Treatment for anxiety conditions is getting more advanced and research informs us what works quite well. We need to understand anxiety states and anxiety disorders before we can design the right treatment for each person. This practice offers specialist treatment without drugs for anxiety conditions. We use cognitive behaviour therapy and associated techniques to get the best results for every client. This page can be viewed as a full pdf if you click here.
Here is a list of the main types of anxiety disorders
Phobias
Specific phobias are fears of objects or situations that are excessive and cause the person some negative impact on their life or their functioning. Examples include fears of animals, heights, aeroplanes, closed spaces, tunnels, bridges, vomiting, dentists or death.
Social Anxiety and shyness
Social phobia is when a person is deeply afraid of panicking or making a fool of themselves in front of others. They often fear their own anxiety response in front of others and feel self-conscious about blushing, sweating or trembling when they are the focus of attention. The anxiety is very high and such people tend to avoid work and social situations where they need to speak up or perform in front of others.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
OCD is when a person gets intrusive, obsessional anxious thoughts running through their head – and then they feel compelled to do something to correct or rectify the situation. This can manifest in a variety of ways including (a) repeated checking of things like locks and electric devices or taps, (b) urges to repeat certain actions for fear that they were not done right, (c) fears of contamination and urges to wash in certain ways or avoid objects that are ‘risky’, (d) doubts about religious pureness or correctness, (e) urges to count things unnecessarily or an obsession with a number or (f) intrusive thoughts about having done (or about to do) some horrendous thing to someone.
Panic Attacks
A panic attack (also known as an anxiety attack) is a sudden episode characterised by feeling afraid and having a range of three or more of the following physical symptoms:
- racing heart
- tightness or pain in the chest,
- difficulty breathing normally
- sweating and feeling hot or flushed
- lightheaded or like you might faint
- nausea
- feeling like things are not real; or you are disengaged from yourself.
- fear of going crazy; fear of losing control
- fear of a heart attack or stroke
Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia
Panic Disorder is the term used to describe when someone has had at least one panic attack and then they fear and dread having more. Sometimes people have many panic attacks each week. Others just had one or two attacks a long time ago, but the memory of that was so horrifying that they would do anything to avoid having another attack. It is understandable to want to avoid situations that you think you will panic in. If the avoidance is quite severe (e.g. unable to go the shops on your own) then we call that Agoraphobia.
Excessive Worry or ‘Generalised Anxiety Disorder’ (GAD).
GAD is a condition in which people worry quite severely, much of every week about a variety of things. The worry usually spans issues to do with health, finances, safety, employment and other future uncertainties. The person with GAD usually feels trapped with their worry – they feel that their worry makes them more prepared and safer but they also worry that they are stressing too much.
Illness Anxiety
Also known and hypochondriasis, ‘illness anxiety’ is when a person feels very anxious about physical sensations and symptoms that they notice. They often get the urge to ask for medical reassurance when they find themselves worrying about their health. Common health anxieties include having cancers, bowel problems, neurological disorders (like MS),
or breathing problems. People find that even when they get medical reassurance, the worries and doubts soon return – and therefore so do the urges to research or get more reassurance about those symptoms. They often feel under-treated by their doctors.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD is a constellation of reactions that a person has to a situation in which they experienced or witnessed something horrifying. The person will have seveal of the following symptoms and at least one in each of the three clusters:
(a) re-experiencing the trauma in intrusive images, memories, dreams and flashbacks; severe distress when reminded of the event.
(b) avoidance of places, people, conversations or thoughts that remind them of the event; trying not to think about it; feeling numb and detached; feeling hopeless about life and the future
(c) physical arousal including increased startle response, inability to relax normally, sleep disturbance, heightened tension when reminded of the event.
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