Online Therapy for Anxiety
On the United We Care mental health platform, you can find licensed anxiety counselors and therapists who are specialized in assessing, diagnosing, treating and preventing anxiety attacks and the symptoms of anxiety disorder.
What is Anxiety Disorder?
Do you feel nervous, worried, start sweating or get palpitations when thinking about that important presentation or delivering a speech on stage? In some cases, this might be caused by stage fright, which is perfectly normal. However, if these feelings persist for a long period of time, appears in a not-so-usual situation and begins to affect daily life, then you might have an anxiety disorder.
Anxiety disorders can cause you to experience anxiety attacks. An anxiety attack is a mental health condition that arises due to fear, worry and anxiety. It is a sudden condition that may occur due to the apprehension and worry of some future event.
Types of Anxiety Disorder
There are 5 types of anxiety disorder:
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
GAD is characterized by excessive feelings of unrealistic worry or tension with little or no reason, thus disturbing day-to-day activities. GAD often results in physical symptoms like insomnia, stomach upset, restlessness, and fatigue.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is characterized by repeated or unexpected panic attacks, combined with a fear of experiencing another episode. Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear that come on quickly and reach their peak within minutes.
Hoarding Disorder
People with hoarding disorder unnecessarily save items that leads to clutter, which disrupts their ability to use their living or work spaces. It is really difficult for people with hoarding disorder to get rid of items or parting with possessions.
Social Anxiety Disorder
People with social anxiety disorder (also called social phobia) have an intense fear of social interactions. They typically fear social humiliation and worry about judgment from others.
Separation Anxiety Disorder
Separation anxiety is common in children, but adults experience it as well. People with this type of anxiety disorder have an extreme fear of separation from the people who are close to them in their life.
Signs and Symptoms of Anxiety
Different people experience different kinds of symptoms of anxiety disorder.
- Having constant feelings of impending danger or doom.
- Rapid breathing which does not go away easily.
- Sweating, which might affect confidence or interfere with daily life.
- Trembling
- Constant feeling of nervousness or restlessness.
- Feeling tired or weak.
- Inability to sleep properly.
- Difficulty in concentrating on anything else except the present matter of concern.
- The tendency to avoid things that trigger anxiety.
- Having gastrointestinal (GI) problems.
- The inability to control reasons to worry.
Causes of Anxiety Disorder
The causes of anxiety cannot be pinpointed to an exact degree. The symptoms can be triggered by certain events that have happened in the past. Life experiences and trauma, at some point in time, could lead to the development of an anxiety disorder.
Anxiety disorder can also be the underlying cause of certain health and medical issues such as heart diseases, diabetes, thyroid, respiratory problems, alcohol withdrawal, chronic pain and certain rare tumors.
Effects of Anxiety Disorder
If not treated, anxiety not only affects functioning and productivity, but is also the root cause for many physical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and panic disorders.
Do I Have Anxiety? | Online Anxiety Screening Test
You can take a free online anxiety screening and assessment test to find out if you have anxiety or anxiety disorder.
Treatment for Anxiety Disorder
Medication, typically antidepressants, and therapy is used in combination to treat depressive disorder.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is a type of counseling helps in understanding emotions, thoughts and feelings, and to manage them to reduce anxiety with the help of a trained mental health professional. A few psychotherapies in treating anxiety are,
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
CBT helps in turning negative or panic-inducing thoughts into positive ones.
Exposure therapy
Exposure therapy is a way of gradually bringing you closer to something you fear and deal with it through exposure.
Interpersonal therapy
Interpersonal therapy focuses on developing communication and interpersonal effectiveness skills. Practitioners believe that many mental health issues stem from relational deficits or role conflicts.
Medication
Medication is used only to relieve symptoms of anxiety or anxiety attacks. These are helpful for people who have severe anxiety symptoms.
Dealing with Anxiety | How to Calm Down When Anxious
Here are some tips to calm down when feeling anxious:
- Breathe slowly
- Go for a walk
- Accept your anxious state
- Listen to relaxing music
- Draw or paint anything you wish
- Avoid caffeine or alcohol
Blogs About Anxiety | Expert Advice
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