Anxiety Q&A
Everyone experiences anxiety occasionally. However, if you have intrusive thoughts or irrational fears that you can no longer control, you may have an anxiety disorder. At our practice, we specialize in diagnostic evaluations and customized treatment plans for anxiety disorders. During in-office or telehealth appointments, our specialists use a wide range of therapeutic techniques to help uncover your anxiety triggers and better cope with anxiety disorder symptoms. Call our office to schedule an anxiety consultation or book an appointment online today.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a mental health disorder that causes persistent worry, intrusive thoughts, and fear, even when the situation doesn’t call for it.
Several conditions fall under the anxiety umbrella, including generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). GAD causes persistent worry about your health, finances, loved ones, and other issues every day for six months or longer.
Other anxiety conditions include:
- Social anxiety
- Separation anxiety
- Panic disorder
- Phobias
You might be prone to anxiety because of genetics, your family history, or your environment. For some, anxiety develops after a traumatic event.
Our practice provides comprehensive anxiety screenings to evaluate and treat your anxiety symptoms.
When should I schedule an anxiety screening?
You should schedule an anxiety screening if you or your child has anxiety symptoms that interfere with your day-to-day life or if your symptoms continue to worsen over time.
In addition to intrusive thoughts and anxious feelings, anxiety can cause symptoms like:
- Negative thought patterns
- Irritability
- Restlessness
- Dizziness
- Heart palpitations
- Excessive sweating
Some people also experience shortness of breath and chest pain during an anxiety attack and mistakenly think they are having a heart attack.
We learn more about your symptoms and life circumstances to better understand your anxiety triggers. We then customize a treatment plan to ease your discomfort and keep your symptoms under control in the long term.
How is anxiety treated?
Your treatment plan for anxiety will likely involve psychotherapy (talk therapy) to help you identify negative thought patterns that contribute to your anxiety. We also provide a wide range of therapies to help you manage anxiety symptoms. These therapies include:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Brief dynamic therapy
- Interpersonal therapy
- Psychodynamic therapy
- Positive psychology
- Behavior modification
- Trauma-focused therapy
- Humanistic therapy
- Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT)
- Cognitive processing (CP)
- Psychoanalytic therapy
Through in-office visits and telehealth appointments, our specialists use different therapy techniques to explore your emotions and shift your mindset.
In addition to therapy, you may also benefit from medications that relieve moderate to severe anxiety symptoms. We closely monitor your medications and can adjust them as needed to control your anxiety disorder.
Call to schedule an anxiety evaluation or book an appointment online today.