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How Can Anxiety Affect You

What Can Therapists In California Help You With

How stress affects your body – Sharon Horesh Bergquist

A therapist in California can practice anything from marriage and family counseling to CBT , and can help with depression, stress, or anxiety.

They can help you set and achieve career goals, work on current issues you may be facing, or deal with your past. Around 32349851 people are living in California, and because an estimated one in four people are dealing with some form of mental illness nationally, it is likely that you or someone you know could benefit from the support of a licensed counselor.

Major Effects Of Anxiety On The Brain

#1. Anxiety Floods Your Brain with Stress Hormones

  • When you feel anxious, your body goes on alert, prompting your brain to prepare itself for flight or fight mode. In an attempt to help you fight off whatever has made you anxious, your brain floods your central nervous system with adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones tell your body that something scary is about to happen. Their role is to help you cope with danger. In order to do that, they sharpen your senses and make your reflexes faster. In a non-anxious brain, when the danger is gone, the sympathetic part of your nervous system takes over and calms you down. But when you suffer from anxiety, you may not be able to reach that sense of calm. Instead, the rush of stress hormones causes your brain to release even more stress hormones until youre simply overwhelmed.

#2. Anxiety Makes Your Brain Hyperactive to Threats

#3. Anxiety Can Make It Hard for Your Brain to Reason Rationally

#4. Anxiety Can Train Your Brain to Hold Onto Negative Memories

Can Excessive Worry And Anxiety Cause A Stress Response

Stress comes from the demands and pressures we experience each day. Long lines at the grocery store, rush hour traffic, a phone ringing nonstop, or a chronic illness are all examples of things that can cause stress on a daily basis. When worries and anxiety become excessive, chances are youâll trigger the stress response.

There are two elements to the stress response. The first is the perception of the challenge. The second is an automatic physiological reaction called the “fight or flight” response that brings on a surge of adrenaline and sets your body on red alert. There was a time when the “fight or flight” response protected our ancestors from such dangers as wild animals that could easily make a meal out of them. Although today we don’t ordinarily encounter wild animals, dangers still exist. Theyâre there in the form of a demanding coworker, a colicky baby, or a dispute with a loved one.

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Jenna Tamisiea Elser The Producing Artistic Director For Glow Lyric Theatre

Glow Lyric Theatre is so honored to be a Stigma-Free Zone with Walts Waltz. If we are to create the best opera and musical theatre possible, then it is vital that our theatre be a space that acknowledges the importance of mental health. With the goal of the performing arts being to create empathy and understanding of the human condition, we are so proud to partner with a mental health organization like Walts Waltz that continues to save lives with their work. What could be more rewarding than that?

Trusted Organizations For Essential Anxiety Information

Effects of stress on the body

Founded in 1979, this organization raises awareness and offers support and education on mental health disorders such as anxiety, and provides information on how to cope with these disorders. You can access free crisis support via the NAMI HelpLine and find help through the sites online discussion groups, which have threads dedicated to dealing with various aspects of anxiety.

At the website for the federal governments mental health organization, you can find current statistics and other information on anxiety and other mental disorders. The site can also help you find ongoing studies to participate in.

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Treatment And Medication Options For Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are treated through medication and therapy. You might feel embarrassed talking about the things you are feeling and thinking, but talking about it, say experts, is the best treatment.

A particular form of therapy is considered most effective: cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT for short, which offers patients strategies to help change the negative thought patterns that have reinforced their anxiety.

Antidepressants the types of medication most frequently used to treat depression are the drugs that also work best for anxiety disorders. Anti-anxiety medications are also used.

So Whats The Deal Why Do We Get Anxious

Believe it or not, everyone needs a little bit of anxiety in their life. It keeps us on our toes and actually comes in handy when we are in serious or life threatening situations. Think about how it might feel to be in a burning building, or you are at the beach and a wave pulls you under. In moments like this, our body fills with adrenalin and our brains urge us to act.

According to Harvard Health Publishing, anxiety is the natural reaction to stress that arises in the amygdala, a region of our brains that is said to govern our more intense emotional responses. The amygdala carries electrical impulses to the sympathetic nervous system, elevating heart rates and breathing, tensing our muscles, and altering blood flow from our abdominal organs to the brain.

For short term situations, this can be highly effective in confronting an immediate crisis. At healthy levels, it helps us stay alert and aware. However, for those who experience these feelings more often than not, it can be debilitating and can hurt our relationships, our work life, schooling, and our health.

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Fear Of Being Separated From A Loved One

Separation from a caregiver is a common trigger of anxiety for children and adolescents, but it can be an anxiety trigger for adults as well. “They often worry that some sort of harm or something untoward will happen to their attachment figures while they are separated,” according to the National Institute of Mental Health. “This fear leads them to avoid being separated from their attachment figures and to avoid being alone.”

People whose anxiety is triggered by the thought of being separated from someone may have nightmares about the separation or experience physical symptoms when the separation occurs or is anticipated.

When Should I Go To The Emergency Room For An Anxiety Disorder

How Does Anxiety Affect Sleep? How To Sleep With Anxiety

Symptoms of an anxiety disorder can resemble symptoms of a heart attack or another health emergency. If youre experiencing an anxiety attack for the first time, or youre concerned in any way about your health, call 911 or head to the nearest ER. A healthcare provider will check you for serious or life-threatening conditions.

If youre having an anxiety attack and unsure whether you should head to an ER or not, its better to go. Healthcare professionals can make sure youre OK and give you any necessary treatment.

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Muscle Tension And Chronic Pain

Frequent distress signals from your amygdala to your central nervous system to prepare for a stress response can cause your muscles to contract, or tighten very often. Constant muscle tension can lead to cramped, stiff or sore muscles, and aches and pains that can tend to spread throughout the body. This may result in chronic pain conditions such as joint pains, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and so on.

Best Books On Living And Dealing With Anxiety

First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety, by Sarah Wilson

Wilson, an Australian journalist, is no stranger to the beast that is anxiety. She interviews a range of authorities around the world in this book, which is a mix of memoir, journalism, and self-help, with practical and compassionate advice for conquering said beast.

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How Anxiety Affects Us

As MindPaths Dr. Daniel Wurzelmann explains, Anxiety can be helpful in alerting us to possible danger and encouraging us to prepare for upcoming challenges, like studying for a test or preparing for a trip. But, anxiety can become a disorder when it becomes overpowering and starts to interfere with our functioning and daily life, like causing irritability, insomnia, ruminations, or inattention. Sometimes we can realize that we are anxious, and other times we may be blind to how our own anxieties affect us. Fortunately, there are a lot of good treatments for most anxiety disorders, including psychotherapy and medications.

Some of the most common anxiety disorders are General Anxiety Disorder , social anxiety and panic disorder. Together, they are the most common mental health disorders in America overall affecting roughly 18.1% of the population yearly. In some ways, its an unspoken epidemic the effects it has on us daily can be tremendous. There are many ways that anxiety can affect us from day to day some ways are quite sneaky. Some of them may just surprise you!

Dr. Wurzelmann shared that he often works to help people be less concerned about their daily anxiety. While we want to take a moment to note the important affects that chronic anxiety can have on our bodies and health, we also want to echo his expertise that anxiety can be useful and that anxiety disorders are highly treatable!

Burning Or Itchy Skin

Is Your Stress Getting The Better Of You?

I am often really itchy. Sometimes the itchiness is caused by some sort of dry skin condition , and sometimes there is no apparent underlying skin problem. Anxiety, it turns out, is responsible for both sources of itchiness.

In periods of increased stress, existing skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis flare up. If a person is in a constant state of stress , it stands to reason that these skin conditions are constantly flared.

Stress hormones also heavily impact the nervous system, so if a body is in this constant state of stress, the overly stimulated nervous system and sensory organs can misbehave and accidentally send out signals of itchiness, as well as signals of pain, tingling, and numbness, when there is no need for those sensations to be there.

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How Is Anxiety Diagnosed

When you visit your healthcare provider, you can expect that your doctor or nurse will ask you about your symptoms, perform a physical exam, and order lab tests to rule out other health problems. If tests don’t reveal any other conditions, your doctor will likely refer you to a psychiatrist or psychologist to make a diagnosis.

A mental health professional will identify the specific type of anxiety disorder that’s causing your symptoms. Theyll also look for any other mental health conditions that you may be experiencing, including depression.

What Are The Common Types Of Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders involve more than temporary worry or fears and are some of the most common mental health challenges experienced by young people. They can significantly affect how a person feels, thinks, behaves and interacts with others. People can experience different types of anxiety disorders, but its important to know that they can all be treated.

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What Is Social Anxiety

Social anxiety is more than just being a little nervous before a presentation. Intense fear of social situations can cause physical symptoms like sweating, trembling, and even heart palpitations. For some people, the thought of being in a social situation is so crippling that they will avoid it at all costs.

Who Can Diagnose Anxiety Disorders

How stress affects your brain – Madhumita Murgia

If your provider finds no signs of physical illness, they may refer you to a psychiatrist or psychologist. These mental health professionals specialize in diagnosing and treating mental illnesses. They may use specially designed interview and assessment tools to figure out if you have an anxiety disorder. Typically, the provider bases a diagnosis on:

  • Your reported symptoms, including how intense they are and how long they last.
  • Discussion of how the symptoms interfere with your daily life.
  • The providers observation of your attitude and behavior.

Providers also consult the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . The American Psychiatric Association publishes the DSM-5. Its the standard reference manual for diagnosing mental illnesses.

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Try A Book Or Online Course

When you are diagnosed with GAD, your GP may recommend trying self-help treatments before having more intensive psychological therapy or medication.

This will usually involve working from a book or computer programme for around six weeks or longer. In some cases, you may be closely supported by a trained therapist who you will speak to every week or two, although some treatments only involve minimal or occasional contact with a therapist who will monitor your progress.

There are a number of different books and courses available that can help you learn to cope with your anxiety, but the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence only recommends trying treatments based on the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy .

CBT is a type of psychological treatment that can help you understand your condition better and how your problems, thoughts, feelings and behaviour affect each other. The aim of CBT-based treatments is to help you learn ways to manage your anxiety by modifying negative or unhelpful behaviour and thoughts.

Find out more about Living Life – a service which offers appointment-based telephone support based upon cognitive behavioural therapy.

Who To Reach Out To

The first, most obvious port of call is among the people you already know. Look at your friends and family. Is there someone you can trust to listen without judging you? Someone, you feel comfortable asking for ideas? In an ideal situation, this would be someone who has fairly high self-esteem themselves someone you can learn from. Although your initial response might be that theres no-one you can think of, wed encourage you to look hard before assuming you dont know anyone sometimes support can come from the most unlikely places.

If theres genuinely nobody you feel comfortable trusting in real-life, however, a great alternative is to look for support online. Discussion groups like Yahoo groups and online journalling communities like Live Journal both have a wide range of communities that exist specifically to share support, encouragement, and feedback between members. Most of these allow you to lurk for a while before you need to post something that can help you build up your trust over time. Additionally, many of the self-help sites that offer self-help resources , also provide discussion forums that allow you to connect with other people with similar problems.

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How Is Irritable Bowel Syndrome Related To Anxiety Disorders

Some people feel the effects of stress in their stomachs. People with IBS have uncomfortable problems with digestion, including stomach pain, constipation and diarrhea. They also frequently have anxiety and depression, which can make symptoms worse.

The connection between IBS and anxiety comes from the nervous system partly controlling the colon. The nervous systems response to stress may affect the stomach. Among people who get treated for IBS, anywhere from 50% to 90% may also have an anxiety disorder or depression. Treatment for IBS may include stress management and psychotherapy to relieve symptoms.

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