specialty care

Anxiety and Panic Disorders

Anxiety and Panic Disorders

Learn to feel confident rather than bracing for what’s next

Excessive worry, avoidant behaviors, and constantly seeking reassurance from those around you can rob you of your time, energy, and ability to do things.

Therapy for anxiety and panic disorders can help you slow the constant stream of worries, challenge your fears, and feel more confident in your choices.

What anxiety and anxiety related disorders can look like

It is normal and expected for people to feel nervous at some point in their lives. It’s our minds way of communicating stress and uncertainty with work or school performance, completing tasks on time, finances, our health or a loved one’s health.
However, when the worry becomes unmanageable, is constant, or has you avoiding people, places, or different situations, it could be signs of an anxiety disorder.

Below are common signs of anxiety and anxiety related disorders people experience:

  • In your body
  • Feeling restless, keyed up, or on edge
  • Feeling tired or exhausted
  • Heart palpitations or rapid heartbeat
  • Sweating or feeling warm
  • Trembling or shaking
  • Shortness of breath
  • Nausea or stomach cramping
  • Muscle tension, aches or soreness
  • Difficulty with sleep (falling or staying asleep, waking up often, unsatisfying sleep)
  • In your emotions
  • Excessive anxiety and worry
  • Difficulty controlling the worry
  • Feeling irritable
  • Feeling guilt or shame
  • In your thoughts
  • Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
  • Mind racing or jumping from worry to worry
  • Fear of dying
  • Fear of losing control or “going crazy”
  • Recurrent, intrusive thoughts that cause distress and are unwanted
  • Efforts to ignore or dismiss thoughts
  • Struggles with tolerating uncertainty
  • In your behaviors or relationships
  • Efforts to avoid people, places, situations that lead to fear (ex. Avoiding unfamiliar places, avoiding exercise, being in crowds, being in enclosed spaces, leaving your home)
  • Fear you will do something embarrassing in social situations
  • Fear you may offend others in social situations
  • Fear of being rejected by others
  • Feeling overwhelmed to the point you ignore other’s messages, don’t show up to event, or cancel plans repeatedly
  • Fear you will not perform well at work, school, or in public speaking roles
  • Seeking reassurance from others
  • Perfectionist behaviors

Types of anxiety

Anxiety disorders can take on many forms, and have features of fear, anxiety, physical symptoms, avoidant behaviors, or unhelpful thoughts. Below are the most common anxiety disorders:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD):

People with Generalized Anxiety Disorder often feel excessive anxiety and worry about things like work, school, finances, or health. They tend to anticipate “what if” scenarios, be very cautious, and prefer familiar situations. They may also feel restless or on edge, be easily tired, feel irritable, or have trouble with sleep.

Panic Disorder:

People with Panic Disorder feel sudden surges of intense fear or discomfort. The person may feel an increased heart rate, shortness of breath, sweating, feel hot, or shaky. The person may feel worried about having another panic attack and they may go to excessive lengths to avoid having another panic attack (ex. Someone may avoid exercising to not have a fast heartbeat because it can remind them of a panic attack).

Phobias:

People with phobias have extreme fears of specific objects or situations, like animals, choking, heights, storms, flying on a plane, or seeing blood. It is common for people with phobias to have multiple phobias (75% of people with a phobia have more than one phobia). They often result from traumatic experiences (ex. Being attacked by an animal, watching someone choke or fall from a great height, learning about gruesome details of a plane crash).

Social Anxiety:

People with social anxiety tend to fear social situations due to fear of being judged or criticized. They may fear doing something embarrassing in front of others, being rejected by others, or potentially offending others. They may avoid meeting unfamiliar people, attending events, or having to perform in front of others.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

OCD was previously classified as an anxiety disorder but is now separated into its own category. Still, anxiety is a major influence behind the intrusive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that the person feels driven to perform. The behaviors (checking, excessive hand washing, repeating, counting) are efforts to prevent anxiety, reduce anxiety, or prevent a bad thing from happening.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD):

People with Generalized Anxiety Disorder often feel excessive anxiety and worry about things like work, school, finances, or health. They tend to anticipate “what if” scenarios, be very cautious, and prefer familiar situations. They may also feel restless or on edge, be easily tired, feel irritable, or have trouble with sleep.

Panic Disorder:

People with Panic Disorder feel sudden surges of intense fear or discomfort. The person may feel an increased heart rate, shortness of breath, sweating, feel hot, or shaky. The person may feel worried about having another panic attack and they may go to excessive lengths to avoid having another panic attack (ex. Someone may avoid exercising to not have a fast heartbeat because it can remind them of a panic attack).

Phobias:

People with phobias have extreme fears of specific objects or situations, like animals, choking, heights, storms, flying on a plane, or seeing blood. It is common for people with phobias to have multiple phobias (75% of people with a phobia have more than one phobia). They often result from traumatic experiences (ex. Being attacked by an animal, watching someone choke or fall from a great height, learning about gruesome details of a plane crash).

Social Anxiety:

People with social anxiety tend to fear social situations due to fear of being judged or criticized. They may fear doing something embarrassing in front of others, being rejected by others, or potentially offending others. They may avoid meeting unfamiliar people, attending events, or having to perform in front of others.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

OCD was previously classified as an anxiety disorder but is now separated into its own category. Still, anxiety is a major influence behind the intrusive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that the person feels driven to perform. The behaviors (checking, excessive hand washing, repeating, counting) are efforts to prevent anxiety, reduce anxiety, or prevent a bad thing from happening.

Common causes

Causes and risk factors

Personality traits – Perfectionism, low self-esteem, avoidant behaviors

Substance use

Medical conditions

Family history – genetics

Parental overprotection

  • Stressful life events and trauma

Phobias sometimes develop following a traumatic event (example, being attacked by an animal or stuck in an elevator), observing a traumatic event (watching someone choke or get in a car accident), if they have a panic attack in a certain place (experienced a panic attack on a plane)

how therapy can help

You can be freed from fear

Fear can impact so much, but it doesn’t have to stay in control. If anxiety or anxiety related symptoms are affecting your quality of life, there are ways to help.

There are multiple evidence-based therapy approaches for anxiety and anxiety related disorders. Depending on your anxiety type and needs, you may benefit from the following:

Learning coping and mindfulness skills to reduce stressful body symptoms, racing thoughts, and overwhelming emotions with Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Mindfulness-Based, and Somatic Therapy

Identifying intrusive thoughts that lead to obsessions, then strengthen reasoning skills to reduce urge to perform compulsive behaviors with Inference-Based CBT (for OCD)

Identifying triggers and unhelpful thoughts that bring on anxiety, then reforming those thoughts to be more beneficial with Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

Recognizing avoidance behaviors and replacing them with effective problem-solving skills with CBT, Exposure Therapy, and Mindfulness Based skills

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

When does anxiety go from being normal to a disorder?

Most people will feel nervous at some point in their life when they face stressors. When anxiety or worry is persistent (typically lasts 6 months or more), you feel it’s difficult to control, or starts to affect your social life, work, or school performance, it may be helpful to start therapy for relief.

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