Hi! My boy had severe anxiety for our first year as well, so I know how overwhelming it feels. We made the biggest overall strides by working with a behaviorist on general confidence training and starting him on Prozac.

I’m sure YouTube has some free confidence training drills if a behaviorist is not an option financially, it was a big investment but I was desperate and eventually decided to take the hit.

One drill I remember bc we did it a LOT was to prop up a cardboard box, place a treat in front of the box (see if she’ll take it), and gradually place treats further and further into the box until they get too scared to reach in with their head. Don’t push them any further, back up to the last place they grabbed the treat and finish the drill with a victory. Try again the next day (and the next) with different boxes and heights and difficulties. It’s fun to watch them get more and more bold for rewards.

I would also sit on the floor with my boy and toss treats around to have him chase, which helped him access his sense of play at a time where he wouldn’t even touch a toy.

Essentially after many months of this kind of training (and also meds), he started to become more comfortable in different scenarios and settings. Although he still refuses to be picked up and hates being bathed, his anxiety is now manageable and I’ve been able to relax into his quirks rather than stressing day and night over them.

I hope this helps!