Anxiety Treatment & Information

As a psychologist and counselor practicing in the Cary-Algonquin-Crystal Lake area of Illinois, I find that there are 21 essentials you can expect in your treatment for anxiety here. But first, what are the symptoms of anxiety?

• Excessive worry that is disproportionate to the situation
• Muscle tension, restlessness or shakiness
• Palpitations, butterflies, or nervousness
• Being on edge, concentration problems or insomnia

If you have these symptoms you should seek counseling or psychotherapy. But if you begin treatment, what will your counselor do- how does therapy work?

1. Your therapist will ask you to explore your thought processes-the way you think. In many cases the type of thoughts you have cause your anxiety. Fearful, dreadful, pessimistic thoughts are, what I call, anxiogenic. That is they lead to anxiety.

2. You will be asked to identify major life conflicts, past and present, to determine how they may be affecting your anxiety. Often history still lingers in your present.

3. Your therapist may train you in various relaxation techniques to subdue the butterflies or worries. One such technique is the therapist guiding your imagination to condition more pleasant relaxed feelings to the anxiety-provoking stimuli.

4. The therapist may train you on how to sculpt your anxiety-provoking thinking patterns so your thoughts are not so pessimistic, scary or catastrophic.

5. You may be asked to identify a list of negative consequences resulting from your your anxious thinking processes which interfere in your life.

6. The possible benefits of herbs or medications might be explored to assess whether or not one or more might be helpful in making your life more comfortable.

7. You might be asked to consider that your anxiety has its own subconscious sales pitch which tricks you into believing that it is necessary and helpful. Some of these sales pitches convince the patient that without the active worrying, his life will be ambushed by a terrible event or catastrophe that will be unmanageable.

8. Once the sales pitch has been figured out your therapist will teach you how to dispute it so that your mind believes your disputation rather than the deceptive pitch of your anxiety.

9. Your therapist may hypnotize you so that your subconscious mind learns that you do not have to worry to protect yourself. When your subconscious believes it, so will your everyday conscious mind and the anxiety will disappear

10. The therapist may prescribe that you read and study some pamphlets or articles about anxiety and ask that you select relevant concepts to discuss with him in the session.

11. Your therapist will likely help you to develop an awareness of your relapse triggers and constructive ways to manage them.

12. You may be required to verbalize how your current living situation contributes to your anxieties and may act as a hindrance to your recovery.

13. If your living situation is seen as aggravating your anxiety, other interventions, such as marriage or family counseling, may be introduced to deal with it.

14. Your therapist will assist you in developing insight into the personal or career changes that may be needed in order to prevent a relapse of serious anxiety.

15. You may be encouraged to increase your awareness of how your upbringing may have affected you psychologically. Remember that often a traumatic past may linger or even lurk in your present.

16. Your therapist will likely support and encourage you when you begin to express relevant fear, rage and rejection relating to any abuse or neglect that you may have experienced.

17. In helping you to manage a traumatic past, your therapist may help you identify the role you played in your family,the feelings associated with it and its impact on the present.

18. The therapist may help you to identify self-defeating patterns relevant to your anxiety that exist in your present family or career situation and suggest ways of modifying them.

19. The therapist may prescribe psychological testing to expose any factors that may be neglected in isolating the causes of your anxiety.

20. You will be helped to identify sources of ongoing support and reassurance to effectively curtail and manage your anxiety.

21. If you are taking any related medications, their clinical and side effects will be monitored to be sure that they are contributing efficiently to a therapeutic outcome and not hampering it in any way.

Fear, worry, and apprehension can be caused by many events. But when fear, worry, and apprehension are present on a person in an intense and irrational manner, possibly all at the same time, then he or she might be suffering from an anxiety attack. The 3 aforementioned conditions are accompanied by physical symptoms. They are as follows:

Perspiration or Sweating - It is normal for a person to sweat. This is the body’s natural way to cool down after physical activity such as exercising. It’s also the body’s response to external heat. However, sweating is one physical symptom that is also apparent when a person is having an anxiety attack.

Palpitations or fast and/or hard heart beating or pounding - Constant heart beating is obviously a sign of life. But, this should stay at a normal rate. When a person gets excited or frightened, he or she can feel that his or her heart skips or stops beating. Palpitating, however, can be an effect of anxiety. This is an unpleasant sensation that can be felt from the chest all the way to the neck and throat.

Stomach pain or abdominal pain - Often, physical pain has a corresponding physical problem. However, emotional illness such as anxiety attack can be one reason of such pain. Emotions can greatly affect the system of the body and can even cause inability to the person. Physical pain such as stomach and abdominal pain can be some of symptoms of anxiety.

Shaking or Trembling - Shaking or trembling can be caused by anger, stress, rage, or anxiety. But it should be noted that experiencing this regularly can be a sign of physical imbalance and should be examined by a doctor. Cold or Hot Flashes - A sudden and lasting sensation of body temperature change particularly in the upper body can be caused by emotional illnesses to include anxiety.

Lightheadedness, Faintness or Dizziness - Lightheadedness with no apparent physical cause can be a symptom of an anxiety attack. The inability to maintain balance while sitting or standing can also be a sign of anxiety. Some anti-anxiety drugs can provide help in treating these. Nausea and Vomiting - Nausea and vomiting can be caused by external conditions or it can be the body’s response to stimulants. These can be pain, changes in the body, taste, smell, irritation, poor blood circulation and anxiety.

Chest pain - It is described as a pressure, heaviness and discomfort on the chest. Meanwhile, a sudden and sharp pain in the chest can be a sign of heart attack. Still, other reasons can cause a person to feel chest pain. One of these of course is anxiety attack. Difficulty in swallowing - A feeling of tightening from the neck to the upper part of the abdomen, tightening of the neck area or only at the chest (behind the breastbone) can be a sign of emotional problems including anxiety.

Periods of breathlessness, shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing - Any of these can send discomfort to the person. This often leads to dizziness as the muscles, brain, and other body organs cannot receive their required oxygen supply to function properly. Periods of breathlessness, shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing can be a sign of anxiety. As was mentioned, any of these symptoms can be caused by other physical conditions but if a person has shown at least 4 of the mentioned symptoms, it is advisable to seek proper help immediately.

Generalized anxiety disorder affects around 3% to 4% of the population. It keeps you in a worried state and makes a persons depressed about life. It does not stop a person from living their lives normally, or is it a panic attack. It affects they way you think. It stops a person from deciding on things and thus making them depressed.

It makes the person believe that they have no interest in life. There are no real triggers for generalized anxiety disorder. Sometimes it can affect a person without them knowing. For example, you are waiting for a loved one and they are late. You start to think about the “what if’ they had an accident, what if something bad has happened to them? The feeling of worry and anxiety will start to creep into their head and the cycle repeats itself in a variety of situation.

Some people will experience this problem in their everyday lives and it could prevent them from relaxing, being calm and enjoy time alone. Generalized Anxiety disorder (GAD) can take up to 6 months or more of severe anxiety to take affect. People who experience GAD usually expect the worse case scenario. It prevents them from relaxing and can cause insomnia, fatigue, headaches, irritability and trembling.

GAD affects approximately 2.8% of all Americans (4 million people) each year and often hits people in their childhood, adolescence and even in adult hood. It affects women more than men. GAD is just one of the six different anxiety disorders and can be categorized in the following groups.

1. Generalized Anxiety Disorder
2. Panic Disorder
3. Social Anxiety Disorder
4. Post Traumatic Anxiety Disorder
5. Obsessive Anxiety Disorder
6. Phobia Related Anxiety Disorder

GAD along with the other 5 disorders is treatable and should be looked at by a professional therapist as soon as possible. There are two main types of recommended therapy, cognitive and behavioural therapy. Many patience usually find it easier to copy with disorders when they receive treatment.

Cognitive therapy is focused on changing ones mental state by helping the brain relearn its thinking process. It can help with long term treatment because changing the way a person thinks can affect their out come tremendously for example helping them cope with anxiety and realising that all their problems can be solved.

Behavioural therapy is a more in your face type of treatment. It involves confrontation a persons fears. The purpose to this is to help a person talk about their problems until desensitize from the fear or anxiety by describing in detail how they feel.

There are millions of people that suffer every day from social anxiety, they are usually afraid of dealing with people, talking with strangers, going to public places, speaking in public, being embarrassed and being judged by others.

Those fears cause severe anxiety and depression that can last for a very long time if its not treat it correctly. Some of the side effects of not treating social anxiety are alcoholism and drugs. About 20% of all the people with social anxiety use alcohol as a way to cope with their anxiety symptoms and be able to be in social situations. This personality disorder can become very frustrating and severe depression is very common, some people with this disorder have a few close friends that they see, but there are others that avoid any kind of people and their problem interfere with their correct functioning every day.

They stop going to work, to school, they don’t go to social activities, they avoid any possible social situations where they are going to feel anxious. This disorder cause emotional and physical symptoms such as palpitations, nausea, headaches, sweating and much more.

Social Anxiety Treatments

There are different social anxiety treatments that help to reduce and control some of the anxiety symptoms. There are many drug medications that doctors prescribe to treat social anxiety and reduce some of their symptoms such as: phenibut, xanax, picamilon, pregabalin, neurontin, lexapro for social anxiety and many others. Those medications are classified in SSRIs, SRNIs, Beta Blockers, benzodiazepenes and others.

However there are 3 anti depressants that are approved by the FDA they are Paxil, Zoloft, and Effexor. However those medications can cause side effects such as nausea, headaches, changes in sexual behavior and many more that you doctor will tell you, this is why you need to go with a psychiatrist of physician so he can monitor your progress and avoid any risks.

The most helpful treatment for social anxiety is psychotherapy, it will help you identify and erase your irrational fears so you are not anxious and nervous in front of people any more. Behavioral therapy is the most common type of psychotherapy and it works very well. You should also find some social anxiety help groups to help you go on and make some new friends that understand you and want to support you.

Anxiety disorder illnesses can fill people’s lives with overwhelming anxiety and fears that are chronic, unrelenting and grow progressively worse. Anxiety disorders cause sufferers to feel a sense of constant worry, tension and impending doom.

Anxiety symptoms can become so severe that anxiety disorder sufferers are almost totally disabled, too terrified to leave their homes, to enter their office building, attend their children’s soccer games or shop for groceries. It is common for anxiety disorder to accompany depression, substance abuse (like alcohol) or another anxiety disorder.

Most anxiety sufferers experience significant physical symptoms including chest pain, shortness of breath, excessive sweating, muscle tightness and a feeling of dizziness. When anxiety is taking a toll, your body knows it. You have trouble sleeping, eating and concentrating. You get headaches, your stomach is upset and your heart races. It is often the frightening physical anxiety symptoms that prompt sufferers to seek help.

Many don’t realize that their physical symptoms are caused by anxiety until they see a doctor. Anxiety symptoms often produce a severe, unfounded state of worry about matters such as health, money, family or work. Because they are so intense, anxiety symptoms can cause a person to feel chronically tired and worn out all the time. Restful sleep does not come easily to anxiety sufferers.

Fortunately, through research supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, there are some effective treatments that can help. In fact, anxiety disorder is the most treatable form of mental illness. Treatment typically involves a combination of medication and therapy. Anxiety symptoms will vary from person to person but the common denominator is that they are all disruptive to the person’s life and negatively impact their ability to function. In addition to the severe mental anguish, anxiety symptoms often include significant physical discomfort like rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, stomach problems, muscle tension and headaches.

Many who suffer from anxiety panic attack symptoms rush to the hospital because they are convinced they are having a heart attack. People with social anxiety disorder may literally lose their voices and have breathing difficulties if faced with a situation where they have to do something as simple as introduce themselves to their coworkers. Anxiety information can go a long way toward helping sufferers and their families decide the best approach to treatment.

Many world-class facilities like the Midwest Center For Anxiety have conducted extensive research and can recommend treatment options. Many mental health professionals use the Beck Anxiety Inventory to help diagnose anxiety and find the best course of treatment. The Anxiety Disorder Association of America provides a wealth of information for anxiety suffers and their families. It is our earnest hope that this information will enhance your life and allow you to join the millions of people who have conquered anxiety disorder and gone on to live fearless, happy and meaningful lives.

Finding someone that has not suffered from a degree of anxiety at some stage of their lives is very hard. It is estimated that over nineteen million people in the U.S. alone are having problems dealing with the feelings of anxiety. The effects can range from mild sensitivity right up to full blown debilitating and frightening episodes. The good news is that with the right attitude and some practice we can limit the effect that it has on our lives. These tips are based on my own experiences from many years of dealing with anxiety.

The first thing to do is to become aware of when an attack is likely to occur and be prepared for it. Sure there will be times when you will be thrown in to a situation that is uncomfortable and you will have no immediate way out, but if we can recognize the signs early we have a chance to take hold of the situation before it becomes a full blown attack. Tuning in to your body and the way it reacts in certain situations can be the best method for early detection of the on-set of an attack.

When we start to feel anxious as hard as it may seem we need to calm down and relax and reassure ourselves that we can get through this. If you can master the art of calming yourself down before things get out of hand you will notice a huge difference in the way you are able to handle yourself. I found that once I was able to relax and have even a small amount of control over the situation my confidence rose and as a result I was able to see some light at the end of what was a very dark and long tunnel at the time.

Breathe! And then breathe some more! Not just small gasping breaths, but if at all possible take long deep breaths in and out until you feel the tension being removed with each breathe. Taking deep breaths can also help in another way, instead of focusing on the horrible feelings you are having at the time shift your focus to your breathing. Try concentrating on the air going in and out of your mouth or nose or concentrate on the rise and fall of your chest. If you can manage to take the focus off what is causing your anxiety even just for a moment you give yourself a good chance to relax and take control of your feelings.

Another great idea is the use of relaxation techniques, something that can take you away from your surroundings and let your mind slip in to neutral for a little while. This can be very beneficial in processing the thoughts and feelings that you may have had during the day that caused you grief. These techniques can work in improving your ability to handle any unwanted feelings and bring about improved mental strength so you are better prepared for the next time you get that familiar uneasy feeling. source