Understanding Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental struggles for people in all age groups. One-quarter of adolescents and one-fifth of adults live with the challenges of anxiety disorders. Symptoms like panic attacks, racing thoughts, depression, sleeplessness, headaches, and a myriad of other physical problems plague people who suffer from anxiety disorders. In addition, anxiety has a family component and can affect all aspects of a sufferer’s daily life.
With the right tools and coping skills learned from seeking anxiety therapy in Orlando, you can manage anxiety disorders. Anxiety often has long-term effects that come and go in waves. Managing these waves can differentiate between feeling drowning and rising above mental anguish.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a negative mental response to something not right in your life, based on past trauma and experiences or current life situations. Once you understand and accept the responses for what they are, you can learn coping skills to address them better and live a happier, more fulfilling life. Eliminating anxiety may not be possible, and that is normal. However, learning to live a happier life despite anxiety is vital for finding a productive life balance.
What is an anxiety disorder?
Every person alive experiences some level of anxiety in their lifetime. Anxiety can bubble to the surface over exams, work changes, first dates, and financial troubles. However, anxiety disorders are defined by their significant effects on routine daily activities. The racing thoughts and worry present with an anxiety disorder can interfere with normal functioning and become entirely debilitating for some people. Occasional anxiety is a normal part of the human experience, but if you have overwhelming, uncontrollable, and persistent anxiety, you likely have an anxiety disorder.
Anxiety disorders are many. They include social anxiety disorder, specific phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and many more. Anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive and uncontrollable fear and anxiety paired with other behavioral disturbances. For example, the anticipation of a threat in the future comes with anxiety, and fear is an emotional response to an imminent threat, whether actual or perceived. When anxiety and fear control your life and activities, it is time to seek professional help.
What are common symptoms of anxiety?
Overthinking and constant racing thoughts are pervasive when dealing with anxiety disorders. Other common symptoms of clinical anxiety include trouble breathing, insomnia, sweaty palms, headaches, and panic attacks. In addition, it is not uncommon for young people to try to relieve anxiety through self-harm behaviors like cutting themselves and pulling their hair out. At the same time, both adults and adolescents may experience physical symptoms like irritable bowel syndrome, stomach aches, and headaches.
Where do I start with managing anxiety?
The first step to managing anxiety is to become aware of your thoughts and learn to manage them better with coping skills like deep breathing, meditation, and positive thinking. Professional counselors are well trained in giving patients the tools to manage their anxious thought patterns. In addition, therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and journaling can help people suffering from anxiety disorders gain awareness of their thought patterns and learn better ways to cope with them in the future.
Contact us today for more information on anxiety therapy in Orlando. Despite your anxiety disorder, we can give you the tools and coping mechanisms to lead a happier, more fulfilling life.
