Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety is the most common mental health disorder in the U.S; unfortunately, only about one-third of those suffering with anxiety orders seek treatment. Wichita OCD founder David Anderson, MS, LCPC, RPT-5, specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of anxiety disorders in Wichita, Kansas. David uses the medication-free behavioral therapy techniques of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) to help both children and adults manage all types of anxiety.
What Is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a mental and physical reaction to situations that are dangerous, stressful or new. It can help us feel alert and ready to respond to danger. However, anxiety is different from fear in that it’s an anticipation of a negative future event that triggers avoidance behavior, while fear is a reaction to an immediate threat that triggers the flight or fight response.
Symptoms of Anxiety
Sweating
Shaking
Dizziness
Insomnia
Racing heart
Fatigue
Restlessness
Headaches
Changes in digestion
Anxiety Disorders
Feelings of nervousness or anxiousness for an upcoming exam, job performance review, or first date are normal and can actually help you focus. This level of anxiety demonstrates a level of concern for a situational outcome, and it dissipates once the event is resolved. Anxiety disorders, however, involves excessive feelings of anxiety and fear. In this case, the intense feelings of distress become overwhelming.
Diagnosis
A person is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder when the anxiety is ever-present, it’s disproportionate to the situation, and it interferes with work performance, relationships, and normal daily functions. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health issue in the United States today, affecting more than 40 million adults, which is nearly 20%.
Causes
While there’s currently no known cause for anxiety disorders, there are likely contributing developmental, psychological, environmental and genetic risk factors.
Types of Anxiety Disorders
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by worry that is excessive, persistent and interferes with day-to-day life activities. Aside from ongoing physical tension and mental distress, symptoms may include difficulty concentrating, sleeping problems, becoming fatigued easily and feeling on edge or restless. Worries often center around minor issues or regular daily activities, such as appointments, job responsibilities, chores or car repairs.
Panic Disorder
The primary symptom of panic disorder is recurring panic attacks. Panic attacks can happen without any obvious warning or triggering event, or they can be associated with other mental disorders. Panic attacks can include a range of symptoms including:
Sweating
Shaking
Difficulty breathing
Heart palpitations
Dizziness
Tingling
Numbness
Nausea
Fear of dying
Panic attacks are frightening and can take a while to recover from fully; they are emotionally and physically draining. Although they’re usually short, the experience is so intense that many people fear having another one. Therapy can help you discover the underlying cause of panic attacks and explore practical ways to cope with and even prevent them.
Specific Phobias
A phobia is a persistent, excessive fear of an activity, situation or object that’s not typically harmful. Examples of specific phobias include fear of spiders, fear of flying, and public speaking. Although the person knows their fear is extreme, they aren’t able to overcome it, so they’ll go to great effort to avoid whatever they’re fearful of.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD is an anxiety disorder resulting from events that could lead to harm or death, which often leads to feelings of terror, horror, doom, and dread. Trauma can result from acts of violence, abuse, an unexpected death, domestic violence and other emotionally disturbing situations.
Our brains have developed special ways of dealing with traumatic events in the forms of avoidance, disgust, and dissociation. While these innate and instinctual responses are meant to protect us, they can sometimes result in an unhealthy and long-lasting level of psychological distress known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The symptoms of trauma become locked to the traumatic memories which can then be triggered by any thought, feeling, memory, person, or place associated or related to the traumatic memory. When this happens, the sympathetic nervous system initiates the fight/flight/freeze response, which hijacks the brain and nervous system and sends the individual into a state of survival. A triggering event may cause unexpected emotional and physical reactions including feelings of terror, doom, panic, anger, disgust, anxiety, or disassociation. When the traumatic event and its aftermath continue to impact a person’s ability to function on a day-to-day basis, it may be time to seek professional help.
Separation Anxiety Disorder
An individual with separation anxiety disorder will have excessive anxiety or fear about being separate from someone to whom they are attached. Those feelings will be inappropriate for the person’s age, they’ll last weeks or months, and will interfere with functions of daily life. The person may experience consistent worry about losing someone close to them, resulting in a refusal to go anywhere without the person. Someone with separation anxiety may also have nightmares about being separated from the person to whom they’re attached.
Treatment for Anxiety Disorders
Unfortunately, many people suffer needlessly with anxiety disorders. They don’t realize they have an illness that can be treated effectively, so they don’t seek help.
Therapy is the first step to externalizing the thoughts and feelings causing anxiety, which helps to calm the physical symptoms of unrelenting hypervigilance.
Treatment depends on the type of anxiety disorder, but most respond well be to the non-medication behavioral therapies CBT, ACT and Exposure Therapy. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is also an established treatment for PTSD.
Request an Appointment for Anxiety Disorder Treatment
Contact us online to request anxiety disorder treatment with David Anderson at Wichita OCD Center. We’ll contact you as soon as possible to confirm and schedule your appointment.
