Anxiety is  a frequent referral.  

What is anxiety?

The physiological components of anxiety include muscle tension, heart palpitations, sweating, shaking, tightness in the chest, “rubbery” legs, or “butterflies in the stomach.”  Anxiety can also occur secondarily in disorders like depression, bipolar disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Exposure to trauma may cause anxiety.     

Here are some of the individual components of anxiety:

• Startling easily
• Difficulties sleeping
• Trouble concentrating
• Trembling in the hands or legs
• Pounding heart rate
• Constant muscle tension
• Panic attacks
• Obsessive worry or rituals
• Continuous worry about something bad happening
• Feelings of numbness in the extremities
• Dissociation

Anxiety symptoms can “wax and wane” over time, shifting in severity or seeming to disappear, only to re-emerge later in stress.  

Are there different types of anxiety?

Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is the fear of venturing away from a safe place. After a panic attack, individuals may develop “anticipatory anxiety,” in which they fear having another attack and avoid places they associate with previous panic attacks.  The isolated quality can be exacerbated by remote work or an internet-only lifestyle.

Avoidant Personality Disorder is not really an anxiety disorder, but a personality disorder. but seems similar to social phobia, or rather a conglomeration of social phobias. Theodore Millon writes especially well about this personality disorder.

Separation Anxiety Disorder

This disorder can affect a child who fears separation from a parent, worries that close figures may leave or be injured, fears burglars or storms that may harm family members,  or is unable to concentrate at school because of worrying about a parent.

How is anxiety treated?

I (Damon LaBarbera, PhD)  have treated anxiety disorders for over three decades, using behavioral and cognitive behavioral techniques, coaching, lifestyle changes, and stress management exercises.  Generally though, my treatment has become more and more being able to strategize with the individual to handle and then master whatever interpersonal, vocational, familial, or beurocratic wangle they have gotten into. My greatest reinforcement is seeing clients improving their life situation, and I avoid working with people entrenched with defeatist, chronically invalid lifestyles.

Call Damon G. LaBarbera, PhD, today or book an appointment online for expert anxiety relief.