When to Seek Help for Anxiety & How to Do It 

 

If you’ve been thinking about when to seek help for anxiety, it probably means that you’ve been experiencing certain symptoms of anxiety for a while and are ready to reach out to someone. As with any mental illness, a therapist can help you manage daily challenges and doubts. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing anxiety, this article can help you identify it, find treatment options, and know when to seek help. 

 

What Is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a multifaceted reaction to perceived or actual dangers. It may entail behavioral, physiological, and cognitive changes. The brain releases adrenaline, a hormone and chemical messenger, in response to actual or imagined threats, which sets off these anxiety-inducing reflexes known as the fight-or-flight response. This reaction can happen to certain people in socially awkward settings or when significant decisions or events occur.

Sometimes, the length or intensity of anxiety symptoms might differ significantly from the initial stressor event trigger. It’s also possible for physical symptoms to appear, such as nausea and elevated blood pressure. These reactions elevate anxiety to the level of an anxiety disorder.

It might be easier to recognize and treat anxiety disorders if one knows the difference between normal sensations of worry and conditions that call for medical intervention.

 

Treatment Options 

With the right care, including exposure therapy and a variety of anxiety-reduction strategies that can assist you in controlling your symptoms, recovery is achievable. The following tactics can be learned by reading books, enrolling in courses, or consulting a qualified mental health professional.

To find out if there is a connection between your anxiety and your physical health, you should first consult your primary care physician. He or she can look for indications of a potentially treatable underlying medical issue.

If your anxiety is extreme, though, you might need to consult a mental health professional. A psychiatrist is a medical professional with expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues. Psychotherapists and other mental health providers, such as psychologists, are qualified to diagnose anxiety and offer psychotherapy.

 

Psychotherapy

In psychotherapy, your chosen therapist will work with you to lessen the anxiety symptoms that you experience. For anxiety disorders, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has proven to be one of the most successful types of psychotherapy. Although often a short-term treatment, it teaches you particular methods to help manage your symptoms and progressively resume the activities you’ve avoided due to worry.

As part of CBT, you will progressively come into contact with the thing or circumstance that makes you anxious in order to gain confidence in your ability to control the situation and your anxiety symptoms.

 

Medications

Depending on the kind of anxiety illness you have and whether you also have other physical or mental health conditions, several drugs can be used to aid with symptoms. Discuss the advantages, disadvantages, and potential adverse effects of drugs with your doctor.

 

Relaxing Techniques

Often, symptoms of anxiety will appear due to stress. You might feel stressed from work, family responsibilities, money issues, or any other problem that is having a negative impact on your life. 

We are all familiar with some of the most prevalent physical signs of anxiety, such as tense muscles, headaches, backaches, clenching of the jaw, restlessness, feeling tense and “on edge,” and trouble focusing. 

You may recall that these sensations are a byproduct of our body’s defense mechanisms; blood circulates throughout our body and brain into our major muscles, such as our arms, legs, back, and neck, to prepare us for either “fighting” or “fleeing.” This alters our body’s emotions. To put it briefly, the body uses a lot of effort to defend us, and these sensations are unpleasant! The body ceases attempting to protect us during relaxation, which makes us feel more at peace.

We become accustomed to this tense, jittery condition when we often experience mild to moderate levels of worry for extended periods, to the point where it becomes difficult even to remember what it feels like to be calm! In this instance, we would describe a person’s level of stress and anxiety as resting.

 

How to Find Help for Anxiety

Finding the proper therapist is the first step in overcoming treatment goals, which could include relationship restoration, trauma recovery, transitioning to a new stage of life, improving mental health, or just having a conversation with someone.

According to research, your relationship with your therapist will probably have a significant impact on your development. To choose the ideal therapist for you, it’s critical that you conduct thorough research, pose pertinent questions, and pay close attention to your own reactions.

 

• Determine Your Therapy Goal

Consider your goals and the areas where you require assistance. Having a plan for the areas you want to improve will help your therapist understand what you think needs improvement, which can help treatment get started. Think about the kind of therapy that might work best for you as well.

 

• Check Your Budget

Since therapy can be expensive, assessing your financial situation and creating a budget is critical. Additionally, confirm whether your insurance plan covers mental health therapies. If you want to pay for treatment through your insurance, your first option may be to search for a therapist in your plan’s network.

It’s also a good idea to find out how many sessions you may attend annually under your insurance plan and how choosing an out-of-network therapist would impact your out-of-pocket expenses.

 

• Check Reviews

Another option to locate a therapist who could be a good fit for you is to get a reference from a friend, coworker, or trusted medical professional.

A reference is a terrific place to start, and you should know that you might not have the exact requirements or therapeutic objectives of the individual making the suggestion. Thus, something that works well for them might not work well for you.

 

Check out our staff to start your journey today. 

 

 

About Life Coaching and Therapy

Life Coaching and Therapy (LCAT) is a therapy and coaching practice that transforms our clients lives through our flexible. Multi-technique approach and pleasure-skills training provided by systematically-trained and licensed therapists!

Get to know our founder and owner, Amanda Pasciucco, (a.k.a. The Sex Healer) PhD, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), and an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist (CST) that has developed innovative therapy programs and therapy videos that get results.

Our team of compassionate, licensed therapists and certified sex therapists help all clients who visit us for a variety of personal, relationship, intimacy and sex problems.

LCAT provides on-site appointments, as well as video chat and text therapy programs.

Learn more about how LCAT can help improve your life at What We Do.