Definition
- Credo Reference-AnxietyAnxiety is a multisystem response to a perceived threat or danger. It reflects a combination of biochemical changes in the body, the patient's personal history and memory, and the social situation. It is important to distinguish between anxiety as a feeling or experience, and an anxiety disorder as a psychiatric diagnosis. A person may feel anxious without having an anxiety disorder. In addition, a person facing a clear and present danger or a realistic fear is not usually considered to be in a state of anxiety. Anxiety frequently occurs as a symptom in other categories of psychiatric disturbance.
What is Anxiety?
- What is Anxiety?What is #anxiety? Although anxiety is a common reaction, learn about the symptoms and types of anxiety and how it can become a problem and when diagnosed as a disorder. Expand the description to find a list of free, 24/7 hotlines and text lines below. #MentalHealth
Web Resources
- American Psychological Association-AnxietyAnxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure.
People with anxiety disorders usually have recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns. They may avoid certain situations out of worry. They may also have physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling, dizziness or a rapid heartbeat. - MedlinePlus-AnxietyAnxiety is a feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness. It might cause you to sweat, feel restless and tense, and have a rapid heartbeat. It can be a normal reaction to stress. For example, you might feel anxious when faced with a difficult problem at work, before taking a test, or before making an important decision. It can help you to cope. The anxiety may give you a boost of energy or help you focus. But for people with anxiety disorders, the fear is not temporary and can be overwhelming.
- Mental Health.gov-Anxiety DisordersPeople with anxiety disorders respond to certain objects or situations with fear and dread. They have physical reactions to those objects, such as a rapid heartbeat and sweating.
- NIMH-Anxiety DisordersOccasional anxiety is an expected part of life. You might feel anxious when faced with a problem at work, before taking a test, or before making an important decision. But anxiety disorders involve more than temporary worry or fear. For a person with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away and can get worse over time. The symptoms can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, school work, and relationships.
- Veteran's Affairs-AnxietyIt is natural to worry and feel anxious about things — that presentation at work, your growing to-do list, a relationship. Anxiety can help you confront stresses in your life, and for many people the feeling is motivating and doesn’t last long. But when persistent worries start affecting your day-to-day activities, your work, your sleep, or your relationships, it may be time to do something about it.
Books
From Anxiety to Love
Get Ready for Unstoppable Inner Peace Author Corinne Zupko undertook her study of psychology out of necessity when debilitating anxiety threatened to derail her life. Seeking ways to do more than temporarily alleviate her symptoms, Corinne began to studyA Course in Miracles (ACIM), mindfulness meditation, and the latest therapeutic approaches for treating anxiety. InFrom Anxiety to Love, she shares what she learned and gently guides you through the process, helping you undo anxiety-based thinking and fostering mindful shifts in your thoughts and actions. Whether struggling with everyday stress or near-crippling discomfort, you will find that Corinne's approach offers a new way of healing from -- rather than just coping with -- fear and anxiety.
The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook
Practical, step-by-step directions for the mastery of: Visualization Self-Esteem Nutrition Medication Meditation techniques Anxiety-triggering health conditions Over 600,000 Copies Sold Since its first edition in 1990,The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook has sold more than 600,000 copies. Its engaging exercises and worksheets have helped millions of readers make real progress in overcoming problems with anxiety and phobic disorders. The Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Resources in Mental Health (Norcross, et al., 2003) gave the book its highest rating and praised it as 'a highly regarded and widely known resource.' Thousands of mental health and medical professionals recommend this book to their clients and patients every year. Simply put,it is the single finest source of self-help information on its topic available anywhere. The text of this edition has been fully revised and expanded and includes two new chapters: a discussion of physical conditions that can aggravate anxiety and an overview of the use of mindfulness practice in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder and some forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. As in previous editions, the book offers the most up-to-date information on medications, natural supplements, and complementary strategies that can alleviate anxiety symptoms. The sections on relaxation, nutrition, and exercise have all been updated and broadened.
Anxiety Disorders
From panic disorder and phobias to post-traumatic stress disorder and OCD, anxiety disorders involve intense, often overpowering anxiety that is caused by irrational fear and dread. Through objective discussion, numerous direct quotes, and full-color illustrations, this title examines What Are Anxiety Disorders? What Causes Anxiety Disorders? What Are the Effects of Anxiety Disorders? and Can People Overcome Anxiety Disorders?
Beyond Anxiety and Phobia
Panic attacks, phobias, and other problems with anxiety have been effectively treated with cognitive behavioral therapy and medication for many years. Now even more help for these conditions is available. In Beyond Anxiety & Phobia, Dr. Edmund J. Bourne (author of the best-selling Anxiety & Phobia Workbook) offers a full spectrum of complimentary approaches that get to the heart of anxiety and phobia and go beyond standard treatments and medication. In this book you will find guidelines and strategies that can help you to: *Reduce anxiety by simplifying your lifestyle and environment. *Uncover core personality traits and fears that perpetuate anxiety. *Discover purpose in your life that helps overcome a sense of meaninglessness. *Embrace spirituality to change both your perspective on your problem and your ability to heal it. *Create a vision of your recovery that will attract a positive outcome. *Use alternative methods such as herbs, diet, yoga, massage, and acupuncture for greater relaxation and ease in your life. *Practice mediation so you can learn to witness rather than simply react to anxiety and fear. Dr. Bourne has helped many of his clients achieve a more complete and lasting recovery in overcoming difficulties with anxiety by combining these methods with conventional treatment.
Cleaning up Your Mental Mess
Toxic thoughts, depression, anxiety--our mental mess is frequently aggravated by a chaotic world and sustained by an inability to manage our runaway thoughts. But we shouldn't settle into this mental mess as if it's just our new normal. There's hope and help available to us--and the road to healthier thoughts and peak happiness may actually be shorter than you think.Backed by clinical research and illustrated with compelling case studies, Dr. Caroline Leaf provides a scientifically proven five-step plan to find and eliminate the root of anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts in your life so you can experience dramatically improved mental and physical health. In just 21 days, you can start to clean up your mental mess and be on the road to wholeness, peace, and happiness.
Thriving with Social Anxiety
Hattie Cooper, the blogger behind The Anxious Girl's Guide to Dating, knows anxiety. She has lived with Generalized Anxiety Disorder for years. Reading this book is like getting advice from a friend who has been there. Hattie shares immediate, easy-to-use strategies for tackling your Social Anxiety Disorder and creating healthy habits. Featuring expert advice from foreword writer and registered psychotherapist Kyle MacDonald, the tools in these pages will help you beat your anxiety and reveal your most confident self. Does this sound familiar? You reluctantly decide to attend a networking event with a coworker who backs out at the last minute. The idea of going alone fills you with debilitating anxiety. You dread an upcoming job interview. Giving a presentation at work keeps you awake at night. For the millions of Americans affected by social anxiety disorder (SAD), it can make them avoid situations that have the potential to lead to positive outcomes. Fortunately, social anxiety can be overcome. In Thriving with Social Anxiety, you'll get a practical, accessible primer from someone who knows what it's like to live with social anxiety--and in-the-moment strategies to manage and overcome your anxiety. Hattie Cooper guides you to reframe negative thoughts, achieve goals, better understand your disorder and--through the process--better understand yourself.Using the strategies in this book as part of your treatment plan, you will learn quick, effective ways to manage your social anxiety and put your most confident self forward in any social situation.
The Age of Anxiety
Anxious Americans have increasingly pursued peace of mind through pills and prescriptions. In 2006, the National Institute of Mental Health estimated that 40 million adult Americans suffer from an anxiety disorder in any given year: more than double the number thought to have such a disorder in 2001. Anti-anxiety drugs are a billion-dollar business. Yet as recently as 1955, when the first tranquilizer,Miltown,went on the market, pharmaceutical executives worried that there wouldn't be interest in anxiety-relief. At mid-century, talk therapy remained the treatment of choice. But Miltown became a sensation,the first psychotropic blockbuster in United States history. By 1957, Americans had filled 36 million prescriptions. Patients seeking made-to-order tranquility emptied drugstores, forcing pharmacists to post signs reading more Miltown tomorrow." The drug's financial success and cultural impact revolutionized perceptions of anxiety and its treatment, inspiring the development of other lifestyle drugs including Valium and Prozac. In The Age of Anxiety , Andrea Tone draws on a broad array of original sources,manufacturers' files, FDA reports, letters, government investigations, and interviews with inventors, physicians, patients, and activists,to provide the first comprehensive account of the rise of America's tranquilizer culture. She transports readers from the bomb shelters of the Cold War to the scientific optimism of the Baby Boomers, to the just say no" Puritanism of the late 1970s and 1980s. A vibrant history of America's long and turbulent affair with tranquilizers, The Age of Anxiety casts new light on what it has meant to seek synthetic solutions to everyday angst.
Under Pressure
Though anxiety has risen among young people overall, studies confirm that it has skyrocketed in girls. Research finds that the number of girls who said that they often felt nervous, worried, or fearful jumped 55 percent from 2009 to 2014, while the comparable number for adolescent boys has remained unchanged. As a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with girls, Lisa Damour, Ph.D., has witnessed this rising tide of stress and anxiety in her own research, in private practice, and in the all-girls' school where she consults. She knew this had to be the topic of her new book. In the engaging, anecdotal style and reassuring tone that won over thousands of readers of her first book, Untangled, Damour starts by addressing the facts about psychological pressure. She explains the surprising and underappreciated value of stress and anxiety: that stress can helpfully stretch us beyond our comfort zones, and anxiety can play a key role in keeping girls safe. When we emphasize the benefits of stress and anxiety, we can help our daughters take them in stride. But no parents want their daughter to suffer from emotional overload, so Damour then turns to the many facets of girls' lives where tension takes hold: their interactions at home, pressures at school, social anxiety among other girls and among boys, and their lives online. As readers move through the layers of girls' lives, they'll learn about the critical steps that adults can take to shield their daughters from the toxic pressures to which our culture--including we, as parents--subjects girls.
What to Do When You Worry Too Much
What to Do When You Worry Too Much is an interactive self-help book designed to guide 6-12 year olds and their parents through the cognitive-behavioral techniques most often used in the treatment of generalised anxiety. Engaging, encouraging, and easy to follow, this book educates, motivates, and empowers children to work towards change. It includes a note to parents by psychologist and author Dawn Huebner, PhD.
Play It Away
"Here's the cure to your stress " -Tony Robbins, Strategic adviser to world leaders, #1 bestselling author of Personal Power (40 million copies sold) Do you live in constant fear? Do you worry that something terrible is about to happen? Do you have trouble breathing, relaxing, and sleeping? Do you think you're losing control, and that you're going to die? Are you trapped in your own personal hell, and don't know how to get out? I've been there, and I know what it's like. Shallow breathing, tension in the gut, chest pains, rapid heartbeat... Every moment is exhausting, crushing, and painful. Anxiety destroys your confidence, your productivity, your relationships, and your ability to enjoy life. The worst part is the obsessive hopelessness - the gnawing sense that you'll never feel happy again. Fear no more. You can put an end to your suffering. You can start living again. And it's not as hard as you think... Play It Away covers my entire journey: what caused my anxiety, the "A-ha " moment that lead to my cure and how I got my life back.
Helping Students Overcome Depression and Anxiety, Second Edition
Now in a revised and expanded second edition, this bestselling guide provides expert information and clear-cut strategies for assessing and treating internalizing problems in school settings. More than 40 specific psychoeducational and psychosocial intervention techniques are detailed, with a focus on approaches that are evidence based, broadly applicable, and easy to implement. Including 26 ready-to-use worksheets, in a large-size format with permission to photocopy, the second edition has been updated throughout to ensure its currency and clinical utility. Coverage of psychiatric medications has been extensively revised with the latest developments and findings. A new chapter addresses prevention-oriented social and emotional learning curricula for the classroom. This book is in The Guilford Practical Intervention in the Schools Series, edited by T. Chris Riley-Tillman.
What is an Anxiety Disorder?
- What is an Anxiety Disorder?Anxiety Disorders cause excessive worry that affects thoughts, feelings, and causes problems in a person’s life for at least 6 months.