Anxiety Specialist

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is a collective term for a group of mental health conditions that cause persistent fears and worries. While everyone feels anxious occasionally, an anxiety disorder causes distress and interferes with your ability to function at work, school, or home, ultimately detracting from your quality of life. 

There are several types of anxiety disorder, including:

• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Panic disorder
• Social anxiety disorder
• Separation anxiety disorder
• Individual phobias 

The various types of anxiety disorder cause fears and concerns about different aspects of life. For example, social anxiety disorder can cause crippling nervousness about interacting with other people, while generalized anxiety disorder triggers fears about day-to-day events like work and family health. 

What are the symptoms of anxiety?

While anxiety is a mental health issue, it causes a wide range of physical and psychological symptoms, including:

• Feeling nervous or tense
• Sense of impending danger or dread
• Reduced concentration
• Insomnia
• Fatigue and weakness
• Rapid heart rate
• Rapid breathing
• Increased sweating
• Trembling
• Gastrointestinal problems
• Avoidance 

If you have panic disorder, you experience panic attacks when several physical symptoms and an impending sense of dread descend on you without warning. Your heart rate increases and you have shortness of breath and chest pain. Panic attacks are often disorienting and frightening.

When should I talk to a psychologist about anxiety?

Nervousness and anxiety are normal human emotions when experienced occasionally. They’re part of your fight-or-flight response, which helps keep you safe. However, if you have persistent negative thoughts and fears that interfere with your life, you might benefit from talking to a psychologist like Dr. Cole or Ms. Bollinger.

How is anxiety treated?

At Quandary Peak Counseling, Dr. Cole and Ms. Bolligner provide comprehensive psychological assessments and psychotherapy services to help you explore and resolve your anxiety. Depending on your needs, the team creates a customized treatment plan that typically includes psychotherapy and lifestyle adjustments to help you manage your anxiety. 

The team has experience in a variety of psychological approaches and tailors your sessions to meet your needs. For example, many patients with anxiety benefit from a cognitive-behavioral approach, which helps you learn to recognize your anxious thoughts and their triggers. It also helps you learn techniques to cope with those thoughts in a productive, healthy way and improve your behavioral response.

However, the team offers a variety of therapeutic styles if a different approach better suits your needs.

Call Quandary Peak Counseling or make an appointment online today if anxiety interferes with your quality of life.