What Are Anxiety Disorders?
Anxiety disorders are a group of mental health conditions characterized by excessive worry, fear, or apprehension that is disproportionate to the actual threat or situation. These disorders can significantly impair daily functioning and quality of life if left untreated.
What Are The Symptoms Of Anxiety Disorders?
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): GAD is characterized by persistent and excessive worry about a wide range of everyday concerns, such as work, health, finances, and relationships. Individuals with GAD often experience physical symptoms such as restlessness, fatigue, muscle tension, irritability, and difficulty concentrating.
Panic Disorder: Panic disorder involves recurrent panic attacks, which are sudden episodes of intense fear or discomfort that peak within minutes. Panic attacks can be accompanied by symptoms such as heart palpitations, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, chest pain, and feelings of impending doom. Individuals with panic disorder may also develop anticipatory anxiety about experiencing future panic attacks.
Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia): Social anxiety disorder involves an intense fear of social situations and performance situations, where individuals fear being embarrassed, judged, or scrutinized by others. This fear may lead to avoidance of social interactions, leading to significant impairment in social and occupational functioning.
Specific Phobias: Specific phobias are characterized by an intense and irrational fear of a specific object, situation, or activity. Common phobias include fear of heights (acrophobia), fear of flying (aviophobia), fear of spiders (arachnophobia), and fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia). Individuals with specific phobias may go to great lengths to avoid the object of their fear, leading to disruptions in daily life.
How Are Anxiety Disorders Diagnosed?
Anxiety disorders are diagnosed by licensed mental health professionals. At Mind Glow Solutions, our psychiatric providers believe that these disorders cannot be fully understood through diagnostic criteria alone. Rather, they must be approached from a biopsychosocial and cultural perspective. To accurately diagnose anxiety disorders, our providers conduct a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation that includes collecting your psychiatric and medical history, social and personal history, as well as gaining a true understanding of your lived experience.
How Are Anxiety Disorders Treated?
Psychotherapy
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT is a widely used therapeutic approach for anxiety disorders. It focuses on identifying and challenging negative thought patterns and beliefs that contribute to anxiety, as well as teaching practical skills for coping with anxiety-provoking situations.
Exposure Therapy: Exposure therapy involves gradually exposing individuals to feared objects, situations, or thoughts in a controlled and safe environment. This helps reduce anxiety and desensitize individuals to their fears over time.
Mindfulness-Based Therapies: Techniques such as mindfulness meditation and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can help individuals develop greater awareness of their thoughts and emotions, cultivate acceptance, and learn to respond to anxiety in more adaptive ways.
Medication
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) and Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs): These antidepressant medications are often prescribed to treat anxiety disorders and are our first-line agents. They help regulate neurotransmitters in the brain involved in mood and anxiety.
Benzodiazepines: These medications may be prescribed for short-term relief of severe anxiety symptoms, but they are typically not recommended for long-term use due to the risk of dependence and side effects.
Atypical & Off-label medications: Other pharmacological agents including medications that have calming and sedative effects are often used as treatment for anxiety disorders. Categories of medications include antipsychotics (seroquel), anti-seizure medications (gabapentin), antihistamines (diphenhydramine and hydroxyzine), and non-traditional antidepressants including tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs)
Complementary | Integrative | Holistic | Non-Pharmacological Interventions
Regular Exercise: Physical activity can help reduce anxiety and improve mood by releasing endorphins, the body's natural stress relievers.
Healthy Diet: A balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins can support overall well-being and may help reduce anxiety symptoms.
Stress Management Techniques: Learning relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and guided imagery can help individuals manage stress and anxiety.
Limiting Caffeine, Stimulants, and Alcohol: Caffeine, stimulants, and alcohol can exacerbate anxiety symptoms, so it's beneficial to limit their consumption.
Self-Care Strategies: Establishing a consistent daily routine, setting boundaries such as learning when to say NO, practicing self, practicing self-compassion, being kind to oneself, journaling, spending time in nature, and engaging in hobbies can all help to alleviate symptoms of anxiety
