Anxiety Disorders are disorders that have anxiety as their primary symptom.

     Generalized Anxiety Disorder is just like it sounds. A person experiences a general state of anxiety manifested by heart palpitations, increased respiration, tenseness in the muscles and body, sweating, shakiness, hyperarousal, and other symptoms associated with anxiety. There may or may not be a precipitating cause or event.

      Panic Disorder is when a person has had one or more “panic” attacks. A panic attack would be a “10” on the anxiety meter. Often a person thinks that they are going to die or that something is terribly wrong and they wind up in an Emergency Room only to be told that “it’s just anxiety”. Panic attacks can occur frequently and can become debilitating. A person may begin to avoid places or situations that they believe precipitated the attack (as you will see later, this isn’t actually the case). In some cases, they get to the point where they cannot leave the house or participate in normal activities. This is a condition known as Agoraphobia.

    Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is driven by an urge or need to engage in compulsive ritualistic behavior (such as hand-washing, counting, cleaning, organizing, etc.) in order to relieve the anxiety. Sometimes the person is affected by strange and intrusive thoughts (they know they are strange but cannot stop them) that preoccupy them (obsessions). Interestingly severe SUD’s involve both ritualistic and compulsive behaviors, however, there has currently been no link between SUD and OCD. The main thing about OCD is that the behavior/thinking has to interfere with the person’s ability to perform daily functions.

       Social Anxiety Disorder is common among people with SUD’s. It involves experiencing extreme anxiety in novel social situations (meeting new people, parties, public events, etc.) A person with this disorder will go to great lengths to avoid these situations or have to “take a shot of courage” to participate.

      Phobias are considered excessive and irrational fears about something. Common phobias are fear of heights, fear of closed in spaces, fear of flying, fear of snakes/spiders, fear of public speaking, to name a few.

      Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is considered an anxiety-based disorder. It develops in response to a traumatic event(s). The person develops hyperarousal (always anxious/on guard, exaggerated startle response, always “on”), hypervigilance (always looking over the shoulder), and may have nightmares, flashbacks, and a host of other symptoms. They are also more prone to SUD’s, depression, and other anxiety disorders.

        One of the problems for anxiety sufferers is that they feel helpless and powerless to control their symptoms. This is especially true for those who suffer panic attacks. The mind will associate what the person was doing, where they were, sights, sounds, smells, and other stimuli with the cause of the panic attack. Now the person becomes anxious just thinking about driving or going to the grocery, going to the mall, or doing whatever they believe caused the attack. Now they avoid the activity, place, or environment that they believe is the source. Fear of a panic attack will cause another panic attack. It actually had nothing to do with driving, or the mall, or whatever. It happened because of a random thought that the person probably didn’t even realize they were having at the time of the attack. Now they won’t drive on the freeway because they are afraid of having a panic attack when they do and then they will be helpless, and alone, and THEY WILL DIE!!!!  What if it happens again? While I am alone? On the freeway and surrounded by semis? What if I am trapped? So they won’t get behind the wheel or drive on the freeway. In many cases, the person eventually stops going anywhere and won’t leave the house. This is a condition known as “Agoraphobia”.  You can see how alcohol and drugs sound appealing to someone with anxiety, and they actually work well to ease the symptoms, however, what starts as a solution often becomes a problem.

       There are many methods for treating anxiety from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Relaxation techniques, Mindfulness exercises, and of course medications. They are effective for some and not so effective for others. I have encountered hundreds of clients who have sought or tried all of these treatments and more without success. Many were feeling hopeless and helpless to find a treatment that could ease their symptoms or eliminate their anxiety. As counselors, we will be working with clients who suffer from anxiety. How can we help them? Well, the good news is that there are some simple yet effective techniques for eliminating and controlling anxiety symptoms, some that I have learned and some that I have developed and used successfully on hundreds of clients, some who had tried several doctors, therapists, medications, and techniques.