Anxiety Treatment: Counseling for Worry & Anxiety Disorders
How would your life be different if you worried less?Do you avoid activities, places or people because of your anxiety?What if your anxiety was under control, you never had another panic attack again and you were able to face new situations with confidence?
We get it. Anxiety and worry can be tough to live with. A little bit of anxiety can help motivate you to take action. For instance, worry about an upcoming meeting causes you to do extra research and come in prepared. But too much worry? It can hold you back. Anxiety can keep you from putting your best foot forward. In fact, you may start to find yourself avoiding some situations altogether.
Counseling can help. When you’re working with a trained clinical psychologist or anxiety specialists, anxiety can and does get better.
Understanding Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders are a group of mental health conditions that involve excessive and persistent feelings of anxiety, fear, or worry. These disorders can interfere with a person’s daily life, relationships, and overall well-being. Whether it’s a constant sense of unease or sudden, overwhelming panic, anxiety disorders can significantly impact your quality of life. Understanding these conditions is the first step towards managing them effectively.
What is Anxiety Disorder?
An anxiety disorder is a mental health condition characterized by excessive and persistent feelings of anxiety, fear, or worry. These feelings can be overwhelming and difficult to control, often leading to avoidance of certain situations or activities. Anxiety disorders can manifest in various forms, such as generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobias. The causes of anxiety disorders are complex and can include a combination of genetic, environmental, and psychological factors. Recognizing the signs and seeking help from mental health professionals can make a significant difference in managing these conditions.
Types of Anxiety Disorders
There are several types of anxiety disorders, each with its own unique characteristics:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): This type is characterized by excessive and persistent worry about everyday things, such as work, finances, or relationships. People with GAD often find it difficult to control their worry, which can interfere with daily activities.
- Panic Disorder: This disorder involves recurring panic attacks, which are intense episodes of fear or anxiety that can be accompanied by physical symptoms such as a racing heart, shortness of breath, or dizziness. These attacks can occur unexpectedly and can be very distressing.
- Social Anxiety Disorder: Also known as social phobia, this disorder is characterized by excessive and persistent fear or anxiety in social situations, such as public speaking, meeting new people, or even everyday interactions. This fear can lead to avoidance of social situations and significant distress.
- Specific Phobias: These are characterized by excessive and persistent fear or anxiety about a specific object, situation, or activity, such as heights, flying, or certain animals. The fear is often out of proportion to the actual danger posed by the object or situation.
Understanding the different types of anxiety disorders can help in identifying the specific challenges you or a loved one may be facing and seeking appropriate treatment.
Symptoms of Anxiety
Anxiety is such a common problem and manifests in many different ways.
- Feeling out of control due to anxiety
- Constant worry
- Racing thoughts
- Fatigue/Sleep problems/Lack of sleep
- Lack of appetite
- Panic, fear and uneasiness
- Avoiding places, things or people
- Tense muscles
- Headaches
- Stomach aches
- Feeling agitated
- Restlessness
- Difficulty concentrating
- Irritability
Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Other Anxiety Disorders
From mild worry and rumination to full blown panic attacks, there are many forms of anxiety that can interrupt our quality of life and ability to enjoy our lives. When anxiety starts to interrupt your daily life, you likely have developed an anxiety disorder. Our psychologists specialize in treating several types of anxiety disorders including:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- PTSD and trauma
- Panic attacks and Panic Disorder
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Phobias
Anxiety has become such a pervasive part of our many of our day to day lives and culture that is hard to figure out what is “problem” anxiety anymore? What is a disorder and what is normal life anxiety? When does normal life anxiety start to shift into something more serious or severe over time? These are questions that many people come in wondering and asking and realizing that they have likely been suffering from some form of detrimental anxiety for a very long time. Early intervention (and even prevention) with anxiety and other mental health issues is key in treatment outcomes. If you meet with one of our team of psychologists they will do a full evaluation and help you to understand the ways in which anxiety may be affecting your life.
Our team takes a psycho-educational and active approach to helping you understand how anxiety works, what the triggers are and how to address and cope through various anxiety management, coping and relaxation skills. Whether it is more generalized anxiety, worry or severe panic attacks, we will work together on plan to help you learn how to manage, even master your anxiety and stress.
Our clinical psychologists can help you find your way to less worry, better stress management and greater happiness. By treating your social anxiety, underlying fears or panic attacks, you can regain your life. Our goal is to help you effectively treat anxiety disorders to prevent them from escalating.
Diagnosis and Assessment
Diagnosing anxiety disorders involves a comprehensive evaluation of a person’s symptoms, medical history, and mental health status. This thorough assessment is crucial in developing an effective treatment plan tailored to the individual’s needs. Early diagnosis and intervention by mental health specialists can significantly improve outcomes and help individuals regain control over their lives.
How Anxiety is Diagnosed
Mental health professionals use a variety of methods to diagnose anxiety disorders, ensuring a thorough and accurate assessment:
- Clinical Interviews: A detailed interview with the individual to assess their symptoms, medical history, and mental health status. This helps in understanding the context and severity of the anxiety.
- Psychological Assessments: Standardized questionnaires and rating scales are used to assess anxiety symptoms and their severity. These tools provide a structured way to measure the impact of anxiety on daily life.
- Physical Examination: A medical examination is conducted to rule out any underlying medical conditions that may be contributing to anxiety symptoms. This step ensures that the anxiety is not a symptom of another health issue.
- Diagnostic Criteria: Mental health professionals use diagnostic criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) to diagnose anxiety disorders. This standardized approach ensures consistency and accuracy in diagnosis.
By understanding the diagnostic process, individuals can feel more informed and prepared when seeking help for anxiety disorders. Professional assessment and diagnosis are the first steps towards effective treatment and improved mental health.
Anxiety Treatment in Tampa, FL
You don’t have to keep avoiding places, people and situations that have triggered your anxiety. It’s not just a matter of time before you face an unexpected panic attack in the middle of your day. Anxiety treatment WORKS. Our expert clinical psychologists specialize in treating anxiety. Through counseling, you can conquer your anxiety symptoms, get unstuck and engage fully in your life again. The longer you let anxiety go unchecked and without treatment the worse it can become over time. Our South Tampa counseling office has several therapists who specialize in treating symptoms of anxiety and anxiety disorders. If you or someone you care about is experiencing anxiety please contact our counseling office and one of psychologists will call you back personally to do a free phone consult. We will help you determine which therapist is the right fit to help you address your anxiety symptoms. Our team of doctoral level psychologists here in South Tampa specialize in treating various forms of anxiety and trauma and a phone consultation ensures that you are matched with the therapist who will be the best fit!
Our Approach to Anxiety Treatment
When you come to counseling for anxiety, our clinical psychologists and behavioral health specialists will do a mental health assessment to get to know you as an individual. They will try to first understand your anxiety, your mental health history and how your anxiety is impacting your life right now. They will then help you come up with an individual treatment plan.
But all of that is pretty broad, so you are still wondering exactly how we will treat your anxiety, right? Our clinical psychologists will help you identify triggers for your anxiety, be more present in the moment (mindfulness), learn coping skills for when anxiety comes and help you reframe how you look at your anxiety. Our therapists most often use mindfulness techniques and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques in counseling sessions for anxiety. Most anxiety treatment involves some element of exposure therapy whether it’s something formal where you gradually face situations you are afraid of or more informal such as simply talking about things you’ve been avoiding.
It’s important to note that each of our therapists will approach anxiety treatment slightly differently. Each of us is a doctorate level psychologist. However, we’ve attended different trainings, have had different client experiences and bring our unique personality to sessions. You can read an overview of all our psychologists or look at our individual pages for more in depth information.
Learn More About Our Anxiety Therapists
See Dr. Biondoletti’s page for more on her specific approach to treatment
See Dr. Huffman’s page for more on his specific approach to treatment
See Dr. Allen’s page for more on her specific approach to treatment
See Dr. Devlin’s page for more on her specific approach to treatment
See Dr. Carpenter’s page for more on her specific approach to treatment
CONTACT US FOR A FREE CONSULT
Anxiety treatment helps reduce perfectionism, worry and excessive stress. Begin counseling for anxiety in South Tampa. 33609
OPENING UP THE CONVERSATION ABOUT ANXIETY
Dr. Carswell is passionate about opening up the conversation about mental illness, including anxiety, and breaking through the stigma of talking about it openly. She was invited as an expert to host a movie screening and panel discussion for a movie called Angst which tackles this very question. See the trailer below which champions this issue and does an amazing job putting very personal words to the experience of anxiety and to ways you can learn to manage it.
Other Mental Health Services at Wellness Psychological Services
As a South Tampa counseling clinic, we offer a variety of therapy services. All of our therapists are doctoral level clinical psychologists and experts in the field of mental and physical health. Other common mental health concerns our psychologists treat include Trauma/PTSD, EMDR therapy, stress management, health psychology, depression & bipolar disorder. We also offer DBT, PCIT therapy, eating disorder treatment, and psychological testing & evaluation services. For couples & families, our psychologists provide support for couples/marriage counseling, divorce discernment, & collaborative divorce facilitation. We also offer online therapy. If you don’t see the issue you are looking for listed, please reach out and contact Wellness Psychological Services to ask if one of our psychologists can help you with your unique situation. We look forward to helping you live your best life possible!