Psychotherapist
Psychologist
Neuroscientist
Information
Welcome to my psychotherapy practice in Vienna. I'm glad you found your way here. This page gives you an overview of the therapy I offer, how I work, and who I am.
When anxiety runs your life
Anxiety is a useful response, but it can take on a life of its own — as panic attacks, persistent worry, or specific phobias. What usually keeps it going is avoidance: if you steer clear of the situations that trigger anxiety, you get relief in the short term, but you never get to find out that what you fear does not actually happen.
Treatment with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Anxiety disorders are among the most treatable mental health conditions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the most thoroughly researched approach for them. We start by working out an individual model of what is happening: which triggers are at work, which fears come up, and which behaviors keep the anxiety in place.
The therapeutic path
From there, we approach the situations you have been avoiding step by step, at your pace. Alongside this, we work on the beliefs that weigh on you and on reducing safety behaviors. The aim is for you to regain your freedom to act and to be able to handle anxiety again, rather than having to avoid it.
What is psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is a scientifically grounded treatment for psychological, psychosocial, and psychosomatic complaints. It aims to reduce distress, provide support through crises, and change unhelpful patterns of thinking and behavior.
My approach: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is well supported by evidence and is recommended in clinical guidelines as a first-line treatment for anxiety disorders and depression, among others. It starts from the idea that thoughts, feelings, physical reactions, and behavior influence one another and can, together, keep problems going.
How do we work?
We clarify what brings you here, look at what keeps your difficulties in place, and derive concrete goals and strategies from that. I explain how I work transparently, and we decide together. You know your own experience best; I bring the psychotherapeutic expertise.
Before starting my own practice, I worked as a psychologist at Caritas Vienna and as a psychotherapist at Sanatorium Hera. Alongside the practice, I hold a teaching post at the Medical University of Vienna, where I also carry out research.
Education and Studies
- Postgraduate Program – Emergency Psychology
- Psychotherapist (Behavioral Therapy; AVM)
- PhD – Mental Health / Neuroscience (Medical University of Vienna)
- Master's – Psychology (University of Glasgow)
- Master's – Mathematics (University of Vienna)
Publications
- Blank et al. (2022). Brain morphometry and connectivity differs between adolescent- and adult-onset major depressive disorder. Depression and Anxiety, 39, 1–10.
- Blank et al. (2021). Neurobiological predictors for clinical trajectories in fully remitted depressed patients. Depression and Anxiety, 38, 447–455.
Dr. Thomas Blank
Address:
Schwarzspanierstraße 15
1090 Vienna, Austria
Phone: +43 677 62733692
Email: info@therapie-blank.at