We all feel anxious at times, before taking a big test, starting a new job, or taking wedding vows our wedding vows. But anxiety disorders involve more than temporary worry or fear. For a person with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away and can get worse over time. The feelings can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, school work, and relationships. There are several different types of anxiety disorders. Examples include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
People with generalized anxiety disorder display excessive anxiety or worry for months and face several anxiety-related symptoms such as the following:
- Restlessness or feeling wound-up or on edge
- Being easily fatigued
- Difficulty concentrating or having the mind go blank
- Irritability
- Muscle tension
- Difficulty controlling the worrying
- Sleep problems (difficulty falling or staying asleep or restless, unsatisfying sleep)
Panic Disorder
People with panic disorder have recurrent unexpected panic attacks- sudden periods of intense fear that may include heart palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate; sweating; trembling or shaking; sensations of shortness of breath, smothering, or choking; and feeling of impending doom.
Panic disorder symptoms include:
- Sudden and repeated attacks of intense fear
- Feelings of being out of control during a panic attack
- Intense worries about when the next attack will happen
- Fear or avoidance of places where panic attacks have occurred in the past
Social Anxiety Disorder
People with social anxiety disorder (sometimes called “social phobia”) have a marked fear of social or performance situations in which they expect to feel embarrassed, judged, rejected, or fearful of offending others.
Social anxiety disorder symptoms include:
- Feeling highly anxious about being with other people and having a hard time talking to them
- Feeling very self-conscious in front of other people and worried about feeling humiliated, embarrassed, or rejected, or fearful of offending others
- Being very afraid that other people will judge them
- Worrying for days or weeks before an event where other people will be
- Staying away from places where there are other people
- Having a hard time making friends and keeping friends
- Blushing, sweating, or trembling around other people
- Feeling nauseous or sick to your stomach when other people are around
Treatment with Barbara
EMDR Therapy is a great way to resolve symptoms of anxiety. Treatment will begin with a complete evaluation and client history then the treatment plan will be discussed and agreed upon. Often symptom relief can occur within a few sessions. In other cases, treatment will need to move more slowly and could take more time to resolve.
