Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness or nervousness and it generally results from a fear of something. It is characterized by worry, dread, and nervousness. There are many things that might trigger anxiety. Sometimes people feel anxiety and they cant explain why. In that case it could be from childhood trauma, like growing up with an overly critical parent or in a household with abuse or addiction. Anxiety can become debilitating for some, and is most often fueled by our unhelpful thinking patterns. Social anxiety is another common form of anxiety that prevents a person from feeling comfortable in social situations and prevents them from making friends.
Panic attacks are brief episodes of extreme fear. They may be mistaken for heart attacks or strokes, but are actually psychological rather than physical. Panic attacks can occur suddenly and usually peak within ten minutes. Most panic attacks end within 20 to 30 minutes.
Some symptoms include:
- Chills
- Nausea
- Sweating
- Chest pain
- Palpitations
- Shaking
- Feelings of suffocation
Treatment of Anxiety & Panic Attacks
We treat anxiety and panic attacks by teaching self soothing and emotional regulation techniques. We also incorporate CBT to help change a person's thinking style, help them reframe, use thought stopping, and fact check. Changing our thinking can reduce anxiety. We also offer EMDR to target the the negative beliefs, like: I have to be perfect, I am inadequate/not good enough, or I cannot show emotions. These beliefs prop anxiety up and make it worse. EMDR works to desensitize a person to an anxiety trigger or to change the negative beliefs a person has about themselves. As a result, the person has much less anxiety.
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