In most scenarios, occasional worry, nervousness, and fear are expected, especially from stressful challenges in life. However, frequent anxiety attacks and intense nervousness can signal an anxiety disorder, significantly if it interferes with your ability to function. Anxiety disorders and anxiety attacks can worsen over time and be terrifying to face alone, but they can be improved and even resolved through effective treatment.
At Mental Health Haven, we’re here to help! We can provide various therapies to help you through your anxiety symptoms and foster positive outcomes, all within a safe, supportive environment.
Understanding Anxiety Disorders, Anxiety Attacks, and How It Affects You
Anxiety is fear, and fear can range from mild worry to extreme forms of panic. It’s considered normal, even healthy, when it’s situational, but fear isn’t a rational emotion. For those who regularly experience anxiety, chain reactions of unexplainable fear, irritability, and nervous energy are the first tell-tale signs of an underlying anxiety disorder.
Anxiety is often a direct result of the flight or fight response in the brain and nervous system, where the nervous system releases stress hormones and adrenaline into the bloodstream. Many perceived threats today are not external, so our brains can send false alarms to our nervous systems, resulting in anxiety attacks.
These experiences depend on what type of anxiety disorder you face, which can include:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Generalized anxiety disorder is universal, meaning that people with GAD experience anxiety in response to various circumstances without identifiable triggers. They cannot be predicted or prevented, and mild to moderate symptoms are experienced frequently.
- Social Anxiety Disorder: Social anxiety disorder causes feelings of anxiety, specifically in social settings or interactions. This type of anxiety is often accompanied by a deep fear of being judged, embarrassed, or perceived negatively by others, causing high anxiety levels that can often lead to panic attacks.
- Panic Disorder: Panic disorder contains intense feelings of anxiety that begin suddenly, last for several minutes, and recur frequently. It can also be brought on by the fear of experiencing more panic attacks and can be crippling to many people.
- Phobias: Some people experience specific phobias or particular fears associated with objects, activities, and situations. When the person interacts with these phobias can cause significant distress and impair their lives depending on their phobia.
- Other Types of Disorders: Other types of disorders, including OCD, separation anxiety, and selective mutism, contain elements of anxiety around specific circumstances and experiences and are treated according to their symptoms.
In many ways, anxiety disorders and frequent anxiety attacks can feel debilitating. Feelings of fear in places that seem normal and handled at first can cause irritated thoughts and emotions that disrupt your routines, occupations, and relationships.
How Mental Health Haven Can Help Treat Anxiety Disorders
At Mental Health Haven, we can provide multiple treatment options to improve your symptoms. Our team will work with you to build up skills for managing your fears and worries by creating a positive, safe, and stigma-free space for you to heal. We’re here for you, and under the care of Kristen Chambers, we can happily help you feel like you again. To learn more, contact Mental Health Haven today to schedule an online or in-person appointment.