Anxiety disorders are considered the most common mental health challenges in the US. Anxiety may present itself situationally or exist as a general undercurrent in a person’s daily life.
Struggling with excessive anxious thoughts and feelings makes it hard to maintain a satisfactory quality of life. Individuals suffering from anxiety may even have thoughts like “anxiety is ruining my life.”
Fortunately, anxiety is highly treatable.
It’s not easy to initiate mental health treatment, especially when anxiety gets in the way of your ability to make decisions and try new things. However, if you live with anxiety, seeking treatment may be one of the best choices you’ll ever make.
Symptoms of Anxiety
It’s perfectly normal and understandable to feel worried from time to time or even to feel intensely anxious when managing difficult situations. However, anxiety is considered a disorder when fears and worries about everyday life become extreme and excessive.
Symptoms of anxiety disorders include:
- Feelings of nervousness or tension
- Feelings of panic or anger
- Rapid heart rate
- Rapid breathing
- Difficulty concentrating
- Issues with sleeping
- Wanting to avoid certain people, places, or situations
- Gastrointestinal issues (nausea, vomiting, incontinence, constipation, etc.)
With professional treatment and support, many people are able to reduce and manage their anxiety symptoms.
Here are some ways that mental health treatment can help with your anxiety.
Identifying Irrational Thoughts or Fears That Influence Anxiety
It’s not abnormal to feel worried or fearful about certain situations. There are things we can’t control, and that can keep anyone up at night.
However, for people with anxiety, distressing thoughts and fears may be based on irrational concerns. You might worry—without a logical reason for these thoughts—that no one likes you, that you’ll lose your job, or that something terrible is going to happen.
Through treatment approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy, you can learn to identify maladaptive thought patterns that cause anxiety. You’ll gain the ability to challenge these ways of thinking and develop coping skills for managing irrational thoughts before they get out of control.
If anxiety is caused by an underlying condition, more than one treatment may be appropriate. For example, a treatment known as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a method used in treating symptoms of PTSD, a condition that involves anxiety as the byproduct of other symptoms.
Medication for Anxiety Relief
Intense or chronic anxiety may be treated with medication. Common medications prescribed for anxiety include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and benzodiazepines.
Medications for anxiety and other mental health conditions are typically prescribed by a psychiatrist.
Support Groups for Anxiety
Support groups provide a safe setting for people who experience similar challenges. Group members can share their struggles, successes, and coping strategies. Joining a group provides the opportunity to express yourself and to learn.
There are support groups specifically for people dealing with anxiety. There are also groups for underlying conditions that may be causing anxiety, such as PTSD, addiction, or grief.
Lifestyle Adjustments
Practicing healthy lifestyle habits can improve all aspects of mental health. Prioritizing sleep, exercise, and diet leads to a healthy brain that’s better able to fend off and cope with anxious thoughts.
Changes in lifestyle require commitment and consistency. Professional treatment for anxiety helps you set lifestyle goals and stay accountable, leading to meaningful and lasting results.
Developing Healthy Coping Skills
Professional treatment for anxiety involves working with a therapist to learn coping skills. The strategies and tools you develop can be used to withstand episodes of anxiety and maintain a less anxious daily life.
Coping skills like meditation and grounding exercises are often simple but make an enormous difference.
Get Help for Anxiety Today
If you feel like anxiety is ruining your life—or if you simply believe you’re more anxious than you need to be—there’s help.
Compassion Behavioral Health is a top-rated substance abuse and mental health treatment center. We’re located in the City of Hollywood in South Florida, close to the Ft. Lauderdale and Miami International airports.
Wherever you are along your mental health journey, we’ll meet you there. Compassion Behavioral Health offers the following levels of care:
- Residential treatment
- Partial hospitalization (PHP)
- Intensive outpatient program (IOP)
- Outpatient program (OP)
Don’t wait another day before taking the first steps towards anxiety relief. Give us a call at (844) 999-0874. All calls are entirely confidential and our admissions counselors are available 24 hours/day, seven days/week to take your call.
