It is estimated that 31.1% of adults in the United States will experience an anxiety disorder in their lifetime.1
What is Anxiety?
Everyone experiences anxiety. In fact, you probably wouldn’t be alive today if you never experienced anxiety. Does that surprise you? Believe it or not, anxiety is necessary for a few reasons, the primary one being for survival. If you were facing an emergency or your life was potentially in danger, the anxiety you feel as a result of your fight, flight, or freeze response works to protect you by helping you to react faster, thus increasing your chance of survival. Anxiety also helps us recognize what we need to get done, and then motivates and prepares us to do so. Paying a bill, studying for a test, or even looking for a therapist are examples of situations where anxiety may have pushed you to get things done.
If Anxiety is So Helpful, Then What’s the Problem?
Excessive anxiety does more harm than good. It may not come as a surprise to you that anxiety disorders have become increasingly common over the last few years. There are different types of anxiety disorders, including but not limited to: Generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, panic disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobias, and separation anxiety disorder in children. Each of these disorders have different symptoms and criteria required for a diagnosis, but they all have one thing in common: They affect your ability to live your best life.
Another characteristic these disorders have in common is avoidance of some kind of trigger that causes anxiety. While it makes sense to avoid things that make you anxious (it’s uncomfortable!), avoidance actually makes it worse. The next time you are faced with that trigger and feel anxious, you may avoid it again and start to feel even more anxious, so you continue to avoid it. For example, a teen who has a panic attack at school starts to feel more anxiety about going to school because they are afraid to have another panic attack. So they stay home for a day and plan to go back to school the next. But the next morning, they start to feel even more afraid to go to school to the point where they are panicking just at the thought of going. See how quickly this can turn into a vicious cycle?
Anxiety can affect job and school performance, personal relationships, self-confidence, physical health, and more. If left untreated, anxiety disorders can sometimes lead to symptoms of depression as well.
How Do I Know if I Have Anxiety?
There are different symptoms and criteria for each anxiety disorder. One of the common criteria is that the anxiety must be out of proportion to the triggers or situations. For example, it is fairly common to have some anxiety when facing a new experience, such as starting at a new school or job. Out of proportion anxiety in these situations may look like: Excessive worrying, panicking, stomach issues, difficulty sleeping, and avoidance leading up to and on the day of the event. Another important marker that is common to most anxiety disorders is that the anxiety causes the person significant distress and negatively impacts their ability to function normally.
How Is Treatment With You Different From Any Other Therapist?
Many therapists are “generalists,” meaning they work with a variety of disorders (such as substance abuse, mood disorders, ADHD, anxiety, depression, etc.). Although working with generalists may be helpful to some extent, they most likely do not have the extensive training or focused experience to treat your anxiety most effectively. A generalist may inadvertently teach you strategies that can make anxiety worse, such as providing reassurance, feeding into anxiety stories, or teaching coping strategies focused on avoiding or getting rid of emotions. If you meet with your primary care doctor for problems with your lungs, they will typically refer you to a specialist for the best possible care (in this case a pulmonologist). Why should your mental health be any different?
My approach to treating anxiety is based on neuroscience. One positive of anxiety is that we know what is happening in the brain when someone feels anxious. This helps with knowing what strategies to use to specifically target aspects of the brain to make changes both immediate and long-term. I will teach you strategies that are scientifically proven to treat the type of anxiety you have. You deserve the best possible care and the best outcomes so that you can start feeling better sooner rather than later.
References
1. Harvard Medical School, 2007. National Comorbidity Survey (NCS). (2017, August 21). Retrieved from https://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/ncs/index.php. Data Table 1: Lifetime prevalence DSM-IV/WMH-CIDI disorders by sex and cohort.