You have a test, a big meeting, or an important personal event, coming up soon. Do you feel nervous? That’s normal, and completely healthy! And, that’s not very similar to the way that clinical anxiety affects people who suffer from the condition.
Anxiety is a mental health condition that puts significant burdens on people living with it, and can negatively affect your daily life in many ways.
Once you understand how much of a difficulty and constraint your anxiety really is, you see clearly how important it is to get support and treatment for your anxiety. You deserve to feel free from concern, fear, shame, and the other negative emotions that come with clinical anxiety.
At Nugent Family Counseling Center, our team offers expert counseling and treatment for new and existing patients with anxiety disorders including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and specific fear-based triggers.
Contact our locations in San Jose, California, Los Gatos, California, and Reno, Nevada, to learn how our team, led by Dr. Geoff Nugent, can help you, or a loved one, reclaim better quality of life and experience freedom from anxiety.
The reality of clinical anxiety
Because feelings like fear, worry, and concern can be a normal and healthy part of life, it can be a challenge to realize that a person with an anxiety disorder is dealing with something more than just run-of-the-mill stress.
Anxiety can have a very real impact on your body. During an anxiety attack, you might experience a pounding heart, shortness of breath, or faintness. The chemical cortisone floods your body, activating your fight-or-flight response. Anxiety can even harm your digestion, or result in your suffering from insomnia and not getting enough sleep at night.
All of these issues are significant, and need to be understood as part of a real, clinical mental health problem.
Types of anxiety and their effects
Your anxiety could be a problem for you in different ways depending on how your symptoms manifest.
If you have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), daily life can feel like a fight against fear. You may not even be sure why you’re afraid. GAD can hold you back at work, at home, and in your personal pursuits, keeping you trapped behind nervousness and mental agitation.
Social anxiety is anxiety related to how you’re perceived by others. You might feel insecure, or concerned about not being liked or wanted by friends and acquaintances. Social anxiety may make you pull away from others, withdrawing from company and seeking solitude to avoid being triggered.
Some people struggle with anxiety that’s specifically tied to a trigger, like a place, a person, a memory, or an activity. You might change your life dramatically in order to avoid these triggers, limiting what you can do and where you can go.
Freedom from anxiety with professional treatment
Your provider at Nugent Family Counseling Center works with you to better understand your anxiety, and the role your mental health disorder plays in your life. With the right support, you can develop better, healthier coping strategies, and even reduce the intensity or frequency of your anxiety.
You may be able to benefit from treatments and therapies including:
- Psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), or dialectical-behavioral therapy (DBT)
- Group therapy
- Aromatherapy
- Hypnosis
- Microcurrent electrical therapy
- Neurofeedback and brain retraining
- Prescription medications
To address the debilitating effects of anxiety and enjoy a fuller quality of life, contact Dr. Nugent and the team at Nugent Family Counseling Center today. Schedule your appointment online, or call now to book.