Anxiety is one of the most common reasons why people see a therapist. The best part is that anxiety is very treatable when seeing an anxiety therapist.
There are three main types of anxiety: General, Social and Specific. Learning more about the anxiety that you are experiencing, can help you learn how to cope with it.
General Anxiety
Generalized Anxiety is very often what people are referring to when someone says “I just have a lot of anxiety. I’ve always been anxious person.” The key with this type of anxiety is that it is consistent and persistent, but not specific.
With this disorder, you have anxiety and worry that is consistently overwhelming. Clients have often said “I worry so much that I sometimes I don’t even know what I’m worried about. Then, I start worrying about how much I’m worried.” This is a great example. The amount of worry is not dependent on what is going on in your life and doesn’t seem to get better. This is something that you have been consistently struggling with for at least six months.
Other aspects of this disorder, in addition to anxiety and worry, are that you may feel very restless or have difficulty sitting still. This can result in you feeling tired easily, having a lot of muscle tension or having difficulty sleeping.
People are often surprised to discover that anxiety can also cause anger or just being grumpy. If you are irritable, grumpy, crabby or angry, it could be connected to your anxiety.
Social Anxiety
Like the name implies, this anxiety requires a social component. This disorder is most often confused with being shy. So, this an above average response to social interaction, meeting new people and social conversations.
Many people struggling with this disorder fear social interaction because they have a fear of being judged, rejected, embarrassed and humiliated. As a result, they avoid any situation in which they could be evaluated, observed or have to speak or perform in front of others.
This fear or anxiety needs to be consistently present every time you encounter a similar situation. Also, it needs to be present consistently for at least six months.
Specific Phobia (Anxiety)
Specific Phobia put simply is the opposite of general anxiety. If you have specific phobia, you have anxiety about one specific thing and only that one thing. This anxiety has also been present for at least six months. The anxiety is usually caused by fear of a specific object or situation. Some very common examples of a specific phobia that would fall into this category are fear of flying (or being in an airplane), driving, spiders, heights and clowns.
Another important characteristic of this disorder is that the fear is consistent. If you have a fear of clowns, you have that fear every time you see a clown and you avoid them in every situation whenever possible.
Another characteristic is that it is outside of what an average response would be. For example, having an extreme fear response to a tiger that is caged up and not a safety concern, may be out of proportionate. Whereas, that same response to a tiger that was on the loose may not be an extreme response.
Are you interested in Anxiety Treatment?
Struggling with anxiety is hard. However, it is not something that you need to live with forever. If you would like additional information on anxiety treatment, call or contact me for a free consultation or to schedule an appointment.