Anxiety disorders are more common than people realise, with research showing the amount of newly diagnosed cases increasing to around 45 million in 2019. I imagine that these numbers have only continued to grow, particularly when you consider the global pandemic, the current political climate, the goings on in the Middle East, amongst countless other events and the impact such events have on people’s lives.
In my experience, people often minimise their experiences with anxiety, as we often speak about how it is normal to feel anxious and that this is a part of the human condition. Whilst this is true, some of us experience more frequent and intense symptoms that develop into an anxiety disorder which can be incredibly debilitating.
TYPES OF ANXIETY DISORDERS:
There are different forms of anxiety disorder, the following 6 being the most common:
1. Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
People with GAD can find themselves worrying in excess about countless situations, events or problems, whilst also experiencing both emotional and physical symptoms of anxiety. I often find clients to be concerned with things not going right and sometimes worrying about what them worrying so much will do to them long term.
2. Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
People with SAD are often concerned with what others think of them. You may be worried about what people think about you and worry about this before, during and after a social situation or event. This may also include you feeling embarrassed or worrying that you have embarrassed yourself. This creates physical symptoms of anxiety including sweating profusely and restlessness that you may find brings more attention to your anxiety.
3. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
There are multiple subtypes of OCD, with there being a lack of understanding by society and the media about what these are. OCD is often reported as being concerned with cleanliness, tidiness or being organised. The root of OCD is being worried about something bad happening and this being your fault. If you have OCD you may find yourself being disturbed by anything from contamination to being sexually deviant in some way. I have worked with more client’s experiencing issues with sexual orientation OCD than any other subtype.
4. Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is characterised by intense and overwhelming physical symptoms of anxiety that can lead you to worry that you might die. These episodes can feel random, seem to happen at times that you would not expect and result in you limiting how much you do out of fear of it happening again.
5. Health Anxiety
People with health anxiety fear that they may become ill or that they are already ill and not showing symptoms. People may find that they seek out reassurances from people in their lives or healthcare professionals and feel dissatisfied with the reassurance once they have it.
6. Phobias (of which there are many, including emetophobia, also known as vomit phobia).
A phobia is when you are fearful of a specific thing, like spiders for example, otherwise known as arachnophobia or fear of vomiting, also known as emetophobia. These are very common and often people go to great lengths to avoid there feared thing at all times.
TREATMENT
There are numerous treatment options available, with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) being identified as the desired therapy for anxiety, as recommended by the National Institute for Health Care Excellence (NICE). This is because CBT is evidence based and so there is a significant pool of research that offer proof of its effectiveness. CBT offers the opportunity to better understand your anxieties, including how and when this developed, to learn practical skills to reduce anxiety symptoms and interrupt unhelpful and difficult thoughts and effectively empower you to be your own therapist.
GPs may also prescribe medications including Sertraline and Citalopram to manage physical symptoms of anxiety. The use of medication and therapy together has been proven to be effective for achieving positive results for clients.
Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy has also been proven to be effective for treating anxiety disorders in some circumstances. Matthew offers a combination approach in these cases to ensure that you as the client are provided with appropriate resources for coping independently during and after the process.
LEARN MORE
We specialise in working with men (including gay, bisexual, trans and queer men) suffering from low-self-esteem as a result of difficult life experiences and trauma. We find that whilst anxiety may not be the main reason for seeking therapy, all of our client’s experience symptoms of anxiety that interfere with their day to day lives and relationships, and through treatment notice a reduction in symptoms and an improvement in overall self-esteem and wellbeing.
If you would like to learn more, please get in touch and arrange an initial consultation to discuss your view of the reason for seeking therapy and we can decide together on what steps to take next. You can reach us via email (matthew@meettocope.co.uk AND kirsty@meettocope.co.uk), telephone (0161 524 1703) or using our contact us page on our website (www.meettocope.co.uk).
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