Anne is a 12 year old girl with long blond hair and blue eyes. She stared out in rebellion, challenging her mother. She came into my office for anxiety. Ever since she was little she had anxiety about death and dying and now she worries about everything in in her life. She has what we call generalized anxiety. Despite her anxiety, she was quite feisty with her mother. She seems to show off in front of others and tries to get the attention from another. The main question here is what is anxiety? How do you know whether you have it? There are five symptoms to look for to find out if you have anxiety.
1. Excessive worry-you worry about everything from the smallest detail to the worst thing you think might happen. It is never ending. The worry may be real or imagined. In a child's life you worry about not just that you will fail a test, you will fail every assignment and be held in your grade. You will never pass. The key here is if you fail one test, you will fail everything. Just because you fail one test does not mean you will not pass the year if you are studying and doing your homework. One may have worries about death. Death is normal, but becomes abnormal when you think about death all the time and worry that you are going to die at any time or family members may die at any time.
2. Unable to control your worry-the worry is so bad you cannot control it, it controls you. It is not like a light switch you can turn on and off. No matter how hard you try to block the worry, it is there nagging at you and you cannot get away from it.
3. Restless/keyed up-you feel like you are ready to crawl out of your skin. You cannot sit still for fear that the worry might happen. Your heart pounds. You sweat. You are jumpy and waiting for the worst to happen.
4. Lack of Concentration-you are so focused on the worry that you cannot concentrate. For example, you maybe in school in a lecture and you cannot focus on the lecture because you are worried that your worry may become true.
5. Panic Attacks-you may or may not have panic attacks, but for anyone who has had one, you never forget the feeling. Your heart beats like it is coming out of your chest, you may sweat, and you get to the point where it takes your breath away. It is so bad that you may feel like you are dying. It may last 5-15 minutes until your body regulates itself and brings you back to your normal state of rest.
Some of these symptoms mirror other disorders so it is important that if you have any of these symptoms, you get evaluated by a professional to rule out anxiety. Psychiatrists and psychologists can evaluate for anxiety as well as licensed clinical social workers and licensed professional counselors. It is important that you do not self-diagnose. Above are only some of the symptoms of anxiety. There are many more. They are the top things we look for in diagnosing anxiety in a client.
You may be asking so what, I have anxiety, now what do I do? You seek professional help from a professional therapist and a psychiatrist. Medication can only help so much. You need tools that a therapist can practice with you to deal with the anxiety from relaxation techniques to cognitive behavioral techniques to help control the worry.
You do not have to suffer from anxiety. There is help out there. It takes time and you must be patient with treatment. It will not go away overnight. If you feel comfortable with the therapist and feel you can trust them that is a start in the right direction. Just be yourself and talk about your worries no matter how silly they sound. That is where treatment begins. Good luck in your journey to being able to cope with your anxiety.
1. Excessive worry-you worry about everything from the smallest detail to the worst thing you think might happen. It is never ending. The worry may be real or imagined. In a child's life you worry about not just that you will fail a test, you will fail every assignment and be held in your grade. You will never pass. The key here is if you fail one test, you will fail everything. Just because you fail one test does not mean you will not pass the year if you are studying and doing your homework. One may have worries about death. Death is normal, but becomes abnormal when you think about death all the time and worry that you are going to die at any time or family members may die at any time.
2. Unable to control your worry-the worry is so bad you cannot control it, it controls you. It is not like a light switch you can turn on and off. No matter how hard you try to block the worry, it is there nagging at you and you cannot get away from it.
3. Restless/keyed up-you feel like you are ready to crawl out of your skin. You cannot sit still for fear that the worry might happen. Your heart pounds. You sweat. You are jumpy and waiting for the worst to happen.
4. Lack of Concentration-you are so focused on the worry that you cannot concentrate. For example, you maybe in school in a lecture and you cannot focus on the lecture because you are worried that your worry may become true.
5. Panic Attacks-you may or may not have panic attacks, but for anyone who has had one, you never forget the feeling. Your heart beats like it is coming out of your chest, you may sweat, and you get to the point where it takes your breath away. It is so bad that you may feel like you are dying. It may last 5-15 minutes until your body regulates itself and brings you back to your normal state of rest.
Some of these symptoms mirror other disorders so it is important that if you have any of these symptoms, you get evaluated by a professional to rule out anxiety. Psychiatrists and psychologists can evaluate for anxiety as well as licensed clinical social workers and licensed professional counselors. It is important that you do not self-diagnose. Above are only some of the symptoms of anxiety. There are many more. They are the top things we look for in diagnosing anxiety in a client.
You may be asking so what, I have anxiety, now what do I do? You seek professional help from a professional therapist and a psychiatrist. Medication can only help so much. You need tools that a therapist can practice with you to deal with the anxiety from relaxation techniques to cognitive behavioral techniques to help control the worry.
You do not have to suffer from anxiety. There is help out there. It takes time and you must be patient with treatment. It will not go away overnight. If you feel comfortable with the therapist and feel you can trust them that is a start in the right direction. Just be yourself and talk about your worries no matter how silly they sound. That is where treatment begins. Good luck in your journey to being able to cope with your anxiety.
Carolyn L. Nelson is a licensed clinical social worker who has been in the field over 20 years. She writes for her Blog at http://blog.therapistscornerblog.com
She also can be reached at her website at http://www.therapistscornerblog.com
She also can be reached at her website at http://www.therapistscornerblog.com
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