It’s normal to feel anxious. Students naturally worry about grades, employees about performance, business owners about revenue targets, and parents about their children. Everyone is also generally concerned about medical problems, debts, death, and relationship issues.
However, if your feelings of disquiet do not leave, you feel perennially troubled and bothered, you’re having panic attacks, and your apprehension and unease are worsening over time, see an anxiety therapist. Pervasive and unabating feelings of perturbation may indicate an anxiety disorder.
If you have an anxiety disorder, a consultation with a professional is essential. They’ll be able to diagnose your condition and prescribe medication, therapy or a combination of strategies so you can feel and be better.
What Is Anxiety Disorder?
The American Psychiatric Association says an anxiety disorder is age-inappropriate or out-of-proportion anxiety or fear that hinders a person’s ability to function normally.
There are several types of anxiety disorders. They include the following:
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Generalized anxiety disorder: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) pertains to incessant, excessive worrying. The anxiety may center around anything and everything – job, family, relationships, health issues, etc. However, the anxiety is out-of-proportion, persistent, pervasive, and does not wane (may even intensify over time) that it becomes a hindrance to daily activities.
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Social anxiety disorder: An intense and disproportionate fear of being humiliated, embarrassed, looked down on, or rejected is social anxiety disorder (SAD). Consequently, people with social anxiety disorder avoid social situations where they may experience these things.
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Panic disorder: Panic disorder refers to experiencing frequent panic attacks that manifest as intense fear of dying or losing control and physical symptoms like heart palpitations, chills, hot flashes, cold sweats, shortness of breath, choking, chest pain, etc.
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Phobias: Phobias refer to anxiety induced by specific triggers. Examples include acrophobia (fear of heights), aerophobia (fear of flying), agoraphobia (fear of being overwhelmed without a means of escape), and trypophobia (fear of repetitive patterns or clusters of small holes).
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Separation anxiety disorder: An exaggerated and age-inappropriate fear of being separated from another person with whom they feel excessive attachment is separation anxiety disorder.
Treating Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorder is one of the world’s most common mental health conditions, affecting an estimated 4% of the global population, with women more susceptible to it than men. Unfortunately, only one in every four people diagnosed with this condition receives treatment for it.
The good news is that there are highly effective treatments for anxiety disorders. These treatments include the following:
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a mainstream management strategy for mental disorders, including anxiety disorder. This is called talk therapy because it is the patient speaking to a psychologist, psychiatrist, or other licensed psychotherapy provider.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is an example of talk therapy used in managing anxiety disorders. The underlying premise is that how people learn, think, and store information directly impacts how they feel and behave. Therefore, anxiety — the consequence — may be resolved by addressing the perspective or premise — the cause.
After exposing how you view and process information and events, you and the therapist can work together to address any flaws in your cognitive framework. Eventually, this will change your attitudes and how you act, behave, and react to stimuli.
Additionally, therapists may introduce you to techniques you can use as coping mechanisms. These can be breathing and relaxation exercises you can do whenever you feel a panic attack.
Medication
Medication may also be used in conjunction with therapy. They mainly work by reducing the feeling of intensity or keeping anxiety-induced symptoms bearable or under control.
Benzodiazepines are effective at providing relatively quick relief from feelings of anxiety. However, they may become less effective over time because people can build a tolerance for them. They may also lead to dependence, and this can lead to a host of other problems.
Beta-blockers are another option. They can resolve the physical symptoms of anxiety (heart palpitations, trembling, shaking, etc.). They provide instant symptom relief as well as prevent the onset of uncontrollable anxiety symptoms in situations that, in your case, typically induce them (e.g., public speaking, taking public transportation, etc.).
Neurofeedback Therapy for Anxiety
Neurofeedback therapy is another potential strategy for managing anxiety. It’s called brain training therapy. It involves training the brain into curbing undesirable brain wave patterns, including those associated with anxiety disorders.
What is neurofeedback therapy?
Neurofeedback therapy is a biofeedback technique. It involves actively monitoring and tracking brain waves and providing the brain with instantaneous feedback on this brain activity.
The underlying premise is that the brain is powerful enough to self-regulate. As such, if it is made aware that it’s exhibiting undesirable brain wave patterns (e.g., those associated with anxiety), it can actively manage, control and change these patterns into something more desirable (e.g., brain waves associated with calmness and relaxation).
This is why neurofeedback therapy requires multiple sessions. Constant and regular practice reinforces the brain’s ability to regulate itself.
How does it work?
Brain mapping comes first. This creates a baseline, tags and registers brain waves, and identifies potential issues. After the brain mapping session, the therapist schedules neurofeedback sessions.
At a neurofeedback session, you wear headphones and sit in a comfortable chair in front of a television. A movie or show plays on the TV.
On your scalp are affixed electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes. These EEG electrodes feed your brain’s activity data to a computer program that instantaneously “reads” it. Any negative brain waves that register on the computer trigger a degradation in the audio-video quality of the movie or show you’re watching. The audio-video quality is restored once the brain waves return to good or neutral.
Neurofeedback therapy, therefore, involves simply telling the brain when it’s manifesting negative brain activity and when it’s the opposite. The repeating cycle of audio-video quality degradation and restoration allows the brain to identify its desirable and undesirable brain wave phases, making it more aware of its own activity and eventually training it to regulate itself.
Over time – after multiple neurofeedback sessions – the brain learns to react faster and regulate its activity better. Ultimately, this leads to milder feelings of anxiety, less frequent anxiety attacks, or fewer symptoms.
Anxiety Disorders Are Treatable
Anxiety disorders are common, but approximately three-quarters of those who have been diagnosed do not receive treatment for them. This is unfortunate as anxiety can be treated and its symptoms managed with psychotherapy, medication and neurofeedback therapy.
