So What is Anxiety Exactly?

Anxiety Disorder is basically anticipation of a future threat. It can appear in many ways, but the worry gets so severe it impacts the person living their life.

It starts when a thought enters your mind or you feel a sensation in your body that catches your attention. Your mind begins to focus on the thought or sensation and within seconds you find yourself consumed with only thinking about that. You become less present in the moment. You become distracted. You become worried or nervous.

You become convinced that something bad is going to happen. All energy and focus is used on the thought or where the sensation is from. This starts a cascade of other thoughts and your mind begins to write a story about what is happening. The story always seems to have the worst possible outcome. Then the fear kicks in. It starts to interfere with your daily life. The mind goes between trying to be logical and experiencing fear. Add in the body’s physical responses of increased heart rate, sweaty palms, tingling, shallow breathing or pressure in your chest.

You worry about anything and everything. Worry about things that have already happened. Things that haven’t happened, but might. Things that are so unlikely to happen, but you can’t help worrying about what you might do in a situation.

Your brain is constantly going it can be overwhelming. Now, having one episode of anxiety, even if it seems extreme, may not mean you need to seek professional help right away. It is really having multiple ongoing episodes that effect your daily routine or becomes debilitating, that is a sign you should reach out for help.

There are many options that are very successful with resolving anxiety, from traditional evidence-based treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to alternative approaches like sound healing and relaxation exercises. When I work with my clients, we come up with a treatment that works for their individual needs.