Anxiety Treatment

What Are The Main Symptoms For A Anxiety Disorders?

Avoidance is a common response to anxiety. This can have a significant impact on relationships, work performance, and school performance. Avoidance of situations that can cause anxiety or fear is a key behavioral sign. These are some other symptoms that can be associated with anxiety disorders.

• Feelings that are gloomy or foreboding
• Apprehension
• Irritability
• Restlessness
• Anticipation for the worst
• Negative thoughts and dwelling on the negative

Anxious thoughts can also cause physical symptoms. These symptoms can include:

• Headache
• Backache
• Upset stomach, nausea
• Diarrhea
• Sweating
• Racing heart
• Shaking
• Sleeplessness
• Mind goes blank
• Muscle tension

How Do I Know If I have An Anxiety Disorder?

In general, symptoms should be present for at least six months and must last more days than not. The most common symptoms include difficulty controlling worrisome thoughts, and physical symptoms that can cause significant distress or impairment in the social, occupational, or other important areas. To rule out any other possible causes, such as substance abuse or hormone imbalance, consult your doctor.

Are There Different Types of Anxiety Disorders?

These disorders can be classified as mild-to-severe and include a wide range of symptoms, including phobias and generalized anxiety disorders. Although there are some symptoms that all anxiety disorders share, they differ in many key aspects:

• Generalized Anxiety disorder – People with generalized anxiety disorder have a constant, excessive worry about daily life. It can affect your ability to concentrate and function in daily activities.
• Social Anxiety Disorder– Social anxiety disorder can include shyness, self-consciousness, or identification as an introvert. Social anxiety is often caused by a fear of embarrassment or humiliation. The result is social isolation and withdrawal. Panic attacks can occur when stressful social situations are not avoided.
• Panic Disorder A panic disorder is when you feel terrorized or have panic attacks. These attacks can occur without warning and may not be accompanied by any reason. The symptoms can be described as a heart attack-like reaction. People who have panic attacks often occur suddenly without any apparent cause. They tend to avoid public situations or dangerous situations such as driving, and to keep their anxiety at bay.
• Phobias– Phobias can be irrational fears that are triggered by a specific situation, thing or place. Fear of spiders, snakes, spiders and elevators are all common phobias. People can take extreme measures to avoid the fear object.
• Agoraphobia – Agoraphobia refers to a fear of being trapped in an impossible situation, which can lead to panic attacks. This fear is not proportional to the situation and can cause impairments in daily functioning. An individual suffering from severe agoraphobia might even be afraid to leave the house.
• Separation Anxiety disorder – Separation anxiety refers to the fear of being separated from someone you are attached to, such a family member. Separation anxiety disorder may also include a concern about losing someone you love or feeling unable to live without them. Separation anxiety disorder can lead to an individual insisting that their spouse stay at home.

What Can I Do To Reduce Anxiety?

Consider your daily habits and routines as a first step to addressing any health concerns. Are you a regular exerciser? Get good sleep? Eat nutritious foods? Keep to a regular schedule. All of these are effective ways to reduce stress and anxiety. It can also make a huge difference to reduce your intake of alcohol, caffeine, and other mood-altering substances.

Grounding techniques can be used to redirect and distract anxious thoughts. These are just a few examples.

• Give details about what you see, hear and feel. Pay attention to your surroundings.
• Use numbers in different ways or solve math problems.
• You can play a memory game.
• You can think of items as belonging to a particular category. For example, musical instruments in an orchestra or animals at a zoo.
• Imagine reciting a poem and then focusing on each word as you form it.
• Imagine completing an activity, such as a golf game, chore, or trip.
• You can describe your surroundings in detail.
• Focus on your pet’s fur and other details while you sit with it.

Meditation is a great way to cope with anxiety and stress-related problems. Meditation helps to calm the mind by focusing and paying attention. There are many free apps that can help you with meditation, deep breathing, and other relaxation techniques.

Herbal remedies and supplements are also natural options to manage anxiety. Many natural remedies have side effects and are not proven to be effective. Before using any herbal remedy for any health issue, consult your doctor.

What Are The Treatments For Anxiety Disorders?

Most anxiety is diagnosed by therapists and medical providers through a discussion with the patient. To focus on specific symptoms, some providers may use questionnaires or scales as diagnostic tools. Your recommended treatment for anxiety disorders could include:

• Talk Therapy (Psychotherapy). Mental health professionals are trained in many therapies to help patients cope with and manage their symptoms. These therapies include mindfulness techniques, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and many others.
• Medication – Medications are often prescribed to alleviate symptoms.
• Adjunctive Therapy – These therapies can be used to treat symptoms.

If You believe You May Have Social Anxiety Disorder and Need Help Finding Treatment

A mental health assessment is the first step to effective treatment of anxiety disorders, whether they are generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), or specific phobias. A brief assessment can be done by primary care doctors or other health care providers. In more serious cases, a referral to a clinic or mental health center for treatment and diagnosis may be made. Psychologists and mental health therapists are licensed and trained professionals who can conduct comprehensive assessments and develop individual treatment plans. They also provide counseling. A recommendation to see a psychiatrist may be made to you to help determine if medication or another therapy is appropriate. Psychiatrists can be medical doctors who have specialized training in diagnosing and treating mental disorders.

How Long Does Treatment For Anxiety Disorder Take?

There are many factors that influence the length of treatment for anxiety disorders. These include severity and extent of symptoms. Treatment duration can also be affected by medication effectiveness and compliance to treatment plans. Patients may experience temporary relief, but then suffer from the same symptoms for longer periods of time. As symptoms change or subside, treatment and therapy can be intermittent.

What Is The Effectiveness of Anxiety Treatment?

The treatment of anxiety disorders has been proven effective by mental health professionals who have developed a number of evidence-based and reliable treatment options. Anxiety disorders can be treated. Learn more about evidence based therapies to learn how they can help you regain control over your life and improve your well-being.