Anxiety and Panic

Anxiety

Anxiety and Panic

Anxiety is characterized by symptoms of excessive worry of future threats that interrupt daily functioning. Anxiety can cause difficulty concentrating, irritability, feelings of restlessness, fatigue, or sleep disturbances.

On a daily basis, we may hear references to anxiety or a general feeling of anxiousness. This is because most people experience some level of worry throughout their everyday lives. It is easy to fixate on a certain thought, action or fear and to allow it to consume our attention. When this worry becomes excessive and pervasive over the course of several months, it can develop into Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Our thoughts can become crippling when they affect our work, education, relationships, sleep, health, and recreation. Anxiety is separate from but can result in panic attacks. Panic attacks are when an intense fear becomes heightened and uncontrollable. The symptoms of a panic attack can have significant bodily effects, such as shortness of breath, heart palpitations, dizziness, and chest pain, followed up by a lingering emotional and physical exhaustion once finally calm.

Talk-therapy can help with reducing the intensity and frequency of anxiety symptoms by teaching clients how to implement calming strategies to better equip them for managing anxious thoughts. Having persistent and daily anxiety is exhausting. Start talking with a trained Marriage & Family Therapist on how to effectively manage your symptoms and increase the joy in your life.

Panic Disorder

Also known as having panic attacks, are overwhelming experiences filled with intense fear and concern that may be accompanied by symptoms of a racing heartbeat, sweating, shaking, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, or being fearful of dying.

Worrying and feeling threatened by negative thoughts and fears can be a scary experience that causes significant distress. Let’s work together to identify what the core of your anxiety is, what may trigger it, how you can cope in different ways, and reduce your symptoms.