Our bodies have a natural response to stress that alerts us of danger ahead. Stress is a normal thing that we experience, and many may be surprised to find that it can be healthy to feel a small amount of stress. However, if it lasts for a longer period of time or greatly affects your day to day life, you may be living with an anxiety disorder.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a natural response to the stress of potential or pending situations that cause discomfort. Anxiety disorders can change a person’s behavior and how they process emotions, causing emotional and physical symptoms. These disorders can lead to excessive nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worry. Mild anxiety can be uncomfortable and unsettling while severe anxiety may seriously affect day-to-day living.
Anxiety disorders affect 40 million people in the United States, but only about 37 percent of this group receive treatment. They can be caused by a combination of genetic, environmental, psychological, and developmental factors. If untreated, anxiety disorders can impact your performance and success at work, in school, and in your personal relationships.
What Are the Symptoms of Anxiety?
- Feeling nervous, restless or tense
- Increased heart rate
- Breathing rapidly
- Sweating, trembling
- Feeling weak or tired
- Trouble concentrating
- Trouble sleeping
- Experiencing gastrointestinal problems
- Difficulty controlling worry
- Avoiding anxiety triggers
- For children, anxiety shows up as stomachaches and headaches
What Are Some Different Types of Anxiety Disorders?
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder – Excessive anxiety and worry about activities or events. This includes ordinary, day to day issues. It often occurs along with other anxiety disorders or depression.
- Panic Disorder – Constant episodes of panic attacks. Panic disorder creates feelings of impending doom, shortness of breath, chest pain, heart palpitations.
- Specific Phobias – Major anxiety when exposed to a specific object or situation and a desire to avoid it. Phobias can lead to panic attacks.
- Agoraphobia – Anxiety towards environments that cause one to panic and feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed.
- Social Anxiety Disorder – anxiety towards social situations that creates feelings of embarrassment and self-consciousness about being judged by others.
- Separation Anxiety Disorder – Anxiety related to separation from those who have parental roles that is excessive for a child’s developmental level.
How Can Anxiety Be Treated?
Traditional treatment combines different types of therapy and medication. However, at Healthy Within, we do not diagnose medical conditions nor do we prescribe medication; Healthy Within offers a non-medical, noninvasive, drug-free program for adults and children known as neurofeedback.
When Dr. Divya Kakaiya tells her clients that anxiety is one of the easier conditions we help with, they have a look of disbelief on their faces. Our low-frequency neurofeedback works to relax the very tense, over-thinking mind and hyperaroused states that fuels anxiety. One client who received treatment at our Healthy Within practice was a young student with severe social anxiety that was negatively affecting her performance in school, especially when speaking in front of her classmates. This was a lifelong issue that she had tried to remedy by sitting in countless talk-therapy sessions. However, after about 20 neurofeedback sessions, she was finally able to calmly and confidently participate in school presentations without freezing up.
Healthy Within is an integrative brain health center, experienced in incorporating neurofeedback to help people re-engage in their wholeness and wellness. We also help clients with ADHD, PTSD, depression, concussions, OCD, stroke, dementia and more!
Contact us for more information about how we can help you get your mind back to functioning at its calm, confident self.
