anxiety treatment

Anxiety is a part of life that each of us experiences, but for people suffering from anxiety disorders, these feelings intensify to extremely high levels, leading to great stress and excessive worry that impairs daily functioning. There are several main disorders in this category, including: generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), various phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

When it comes to generalized anxiety disorder, those who suffer from it will experience high feelings of anxiety on a daily basis. They will take care of many things that usually won't bother others, and sometimes they will have trouble falling asleep at night. In addition, various physical phenomena, such as pain and discomfort in various areas of the body, may accompany these feelings.

In panic disorders, on the other hand, the experience is of intense anxiety accompanied by distinct physical symptoms, such as chest pains, shortness of breath, dizziness, tingling sensations in the hands and feet, and more. Many times, people experience these attacks and think they are having a heart attack, which leads them to go to the emergency room for diagnosis and treatment. These attacks can occur for no apparent reason, but also under the influence of certain situations that trigger the anxiety, such as being in a noisy and busy environment or far from home.

Social anxiety and other disorders

Some people may experience extreme anxiety in social situations, a condition known as social anxiety. Like performance anxiety, social anxiety can significantly affect the ability to work and behave in social environments, causing avoidance of meeting other people.

In obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), patients experience intrusive and recurring thoughts that disturb their spirit. These thoughts get "stuck" in their heads and cause compulsive behaviors or "rituals" designed to relieve the feelings of anxiety arising from the thoughts. For example, thoughts of fear of germs or contamination can lead to repeated hand washing or compulsive cleaning. Another common obsession is the fear of leaving a door unlocked or electrical appliances on, which causes people to perform repeated checks.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops in people who have experienced life-threatening events, such as physical or sexual assault, a natural disaster, a car accident, an act of terrorism, or trauma from combat. After the event, sometimes for prolonged periods of months or even years, nightmares or flashbacks of the event may appear, as well as other signs that remind patients of the traumatic experience. Some patients experience such severe symptoms that they find it difficult to function and lead a normal lifestyle.

Fortunately, all of the above disorders can be treated. However, it should be taken into account that a complete cure is not always possible. Treatment sometimes includes medication and various types of psychotherapy, with cognitive behavioral therapy being one of the effective methods, especially for phobias and OCD Treatments can be done in groups or individually.In some cases, PTSD can be treated using EMDR (eye movement therapy) as well as other types of psychotherapy.