One of the best ways to deal with anxiety is to learn about your own anxiety: your symptoms, what triggers it, and what coping mechanisms have been effective in the past. When you learn what your anxiety is tied to, it can help you be mindful of what's really happening as well as prevent and mitigate symptoms by processing and working through the issue in therapy. Other strategies that have been shown to help manage anxiety are meditation, challenging anxious thoughts, exercising, and journaling.
The psychologist Nicole LePera once stated, “Take a deep breath to remember you are the child who lived through survival mode and the empowered adult who chose their healing.” Anxiety can sometimes serve an adaptive purpose. It can keep you safe from dangerous situations, signaling to your body that you need to be wary. Yes, mild stress and anxiety can be healthy at times.
But some people can develop anxiety at a young age, trying to anticipate the actions of unpredictable parents, or trying to avoid a circumstance that once traumatized them. In acute cases like these, and in many other cases, anxiety can begin to interfere with daily functioning. It no longer serves a healthy purpose. When fears and worries tend to overwhelm you without a rational basis, the constant state of fight-or-flight can take a toll on your mental and physical health. Fortunately, anxiety is highly treatable.
The licensed anxiety therapists at Thriveworks in La Habra, CA can help reduce your anxiety with evidence-based mental health approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness training. Thriveworks providers use these and other types of therapy to address the mental health condition with compassion, insight, and expertise. For example, therapy can teach coping skills for social situations that might trigger social anxiety disorder. Therapy can help people understand why they’re feeling anxious and what they can do about it. Anxiety is an extremely common mental health condition that can be effectively managed in Thriveworks therapy sessions.
What Are the Different Types of Anxiety?
Anxiety comes in a few different forms, but many of these types have overlapping symptoms. The different anxiety diagnoses that exist in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) are as follows:
- Panic disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
- Social anxiety disorder
- Illness anxiety disorder (hypochondria)
- Post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD)
- Separation anxiety disorder
- Selective mutism
- Agoraphobia
- Medication-induced anxiety disorder
Don’t be intimidated by the word “disorder.” All it means is that the condition can interfere with daily functioning and overall mental wellness. Classifying something as a disorder is just one way to guide effective treatment and allocate the proper resources. But you yourself are not disordered. You just have a mental health condition that needs additional support. You may find an exceptional therapeutic match in one of the counselors, social workers, psychiatrists, or psychologists at Thriveworks in La Habra, CA.
Who Gets Anxiety?
All kinds of people experience anxiety, not just people who have suffered from trauma or abuse. And definitely not just people who experience a lot of financial stressors! For example, numerous wealthy celebrities have been outspoken about their struggles with anxiety:
- Kendall Jenner (panic attacks or panic disorder)
- Naomi Osaka (social anxiety and depression)
- Ariana Grande (post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD))
- Amanda Seyfried (panic attacks or panic disorder)
- Miley Cyrus (panic attacks or panic disorder)
- Big Sean (anxiety)
- Stephen Colbert (anxiety)
- Oprah Winfrey (anxiety)
- Sean Hayes (illness anxiety disorder or hypochondria)
- Marcus Morris (anxiety and depression)
- Lena Dunham (obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
What Are the Symptoms of Anxiety?
Anxiety can have physical and mental symptoms. Anxiety psychotherapists at Thriveworks in La Habra, CA might pay close attention to any of the following potential signs of anxiety:
- Sleep disruptions like insomnia or nightmares
- Digestive problems, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- Migraines or headaches
- Mental fixations
- Compulsive actions
- Appetite problems
- Sweating
- Feeling restless
- Hyperventilation
- Nausea
- Trouble concentrating
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness or faintness
- Racing heartbeat
- Sense of impending doom or disaster
What Are the Best Treatments for Anxiety?
Fortunately the top-rated therapists at Thriveworks in La Habra, CA have numerous therapeutic tools for treating anxiety. These include:
- CBT
- Exposure therapy, especially for specific phobias of objects or situations (also called systematic desensitization)
- Psychodynamic therapy
- Psychiatric medication like antidepressants, prescribed by a licensed Thriveworks psychiatrist
- Holistic treatments like meditation and deep breathing
- Relaxation techniques like progressive muscle relaxation
- Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)
- Panic-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy
- Applied relaxation training (ART)
- Supportive-expressive therapy
- Biofeedback
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR)
- Lifestyle modifications
- Family therapy or couples counseling
Get Convenient Anxiety Therapy at Thriveworks in La Habra, CA
The anxiety therapists at Thriveworks in La Habra, CA are recruited from the top 4% of mental health providers in the area. This means that Thriveworks clients get premium anxiety treatment at affordable prices (Thriveworks providers accept most major forms of health insurance coverage). Additionally, Thriveworks therapists can meet with clients in whatever way is most comfortable and convenient for them: via online counseling sessions or via traditional, in-person counseling sessions at the modern office in La Habra. Both types of session are of the same length and superior quality.
Anxiety can be a major impediment to accomplishing your dreams. Don’t let it hold you back anymore. Call Thriveworks today and see a counselor as early as tomorrow.
Stress, OCD / Obsessive-Compulsive, Sleep / Insomnia, Anxiety, Depression, +1 more 
