What is anxiety disorder?

Anxiety is a normal part of life. Everyday problems such as family, school, or work can bring worries or stress. Anxiety disorder is a condition where such worrying does not go away and can interfere with daily activities. There are a few common types of anxiety disorder including:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or GAD, is the most common type of anxiety disorder. This is when someone experiences prolonged anxiety, often for several months. The excessive worrying causes problems in daily activities such as school, work, and family relationships. Symptoms include difficulty concentrating, fatigue, irritability, restlessness, and problems with sleep.

Panic Disorder

Panic disorder is where someone experiences repeated panic attacks, or intense anxiety. Symptoms of panic disorder include shaking, increased heartrate, and shortness of breath.

Phobias

Phobias are a fear of a specific object or situation. The perceived fear is often much greater in proportion to the actual danger or risk. Common phobias include, meeting new people, being in public, leaving home, heights, snakes, and spiders. Separation anxiety is a type of phobia where someone has an intense fear of being separated from others.

What can cause anxiety disorder?

Anxiety disorder can come from a specific event, chronic stress, or come from genetics and family history.

How can a therapist help treat your anxiety disorder?

Anxiety disorder can be treated. Anxiety disorder left untreated can affect someone’s overall quality of life and prevent them from pursuing their passions and goals. A professional therapist can be a support to help identify areas of life affected by anxiety and work through methods to treat anxiety. A therapist may also identify past traumas and examine lived experiences to treat anxiety triggers at their core.

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What is PTSD?

Post-traumatic stress disorder, otherwise known as PTSD, is a trauma disorder which comes as a stress response to extreme circumstances. PTSD is commonly associated with war veterans who experienced traumatic events during their service. PTSD also occurs from trauma not related to conflict such as sexual assault, or domestic abuse. PTSD can develop immediately after trauma, or gradually over time in response to trauma and can impede someone’s activities of daily living. Symptoms can appear seemingly out of nowhere and manifest as physical pain, debilitating emotional reactions, or even self-destructive social behaviors such as violent outbursts.

Do I have PTSD?

PTSD can develop immediately after a traumatic event or sometimes later because of processing trauma.

Common traumatic events include:

• Road accident
• Sexual assault
• Mugging or robbery
• Serious health problems
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• Loss of a loved one

How can a therapist help treat your anxiety disorder?

Regardless of how PTSD occurs, it can be successfully treated. Talking about traumatic memories can help you overcome the trauma by processing the stress of the situation. A licensed therapist can help process the cause of trauma and work with you in developing a treatment plan to improve PTSD symptoms and coping strategies.

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Why couples go to therapy?

Couples looking to improve their communication together and overall relationship can do so through couples counseling. Common issues couples address include attachment style, conflict management, trust after infidelity, and relationship satisfaction. Couples counseling is not just for troubled relationships and it can support an already thriving relationship through the normal bumps of life.

How can a therapist help improve your relationship?

A licensed therapist provides insight in a judgment free space where no one person is criticized over the other. A therapist will guide the conversation, allowing each person to speak openly and address concerns within their relationship. Boundaries are established to create a space where both partners can feel comfortable to address important topics such as physical intimacy or past traumas. Through counseling couples make lasting positive changes, increase closeness, and improve their communication skills between one another.

How can I tell if couples counseling is working?

For some individuals, entering couples counseling can be intimidating at first. Rest assured, your therapist is on your team and will provide a safe and judgment free environment to help improve your relationship. Couples counseling can even begin with already healthy relationships seeking to make even better their communication, work together on goals, and develop strategies to reduce conflict when challenges or life transitions do arise. Couples entering counseling after years of conflict can benefit from identifying their conflict cycle and what brings them to therapy. Sessions will be utilized to set goals and guidelines to promote honest, thoughtful, and committed conversations.

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What is Depression?

Depression, also known as clinical depression, or major depressive disorder, is a mood disorder which causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Depression is different from sadness in that depression is characterized by prolonged life altering feelings of sadness, fatigue, and emptiness. Sadness is a short-term emotion proportional to the obstacle of challenge that one is facing. Depression can manifest itself in a lack of interest in family and relationships, daily activities of living, and difficulty concentrating. Although common, depression is treatable.

What can cause Depression?

Depression can come from a specific event or develop over time due to internal or external factors.

Family History – A history of depression or mood disorders can make it more likely to develop depression.

Brain chemistry – Dysregulated brain chemistry may affect someone’s mood negatively and make it difficult to manage one’s mood. Traumatic brain injusry can alter brain chemistry as well as drugs/substance abuse.

Major life events – Major outside events such as physical trauma, abuse, and difficult living conditions such as conflict or poverty can cause depression.

How can a therapist help treat your anxiety disorder?

Therapy can help you gain a greater understanding of patterns that perpetuate feelings of emptiness, depletion, or self-criticism. A licensed therapist will work with you in a safe environment to explore root causes of depression and develop strategies to manage depressive thought patterns. If depression is more severe, a therapist may work with a prescribing provider such as a psychiatrist to alleviate symptoms, measure progress, and come up with additional constructive ways to improvement.

How can a therapist help you with sex and intimacy in your relationship?

Sex and intimacy are fundamental aspects of a relationship and influence the quality of connection with your partner. Stigma surrounding sex can prevent a couple from open and honest communication. Concerns are not limited to physical dysfunctions. Therapy can address the mental health issues and communication surrounding sex.

How can a therapist help a couple to improve their feelings of intimacy in a relationship?

Couples relationship therapy typically starts with each person meeting with a therapist to discuss problem areas with sex and intimacy. A therapist will begin a session to first map out areas of health, sexual background, sexual education, beliefs about sex, and specific concerns from the person seeking help. After identifying underlying problems, a therapist will work with a couple to process what is healthy sexuality, educate new ways of communication and connect couples with resources that can further their knowledge and understanding of sexuality.

Why discuss your gender identity or sexual identity with a therapist?

The LGBTQ community experiences higher rates of mental illness due to the lived experiences of prejudice and discrimination they may face in their everyday lives. It can be difficult to understand how one identifies themself, coming out, dating, and working through past challenges and traumas related to gender and sexuality. Discussing these questions with a licensed therapist can provide a safe, supportive, and non-judgmental environment.

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How does therapy help families?

Family therapy can help family and family members work through difficulties such as conflicts, estrangement, or loss. Often family therapy is done together with individual therapy. For example, someone going through addiction disorder or mental illness may seek individual treatment and bring their respective family to improve their interpersonal relationships and work through constructive strategies for support.

Therapy provides a safe space where family members can learn to understand each other, set boundaries, and develop new strategies for healthy communication.

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What is group therapy?

Group therapy is a place where individuals can receive care in a safe and supportive group environment. Group therapy has the added benefit of providing an empathetic environment and added support system among peers. In fact, group therapy is often structured as a support group where individuals with shared experiences can identify with one another and offer feedback and support to one another.

Group therapy can be taken alone or in addition with individual therapy. The Ness Center offers two tracks in group therapy: mental health, and substance use disorder.

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