What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a very common human emotion which
comes from an experience that one is in a dangerous situation. In this sense
anxiety has evolutionary value as it is an important emotion that alerts to
danger and threat in the environment. When individuals suffer from anxiety
their experience of fear becomes overgeneralised as they begin to experience
that in reality are not threatening to them as posing a significant threat.
If you suffer from an anxiety disorder you
might find yourself unable to stop worrying and being in a state of heightened
stress most of the time. This can become an all consuming experience taking
over your life.
There are various types of anxiety as listed
below:
Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) – If you
suffer from GAD you are likely to feel anxious about most things and in most
situations rather than have a specific focus for your worries. This could have
an effect on your concentration, sleep and appetite and is likely to be an
obstacle to being able to live your life as you would like.
Panic disorder – If you suffer from panic
disorder you might find yourself experiencing intense panic and this could be
in relation to specific situations or more generalised. Over time people who
suffer from panic attacks become anxious about experiencing another panic
attack so the focus of anxiety becomes the anticipation of anxiety. Panic
disorder often involves physical symptoms of anxiety such as palpitations,
dizziness, sweating and others.
Other forms of anxiety are health anxiety,
phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Treatment for anxiety
In the short term anxiety can be regulated
through medication ,but in the long term the most effective treatments for
anxiety are psychological and the approaches with the best evidence are cognitive-behavioural
therapy, and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. The emphasis on these treatments is
on the individual’s thinking and how this influences their experiences of
anxiety, behaviors that might maintain anxiety and the acquisition of new
skills.
The psychologists at our clinic are highly
trained in therapies for the treatment of anxiety and will recommend the most
suitable approach for you depending on their assessment of your difficulties.