Feeling Overwhelmed by Anxiety?
Understanding Anxiety: What It Is Anxiety?and How It Affects You
Anxiety is a natural and complex emotional response to stress, uncertainty, or perceived danger. It is your body’s way of signaling that something needs your attention, helping you prepare to face challenges or threats by becoming more alert. This response, often called the "fight or flight" reaction, involves changes like a faster heartbeat, quicker breathing, and muscle tension, all designed to help you respond quickly to potential harm.
Everyone experiences anxiety at times, it’s a normal part of being human. For example, feeling anxious before a big exam, job interview, or important presentation is common and can even help you focus and perform better. But anxiety becomes a problem when it lasts too long, feels too intense, or doesn’t match the situation, making it hard to go about your daily life.
It’s important to remember that anxiety is not a sign of weakness or failure, and there’s no need to feel ashamed. It’s a common experience that affects many people, regardless of age or background. Understanding anxiety is the first step toward managing it and improving your well-being.
Unlike fear, which is a response to an immediate threat, anxiety often involves worry about future events or uncertain outcomes. This can make anxiety feel confusing and exhausting, as your mind may get stuck in "what if" thoughts and negative predictions. These worries might be about health, money, relationships, or work, and sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what’s causing the anxiety.
When you feel anxious, your body releases stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These prepare you to act but can also cause symptoms like a racing heart, sweating, dizziness, or stomach discomfort. If anxiety lasts a long time, it can affect your physical health, leading to issues like high blood pressure, weaker immunity, and trouble sleeping.
On the mental side, anxiety can make it hard to concentrate, remember things, or make decisions. Emotionally, it might bring feelings of restlessness, irritability, or a general sense of unease. Socially, anxiety can cause you to pull away from activities and people, which can make things feel even harder.
Seeing anxiety as a mix of feelings, thoughts, body sensations, and behaviors can help you understand its impact and why seeking support matters. You are not alone, and your feelings are real. With the right help, anxiety can be managed and overcome.
Understanding Different Types of Anxiety
While all forms of depression involve changes in mood and functioning, different types have distinct patterns, triggers, and characteristics. Professional depression counseling can effectively address each of these conditions.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
GAD is characterized by chronic and excessive worry about a variety of everyday issues, making it difficult to relax or focus.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder means feeling worried and tense most of the time about everyday things like work, health, family, or money. Unlike normal worry, this anxiety is persistent and hard to control, often lasting six months or more. People with GAD may expect the worst, even when there’s little reason to.
Common signs include restlessness, feeling on edge, tiredness, trouble focusing, irritability, muscle tightness, and sleep problems. These can make daily life difficult. GAD can start at any age but is often noticed in adulthood. It may happen alongside other mental health issues like depression.
GAD can come from a mix of genetics, life experiences, and personality traits like perfectionism or negative thinking. Stressful events and trauma can also play a role. Treatment usually includes therapy, medication, or both, to help reduce symptoms and build coping skills.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is marked by unexpected panic attacks and ongoing fear of experiencing more, often leading to avoidance behaviors.
Panic Disorder involves sudden, intense episodes of fear called panic attacks. These attacks come on quickly and peak within minutes. During an attack, you might feel your heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, sweating, shaking, and fear of losing control or dying. These attacks can be very frightening and may happen without warning.
People with panic disorder often worry about having more attacks, which can lead them to avoid places or situations where attacks happened before.
This avoidance can limit daily life and social activities, sometimes leading to agoraphobia, a fear of being in places where escape feels hard.
Panic disorder usually starts in late teens or early adulthood and affects both men and women. Its causes aren’t fully known but may include genetics, brain chemistry, and stressful experiences.
Treatment often involves therapy to change how you respond to panic symptoms and medications like SSRIs or short-term use of benzodiazepines.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Social Anxiety Disorder, or social phobia, is an intense fear of social situations where you might be judged or embarrassed. This fear can be so strong that it leads to avoiding social events, public speaking, meeting new people, or even everyday activities like eating or writing in public.
Social anxiety often starts in childhood or adolescence and can continue into adulthood if not treated. It can cause significant distress and affect school, work, and relationships. Physical symptoms may include blushing, sweating, trembling, nausea, or trouble speaking in social settings.
Social anxiety can come from genetics, early experiences like bullying, and learned behaviors. Treatment usually involves therapy focused on gradually facing feared situations, social skills training, and sometimes medication to ease symptoms.
Specific Phobias
Specific phobias are intense, irrational fears of particular objects or situations that lead to avoidance and distress.
Specific phobias are strong, irrational fears of certain things or situations that aren’t actually dangerous. Common examples include fear of heights, animals like spiders or snakes, flying, injections, or small spaces. These fears can start at any age, often in childhood.
People with specific phobias go out of their way to avoid what they fear, which can interfere with daily life. Even if the fear seems unreasonable to others, it feels very real and upsetting to the person experiencing it. Physical symptoms during exposure can include a fast heartbeat, sweating, shaking, nausea, and a strong urge to get away.
Phobias may develop from genetics, traumatic events, or learned responses. Treatment often involves behavioral therapies like gradual exposure, helping people face and reduce their fears over time.
Recognizing the Signs
Understanding The Symptoms of Anxiety
Anxiety affects everyone differently. Recognizing the signs and symptoms is the first step toward getting the support you need. The signs of anxiety may appear gradually or suddenly, and their severity can vary from mild to severe.
Emotional Symptoms
- Persistent worry or fear
- Feeling restless or on edge
- Irritability or mood swings
- Feeling overwhelmed or unable to relax
Physical Symptoms
- Increased heart rate or palpitations
- Muscle tension or aches
- Shortness of breath or hyperventilation
- Sweating, trembling, or dizziness
- Fatigue or trouble sleeping
Behavioral Symptoms
- Avoidance of feared situations or places
- Withdrawal from social activities
- Procrastination or difficulty making decisions
- Seeking reassurance excessively
Cognitive Symptoms
- Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
- Racing thoughts or constant worry
- Feeling detached or unreal
- Negative self-talk or fear of losing control
When to Seek Professional Help
Asking for help shows strength and courage. Many people hesitate because they worry about being judged or think they should handle things alone. But anxiety can become overwhelming, and professional support can really help.
Consider reaching out if:
- Your anxiety feels constant or hard to control
- It affects your work, relationships, or daily life
- You have panic attacks or intense fear
- You avoid important situations because of anxiety
- You feel hopeless, isolated, or unable to cope
Crisis Support: If you’re experiencing thoughts of suicide or self-harm, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text “HOME” to 741741 (Crisis Text Line). Help is available 24/7.
Our licensed counselors provide evidence-based therapy for individuals experiencing anxiety. We do not diagnose or prescribe medication, but we offer compassionate support and can collaborate with your healthcare providers when appropriate.
Your Treatment Journey
We guide you through a structured, compassionate process designed to help you achieve lasting relief from depression.
Initial Consultation
We begin with a compassionate conversation to understand your experience with depression, your goals, and what you hope to achieve through therapy.
02
Comprehensive Assessment
Your therapist will conduct a thorough assessment to understand the nature and severity of your anxiety, as well as any contributing factors.
03
Personalized Plan
04
Active Therapy Sessions
Regular sessions provide ongoing support, skill-building, and processing. We adjust our approach based on your progress and feedback.
05
Progress & Adjustment
We continuously monitor your progress using validated measures and adjust treatment strategies to ensure you’re moving toward your goals.
06
Sustained Wellness
As you build resilience and develop coping skills, we focus on relapse prevention and maintaining the progress you’ve made.
Personalized Care for Your Unique Needs
Licensed Professionals
Evidence-Based Methods
Personalized Plans
Compassionate Support
Take the First Step Toward Healing
You don’t have to face anxiety alone.
There are caring professionals ready to listen and help you find relief.
Helpful Resources
Explore our library of articles and guides to learn more about anxiety, treatment options, and self-care strategies.