Anxiety Disorders cause severe distress and disrupt the lives of individuals suffering from them.
The frequency and intensity of anxiety involved in these Disorders is often debilitating. Fortunately, with proper and effective treatment, people suffering from Anxiety Disorders can lead normal, productive, and happy lives.
Many people think of treatment for Anxiety Disorders as being solely medication. While drugs can be effective, their remedy is temporary; they work only as long as you take them. And some medications for Anxiety Disorders are habit-forming and cannot be taken for more than a few months at a time.
But there is an equally effective treatment for Anxiety Disorders that will teach you how to manage and control them for the rest of your life: psychotherapy. Although psychotherapy requires more time to work than a pill, it is the best use of your time you will ever experience.
This article discusses the role of psychotherapy in the treatment of Anxiety Disorders under the following headings:
- Avoidance is at the core of Anxiety Disorders
- Why is it important to seek treatment for Anxiety Disorders?
- Are there effective treatments available for Anxiety Disorders?
- How can a qualified therapist help someone suffering from an Anxiety Disorder?
- How long does psychological treatment take?
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Tagged as:
Agoraphobia,
Anxiety Disorder,
GAD - General Anxiety Disorder,
Medical Health Professionals,
Medications,
Panic Attack,
Panic Disorder,
Social Anxiety Disorder,
Therapy
You experience a pounding heart, sweaty palms, and dizziness. What do you think of? Are you frightened? Do you think you’re going crazy?
People who get scared when they have these symptoms — even if the cause is something as mundane as stress, exercise or caffeine — are more likely to develop a clinical case of an Anxiety Disorder, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or Panic Disorder, according to recent research. The chronic fear of these kinds of symptoms is a condition called Anxiety Sensitivity.
Those of us with Anxiety Disorders — and those of us without — can become hyper-aware of bodily sensations that lead to anxiety. When this awareness becomes morbid and takes over our lives, it can easily be labeled Anxiety Sensitivity.
Anxiety Sensitivity is a concept introduced in the 1980’s which has attracted a great deal of attention from researchers and clinicians. It is thought to be a preventable precursor to developing Anxiety Disorders, and a treatable condition for those who have already have a disorder.
This article explores Anxiety Sensitivity and its implications for you under the following headings:
- What is Anxiety Sensitivity?
- Is Anxiety Sensitivity inherited or is it learned?
- What is the relationship between Anxiety Sensitivity and Anxiety Disorders?
- Treating Anxiety Sensitivity
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Tagged as:
Anxiety,
Anxiety Disorder,
Anxiety Sensitivity,
Panic Attack,
Panic Attacks,
Panic Disorder,
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Why are there so many names for phobias? Why can’t we just agree on one for each?
If you have the fear of newness or novelty, you get to choose among 8 terms: Cainophobia, Cainotophobia, Cenophobia, Centophobia, Kainolophobia, Kainophobia, Kainotophobia, and Neophobia. The fear of being touched has 6 names to describe it, and the fear of odors has 7!
Regrettably, the fellow on the right has only two terms to describe his fear of needles: Aichmophobia and Belonephobia. Maybe we could come up with a couple of others: stickophobia or ouchaphobia. Or if you’re classically trained: neraphobia, from the Latin root “nere,” or nemaphobia from the Greek “nema, ” both meaning “needle.”
Today’s post is a lighthearted look at all the multiple names given to phobias, complete with a cartoon. The topic is explored under the headings:
- What are phobias, anyway?
- Why are there so many names for the same phobia?
- A big old list: Multiple names for the same phobia
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Tagged as:
Anxiety,
Anxiety Disorder,
Panic Attack,
Phobias,
Specific Phobias
You’ve heard all the hurtful words before — words like “psycho,” “wacko,” and “schizo.”
Then there are the offhand descriptions of someone’s behavior as “OCD” or “having a panic attack.”
Advertisements regularly use mental illness symptoms to show how miserable life is without their products. And you’ve seen the jokes about mental health on television referring to “loony bins” and characters in straitjackets.
Mental health conditions are the butt of jokes in popular culture. While there are taboos against making discriminatory remarks about many groups of people, it seems that it’s open season on those with mental illnesses.
Negative portrayals of people with mental illnesses fuel fear and mistrust and reinforce distorted perceptions. They marginalize the mentally ill, making them feel that they are not useful members of society.
But if you or a loved one has a mental illness or has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, you know that these words and gimmicks and attitudes aren’t just harmless fun. They perpetuate the stigma attached to mental health conditions. Stigma and scapegoating makes you angry and upset, and it causes the public to misunderstand mental illnesses.
Though the stigma and scapegoating of a mental health disorder can be painful and shaming, you can find ways to cope with it and even combat it.
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Tagged as:
Advertisements,
Jokes,
OCD,
Panic Attack,
Scapegoat,
Scapegoating,
Stigma
