Anxiety
Most of us get anxious sometimes. Anxiety disorders differ, however, from stress and fleeting moments of anxiousness or worry. People with these disorders may feel intense anxiety and excessive worrying almost all of the time to a degree that impairs their life. While normal stress is temporary, anxiety disorders are ongoing, lasting for weeks, months, or years.
Anxiety disorders are treatable. Treatment for anxiety disorders may include individual or group counseling, medication, and other strategies. Depending on the treatment that works best for you, these treatment approaches may be done individually or as a combination.
Common Anxiety Disorders
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by uncontrollable worry, a constant sense of dread, or anticipation of disaster. Symptoms of GAD may include persistent feelings of restlessness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, shortness of breath, sleep disturbances, and muscle tension. This uncontrollable worry lasts at least six months and can lead to impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Sometimes the worry can be so severe that it can lead to a panic attack.
Panic disorder is characterized by repeated, unexpected intense episodes of fear and anxiety. During a panic attack, people experience physical symptoms such as shortness of breath, sweating, dizziness, racing heart, and shakiness. A panic attack may also cause a feeling of loss of control or a fear of dying. These symptoms occur when the body's "flight or fight" response suddenly becomes activated for no reason. The attack may last just a few minutes or, sometimes, longer.
People who live with panic disorder often experience excessive worry in anticipation of another attack. This worry may lead to changes in lifestyle to avoid situations in which prior panic attacks have occurred.
A phobia is a strong, irrational fear of a specific object or situation that poses little or no real threat. This anxiety may lead people to limit their lifestyle to avoid the possibility of encountering what they fear. When they cannot avoid the fear, they may experience rapid heartbeat, sweating, panic, and a strong desire to get away.
Phobias generally begin in childhood. Common phobias are claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces), acrophobia (fear of heights), agoraphobia (fear of public places), flying, spiders or other insects, and thunderstorms.
Many people experience some degree of nervousness in social situations. However, social phobia involves an intense, irrational fear of being embarrassed or judged negatively by others. People with this phobia may severely limit their activities and avoid almost all social situations including casual social interaction, eating in public, or speaking with an authority figure. They often fear that others will notice their physical signs of anxiety such as sweating, shaking, or blushing.
As with other types of phobias, people with social phobia generally recognize that their fear is irrational. Social phobia can be overcome by taking small steps forward.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by persistent thoughts, images or impulses that are experienced as distressing and which lead to severe anxiety. Obsessions are intrusive thoughts, images, or ideas that won't go away, are unwanted, and are extremely worrying. The compulsions of OCD are characterized by the pressing need to do something to prevent or get rid of the anxiety associated with the obsessive thoughts. This need may take the form of rituals such as constant handwashing.
People who struggle with these thoughts or rituals may even know that they are irrational. While many people have occasional obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviors, people with OCD often spend much of their day consumed with these symptoms, to the degree that the disorder greatly interferes with their daily life
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may occur in the aftermath of a traumatic event. People with PTSD often experience intense fear or stress even after the actual threat has passed. They may also have intense feelings of helplessness, flashbacks or intrusive thoughts of the event, trouble sleeping or nightmares, guilt, increased arousal, or a need to avoid situations associated with the trauma. These symptoms can appear weeks, months, or even years after the event.
Get Connected to Care
If you would like to receive treatment for anxiety, please attend Counseling Drop-ins or schedule an appointment with Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) to speak with one of our mental health providers who specialize in treating anxiety.