Anxiety Disorder
Everyone experiences anxiety at different times in life. It helps us avoid dangerous situations by giving us the energy and alertness we need to escape. However, anxious feelings don’t always go away for everyone once the sense of danger or insecurity passes.
Some people may see situations as much worse than they are. These anxiety effects can affect their ability to sleep, concentrate, and perform ordinary tasks. This condition is called anxiety disorder. An anxiety disorder can be so challenging in more severe cases that it becomes life-threatening.
Eden by Enhance helps those struggling with anxiety disorders by using evidence-based research and treatments to optimize their recovery. Our patient-tailored treatment methods address the issue at the core for a more wholesome recovery process.
Anxiety Self-Test
Anxiety Disorder
Everyone experiences anxiety at different times in life. It helps us avoid dangerous situations by giving us the energy and alertness we need to escape. However, anxious feelings don’t always go away for everyone once the sense of danger or insecurity passes.
Some people may see situations as much worse than they are. These anxiety effects can affect their ability to sleep, concentrate, and perform ordinary tasks. This condition is called anxiety disorder. An anxiety disorder can be so challenging in more severe cases that it becomes life-threatening.
Eden by Enhance helps restore balance to all patients using evidence-based research and treatments to optimize their recovery. Our patient-tailored treatment methods address the issue at the core for a more wholesome recovery process.
WHAT IS AN
Anxiety Disorder?
Feeling anxious about life changes is expected. These anxieties can be unpleasant but fade with time. Sometimes, these anxieties can inspire a person to work harder to avoid being in such situations again. Common fear comes and goes but does not interfere with everyday life.
However, in the case of an anxiety disorder, the patient feels intense fear that lingers for extended periods. This type of anxiety can cause patients to stop performing their daily activities or engage in things they usually enjoy.
Extreme anxiety disorder can prevent someone from crossing the street, entering an elevator, or leaving home. If left untreated, this type of anxiety may worsen and expose the patient to more harm health-wise.
Anxiety disorder can affect people from all walks of life. But studies from the American Psychiatric Association show that women are more likely to experience the condition than men.
SYMPTOMS OF
Anxiety Disorder
People with anxiety disorders may experience symptoms differently. While one patient may express their anxiety as butterflies in the stomach, another patient experiences a racing heart and excessive sweating. People may feel like they have no control over their minds and body, worsening their anxiety episodes.
This segment highlights different types of anxiety disorders, including:
Physical Symptoms
- Fatigue
- Sweating
- Trembling
- Dizziness
- Shortness of Breath
- Feeling Lightheaded or Dizzy
- A Racing Heart
- Unexplained Aches and Pains
- A Panic Attack
- Problems Sweating
- Difficulty Falling Asleep
Behavioral Symptoms
Some patients who have anxiety avoid situations that induce anxious feelings. However, avoiding certain places and conditions can affect their everyday life. Especially if the person experiences extreme anxiety to the point, they cannot even step outside their home.
Anxiety disorder patients might excessively worry about their past, present, or future. They have trouble concentrating or thinking about anything else.
Psychological Symptoms
- A Racing Mind
- Memory Problems
- Feeling Apprehensive or Powerless
- Feeling Your Are Always in Constant Danger
- Difficult Concentrating
- The Constant Feeling That Something Bad Can Happen Anytime
We provide comprehensive and sophisticated mental health care to all patients dealing with anxiety. Our innovative approaches to diagnosing and treating anxiety disorder are patient-tailored and aimed at meeting all client’s needs.
TYPES OF
Anxiety Disorder
People living with anxiety often experience symptoms of more than one anxiety condition. Many more patients also experience depression, making it even more important to seek medical support from a licensed psychologist. Anxiety disorder symptoms can become more pronounced if left untreated.
This segment highlights different types of anxiety disorders, including:
1. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder can be characterized by chronic anxiety, exaggerated worry, and tension. Often, there is nothing to provoke these senses of heightened fear experienced by the patient. People with GAD will often feel fear or worry under everyday circumstances. There does not necessarily need to be an event or trigger for feeling anxious.
2. Agoraphobia
This specific type of anxiety disorder occurs when a person fears and avoids places or situations that may cause them to feel anxious or panic. Many people with agoraphobia have a hard time feeling safe in public places. Therefore they tend to stay at home or only venture out to places that are comfortable. They may avoid leaving their home alone or being in places where there are large crowds.
3. Panic Disorder
This anxiety disorder is characterized by the patient’s unexpected, repeated episodes of intense fear. Physical symptoms like heart palpitations, chest pains, dizziness, abdominal distress, or shortness of breath follow. These symptoms may worsen if left untreated.
4. Specific Phobias
Specific phobia is an overwhelming fear of something that poses no real danger to a person. These fears are often considered irrational to outsiders. However, the fear and potential threat are real to the person struggling with a specific phobia. For some people, just thinking about facing the object or situation that causes them fear is overwhelming and triggers severe feelings of anxiety.
5. Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder)
This anxiety disorder is characterized by excessive self-awareness and overwhelming anxiety in everyday social situations. Social Anxiety Disorder can limit the patient to certain types of social situations. In its most severe form, a person may experience symptoms of Social Phobia almost every time they are around other people.
6. Separation Anxiety Disorder
Separation anxiety is typically associated with young children or infants. This anxiety disorder is less common in teenagers and adults but can still occur in these age groups. People who experience separation anxiety often find it difficult to maintain their daily responsibilities. They experience repeated and excessive distress about being separated from their home or loved ones. This fear can make it challenging to perform at work or school and hinder social interactions.
7. Selective Mutism
Selective mutism typically begins during the stages of childhood development. However, the disorder can persist into adulthood if not treated during childhood or adolescence. People with selective mutism experience severe anxiety over speaking in certain situations. In some cases, their anxiety completely impairs their ability to speak. This occurs because a freeze response has been triggered in the brain, and they cannot physically speak in social situations or in public.
CAUSES OF
Anxiety Disorder
Researchers still don’t fully understand the causes of anxiety or why it affects people drastically. However, studies show a range of factors may contribute to anxiety symptoms, which ultimately become disorders if left untreated.
These include:
Family History
Some patients are more likely to have anxiety if their family has a history of the disorder.
Life-Threatening Events
Accidents.
Having Another Mental Health Issue
Other mental illnesses may contribute to ongoing axiety issues.
Any Kind of Abuse
Physical, verbal, domestic, or sexual abuse.
Having Certain Personality Traits
Having low self-esteem, being a perfectionist, or needing to be in control.
Substance Abuse
Particularly alcohol, sedatives, cannabis, and amphetamines. Withdrawal from drugs and alcohol.
Ongoing Stressful Situations
Job issues or changes, family or relationship breakdown, unstable accommodation, or grief.
Anxiety Disorder
Treatments
Many patients with anxiety can use different treatment modalities to ease the condition’s symptoms. Medication and counseling are the most effective methods of treating anxiety.
1. Medication
Antidepressants:
SSRIs like fluoxetine (Prozac) and escitalopram (Lexapro) and SNRIs like venlafaxine (Effexor) and duloxetine (Cymbalta).
Antipsychotics
Low doses of antipsychotic drugs like aripiprazole, olanzapine, quetiapine, and risperidone help address a range of anxiety disorders while helping make other treatments work better.
Benzodiazepines:
Alprazolam (Xanax) and clonazepam (Klonopin) are great examples of benzos that work quickly to lower anxiety. However, they can also be addictive.
Bupropion:
This antidepressant is mainly used to treat chronic anxiety and works differently than the SSRIs and SNRIs.
Buspirone (BuSpar):
This anti-anxiety medication also helps treat chronic anxiety but may take a few weeks before the patient starts seeing full symptom relief.
2. Psychotherapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
This type of psychotherapy teaches patients how to turn negative (panic-causing) behaviors and thoughts into positive ones. Patients learn how they can carefully approach and manage their fearful situations without anxiety.
Behavioral Therapy
This therapy uses desensitization to slowly and safely expose the patient to their feared situations. Desensitization is used to help patients understand that their fear is mostly in their minds. Behavior therapy aims to reduce the anxiety patients feel when exposed to certain situations several times.
3. Support Groups and Education
Having like-minded individuals with the same condition can help individuals have a sense of belonging and community. Often people feel isolated when fighting anxiety disorder or other mental health conditions. Support groups change that by allowing people with anxiety to meet in groups of their peers. Through these groups, patients experience safety and comfort and give and receive support from each other.
Anxiety patients learn more about the condition and the best medications and therapies for the disorder.
GET HELP WITH ANXIETY DISORDER AT
Eden by Enhance
Anxiety disorders are mental health disorders that can affect daily functioning. To find recovery from anxiety, a mental health treatment facility may recommend therapies and medication as needed. Customized treatment plans can be established to provide the best results for individuals.
Eden by Enhance offers inpatient mental health treatment to help those struggling with anxiety disorders. Get in touch to learn more about our anxiety treatment programs to help with the reduction of symptoms and a better quality of life.
