Anxiety

We’ve all felt it: racing heart, sweaty palms, shortness of breath, spiraling thoughts. We all know what anxiety feels like, and while the triggers and impact varies for us all, we do share the experience.

Anxiety has long served a protective function in our species, alerting us to danger and pointing out what matters to us as individuals when we feel a sense of threat. Sometimes that well-intended response overreaches itself, becoming a problem of its own. However, how do you know when anxiety becomes a problem you need to address? The answer is: when your worried thoughts remain persistent even when stressful events are over. When you avoid people or situations because of your anxiety. When you lose focus at work, withdraw from socializing, become short-tempered, or even suffer physical symptoms. Understanding how to manage and treat this completely natural, yet sometimes problematic condition is where we come in. Through the support of a trained therapist and, for some, the assistance of a psychiatric prescriber, symptoms of various forms of anxiety can be better understood and managed, helping you gain control of your anxiety versus anxiety taking control of you.

Scroll down to learn more about the various types of anxiety disorders and suggestions on how to best address them.

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Generalized Anxiety Disorder

What is generalized anxiety? Well… this means you worry excessively about anything and everything. Your highly anxious thoughts can travel across work, health, money, relationships, or anything in between. And they can all leave you feeling irritable, exhausted, tense, with difficulty concentrating, in short: on-edge, on guard, and overwhelmed by terrible possibilities.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder arises when this type of anxiety persists over 6 months, and impacts several areas of your life. Treatment often includes talk therapy, exercise, and, for some, medication to help manage symptoms.

Social Anxiety Disorder

If your co-workers asked you out to lunch, would that terrify you? Do you avoid going to house parties like you’d avoid the plague? If you have excessive fear of social interactions – you may have social anxiety.

But have no fear… there’s help for that.

As with most anxiety disorders, social anxiety is usually addressed through talk therapies like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and rational-emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), as well as some integration of exposure therapy. While social anxiety is unpleasant, it does not have to be a lifelong condition.

Panic Disorder

Panic attacks are scary. If you’ve ever had one, you know. The experience is intense, overwhelming, and often feels permanent. The one-two punch of the physical and mental is almost too much to handle, but thankfully there are ways to address and treat panic disorder.

With the help of a supportive therapist, and perhaps the use of medication, panic attacks can become a more manageable aspect of your life.

Phobias

Phobias are specific fear-based anxieties. You can have a fear of heights. Spiders. Elevators.

Driving on the highway. Flying on a plane. Or public speaking. No surprise that these intense, often but not always, embarrassing and debilitating fears will elicit major avoidance behaviors.

If you are looking for a way to take back control of your life, addressing the phobia and avoidance behaviors through talk therapy and exposure therapy is a great first step. Phobias do not develop in a vacuum; nor are they relieved magically. Working with a trained, supportive therapist can help you get back control of your life and experience the things you may be missing out on.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD, is a diagnosis that is characterized by intense rumination (obsessions) which causes the sufferer marked distress, which then leads to behaviors (compulsions) that are attempts to alleviate the felt distress. Obsessive thoughts can run the gamut from hygiene and health to religiosity and sexuality, with no two people experiencing it exactly the same. OCD exists in the Venn diagram overlap between anxiety and neurodivergence, as most people associate OCD with anxious thoughts and behaviors, but it is also an example of the brain functioning in a non-neurotypical way.

Suggested treatment to address symptoms of OCD is a combination of psychoeducation, medication, and talk therapy. Living with untreated Obsessive Compulsive disorder is incredibly difficult; treatment is available and here when you are ready.