What is anxiety?
Everyone feels anxious at times. But for some people, this persistent, pronounced worry interferes with their ability to live life normally. Anxiety is characterized by excessive worry about routine life circumstances. These can include your normal job responsibilities, your health, your children’s health, your finances, being on time for appointments or doing everyday household chores.
When anxiety is severe, we feel like we can’t control it – in fact, it feels like it controls us. It often seems to come out of nowhere, and can significantly interfere with your ability to function normally.
What are the symptoms of anxiety?
When we’re in an anxious space, we worry about things far more than is actually appropriate for the situation. This often pushes us into other behaviors we don’t like, such as hurting other people’s feelings or using substances to alleviate our worry. Symptoms of anxiety may include:
Irritability
Becoming easily fatigued
Restlessness; feeling on edge
Difficulty concentrating
Muscle tension (trembling, twitching, achiness, soreness)
Difficulty falling or staying asleep
What are the most common types of anxiety disorders?
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
Social phobia
Agoraphobia
Panic disorder
Can therapy help with anxiety?
Anxiety can have long-term impacts on your health. If you’re struggling with the above symptoms, it’s important to see a therapist who can look into the causes of your anxiety and its effects on your body and mind.
There is a wide range of options available for treating anxiety. Therapy can teach us specific skills for managing anxiety, such as:
- Reasonably talking ourselves through anxiety-producing situations
- Gaining perspective on what we perceive to be threatening
- Relaxation techniques
- Self-care practices like diet, sleep and lifestyle changes specifically aimed at helping you with your anxiety
Anxiety stops us from doing the things we want to do. But counseling helps us take that power back by lessening its impact, so we can get back to doing the things we love. You deserve to feel like yourself again. Start by talking to one of our therapists today.
