While a person can be naturally anxious about some things, it is completely different from having an anxiety disorder, which is considered a true medical condition that requires care, therapy, and medication in some instances.
When anxiety becomes excessive and it begins to cripple a person’s daily life due to its persistence and uncontrollable nature, this is when the person affected should seek mental health services.
Anxiety disorders can worsen to the point that a person will no longer be able to carry out daily functions normally. It is one of the most pervasive mental health conditions in the United States today.
How serious are anxiety disorders? They are just as serious as diabetes and heart conditions. Take note that there is a group/set of conditions that fall under “anxiety disorders” and the severity and symptoms differ depending on the category.
A person can have Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), suffer from panic attacks, fear of wide-open spaces, or be fearful of relating to others (this is called social anxiety disorder). Some phobias are also considered as a function of a specific anxiety disorder. Identifying the actual disorder will require psychological intervention and a visit to The New Hope Mental Health Counseling Services.
If you are suffering from obsessive thoughts, nonstop worrying, and general anxiety and you are struggling to survive daily life because of the burden of having some or all of these, you need anxiety counseling.
Anxiety counseling is therapy for individuals who may be dealing with something more than just regular worrying or temporary anxiety. It is important for people to realize that they don’t have to put up with worrying, fear, or anxiety that’s too much for them to handle.
Medical treatment and psychotherapy for anxiety disorders go hand in hand and recovery requires both. A client can treat his/her anxiety disorder with medication, but without the right strategies in place, recovery is an altogether different proposition.
Therapy can help clients discover the root cause of their anxieties, what has been triggering their episodes, and what stressors are commonly associated with the emergence of these symptoms.
Broadly speaking, therapy can help clients relax more (which is necessary to reduce mental and emotional stress), develop a new perspective of life and its many situations, develop more helpful coping skills that will not generate a negative impact on the client’s life, and most of all, we will also help you develop unique and productive problem-solving skills that you can use on a daily basis to regain control of your life.
One of the most common after-effects of anxiety disorders is pervasive fearfulness of situations and events that wouldn’t normally cause fear in people without anxiety disorders. The goal is to bring the client back to that level where life isn’t intimidating or frightening, but rather, controllable and manageable.
There are different kinds of anxiety disorders, so it is imperative that you receive the kind of treatment that is custom-tailored to what affects you. Specific disorders have their own symptoms and severity, and the treatment will depend on these factors.
For example, a person who is suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) will have different needs compared to someone who suffers from severe social anxiety. The individual therapies employed to remedy or correct behavior and thinking patterns may differ greatly because the disorders have unique characteristics.
What about the length of the therapy needed? Again, this will depend on some factors such as the type of the anxiety disorder, the severity of the disorder, the willingness of the client to attend regular psychotherapy sessions, the effectiveness of the intervention, and the response of the client to the therapy.
But generally speaking, we can happily report that anxiety counseling is often short-term because we use evidence-based intervention and are focused on helping our clients recover quickly. We are able to do this because we help our clients examine their thoughts (through cognitive therapy) and we also examine how their behavior affects their daily life (through behavior therapy). On the whole, we can say that our approaches to therapy are effective and are geared toward genuine recovery and long-term gains for all our clients.
We have a strong professional network that is available to participate in the coordination of your care; from medication therapy to parenting classes, anger management, family conflicts, romantic relationship stress, and transitional coaching.
