes the short-term relief before the baseline settles. In detox these symptoms are treated rather than waited out.

Is it dangerous to stop taking Xanax on my own?

It can be. Benzodiazepine withdrawal is one of the two that can become medically dangerous without supervision, alongside alcohol. The safe route is a taper managed by a physician, which is what a supervised detox is for.

Will my anxiety be worse without alcohol?

Briefly, yes, and then better than before. The rebound in the first days is real and is why people restart. Getting through that window with medical support is most of what detox does.

Can I be treated for anxiety if I am not sure I have a drinking problem?

Call and describe it. Admissions works out whether detox is the right level of care, and says so plainly when it is not.

Call (866) 710-7710