Occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. You might feel anxious when faced with a problem at work, before taking a test, or making an important decision. 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. In this video, I am going to talk about generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

People with generalized anxiety disorder have excessive worry for months and some symptoms that include:

• Restlessness or feeling wound-up or on edge
• Being easily fatigued
• Difficulty concentrating or having their minds go blank
• Irritability
• Muscle tension
• Difficulty controlling the worry
• Sleep problems (difficulty falling or staying asleep or restless, unsatisfying sleep)

Panic Disorder

Panic disorder involves recurrent unexpected panic attacks, which are sudden periods of intense fear that may include:

• palpitations
• pounding heart
• accelerated heart rate
• sweating
• trembling or shaking
• sensations of shortness of breath, smothering, or choking.

Social Anxiety Disorder

The social anxiety disorder (sometimes called “social phobia”) is when people with this disorder have a marked fear of social or performance situations in which they expect to feel embarrassed, judged, rejected, or fearful of offending others.

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

Most anxiety disorders are generally treated with psychotherapy, and if severe enough, then medication can be prescribed.

One type of psychotherapy that can help people with anxiety disorders is called cognitive-behavioral therapy. It teaches a person different ways of thinking, behaving, and reacting to anxiety-producing and fearful situations.

It can help people learn and practice social skills for treating social anxiety disorder. Group therapy is also particularly effective for social anxiety disorder. “homework” often is assigned for participants to complete between sessions when using this type of therapy.

Another type is called Exposure therapy, which focuses on confronting the fears underlying an anxiety disorder in order to help people engage in activities they have been avoiding. Exposure therapy is used along with relaxation exercises and imagery.

Stress management techniques, meditation, yoga, exercise, diet, and many other life style changes can be initiated in order to help people with anxiety disorders calm themselves and will enhance the effects of therapy.

If you want to learn more about how your anxiety can be helped, please contact me for a free consultation.