What is Anxiety?
Anxiety can be sudden feelings of intense worry, fear, or terror. It can reach a high peak within minutes, which can result in a panic attack. People can experience multiple panic attacks, and these attacks can mimic the symptoms of a heart attack, leading to a panic disorder. Some triggers, such as a person, place, or a certain situation, can trigger anxiety. Sometimes, there is no trigger to anxiety, and the onset can be sudden for no reason.
Anxiety can strike at any time, and for people who also experience panic attacks, these sudden strikes of anxiety can be stressful and unbearable. Anxiety can sometimes lead people to develop agoraphobia or a fear of leaving common surroundings. This can create self-inflicted isolation, which can result in a depressive mood and increase the risk of self-medication, such as drugs or alcohol, to cope.
What Causes Anxiety?
Anxiety is like any other mental health problem that requires treatment. It does not come from personal weakness, character flaws, or a matter of self-discipline or attitude. Researchers have considered a few factors that play a key role in anxiety:
- Environmental factors: Going through a traumatic experience might trigger anxiety.
- Chemical imbalances: Consistent or severe stress can alter the chemical balance that controls your mood. Suffering from excessive stress over a long period can lead to an anxiety disorder.
- Heredity: Inheriting anxiety from one or both parents, as anxiety disorders tend to run in families.
What are the Symptoms of Anxiety?
Symptoms of anxiety can differ depending on the type of anxiety a person may have. Anxiety can include mental, physical, and/or behavioral symptoms. Common symptoms of anxiety are:
Mental Symptoms:
- Persistent worry and tension
- Feeling intense fear, panic, and nervousness
- Compulsive and uncontrollable thoughts
- Consistent thoughts or recurrences of traumatic experiences
- Nightmares
Physical Symptoms:
- Heart palpitations
- Numbness in hands or feet
- Rapid breathing or shortness of breath
- Nausea or headache
- Sweaty or cold hands
- Muscle tightness
Behavioral Symptoms:
- Inability to be calm and relaxed
- Restlessness or feeling on edge
- Irritability
- Uncontrollable repetitive behaviors
- Sleep disturbance
- Trouble concentrating
What are the Different Types of Anxiety?
In anxiety disorder, the symptoms and events that can be triggering can fluctuate from client to client. Research shows that there are numerous and effective treatment methods for anxiety disorders. Below are the different types of anxiety disorders:
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is considered a persistent sense of worry and fear with no distinct cause for at least six months. People can exhibit physical, mental, and behavioral anxiety symptoms as a result of GAD. With GAD, people may feel severe and unrealistic worries about various topics such as school, work, relationships, and health.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is when someone has a sudden, impulsive, and immediate fight or flight response that is frequent. These feelings can result in panic attacks as people feel sudden anxiety, fear, discomfort, or a sense of losing control, even when there is no trigger or real danger. Not everyone who experiences panic attacks develops panic disorder.
Panic attacks can have physical symptoms that might feel like a heart attack. People with panic disorder worry about the chance of having another attack. This can result in major changes in their lives in order to avoid having another panic attack, such as limiting their connections with others and their environment. Panic attacks can occur as frequently as numerous times a day or a few times a year.
Social Anxiety Disorder
People with social anxiety have severe worry and uneasiness with daily social situations. Social anxiety can make people self-conscious about embarrassing themselves, and they may completely avoid social interactions, situations, or events.
How Do We Work With Anxiety?
We help individuals who have anxiety, which affects their daily lives mentally, physically, and behaviorally. We work with those who feel worried, tense, or afraid about things that are about to happen or think could happen.
We work collaboratively with our clients to tailor a treatment plan that works best for them. We help clients identify anxious triggers and recognize the underlying fears to learn effective ways to decrease anxiety in a healthy way. We utilize evidenced-based EMDR therapy, CBT, solution-focused therapy, and mindfulness techniques and tools for anxiety resolution.
