Anxiety can be a very normal reaction to stress and can be beneficial in some situations. It can alert us to dangers and help us prepare and pay attention; your body’s “fight or flight” response. Anxiety disorders differ by involving excessive fear or anxiety that impacts daily functioning. Anxiety disorders are the most common of mental disorders.

What can therapy do to help? A therapist helps most people lead productive lives by teaching useful skills to reframe your mindset, which can lessen the severity of anxiety symptoms. Therapy also helps with normalizing cognitive distortions or anticipatory anxieties that can cause anxiety to manifest itself in many forms, including physical symptoms at times.

Fear is an emotional response to an immediate threat and is more associated with a fight or flight reaction – either staying to fight or leaving to escape danger. Anxiety disorders can cause people into try to avoid situations that trigger or worsen their symptoms. Job performance, school work and personal relationships can be affected.

There are several types of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, specific phobias, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder and separation anxiety disorder.

 

Diagnosis and Treatment
The first step is to schedule your initial intake for diagnostic impression to be formed. It is also recommended to see your primary medical doctor to make sure there is no physical problem causing the symptoms. If an anxiety disorder is diagnosed, a mental health professional can work with you on the best treatment. Unfortunately, many people with anxiety disorders don’t seek help. They don’t realize that they have an illness that has effective treatments or their own fears hold them back from seeking help. If necessary, depending on the severity of symptoms, your therapist can refer you to a psychiatric prescriber if medication interventions are recommended to decrease symptoms.

Although each anxiety disorder has unique characteristics, most respond well to counseling with a behavioral health professional. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), can help a person learn a different way of thinking, reacting and behaving to help feel less anxious, cope, and effectively manage symptoms. 

 

Citation: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/anxiety-disorders/what-are-anxiety-disorders.