What exactly is anxiety? How long will anxiety symptoms be present for me? Why are these things happening to me?

Anxiety is something that we all experience. It’s a part of the human condition. Broadly speaking, anxiety can be characterized as worrying or overthinking things. Some people experience anxiety in a physical sense. Some of the physical symptoms that people experience include shortness of breath, tightness of chest, and an elevated heart rate.

People may also experience anxiety symptoms related to performance or social settings. Anxiety is also a symptom of other conditions, including depression, exposure to traumatic events, obsessive compulsive disorder, and panic disorder. For some people it is transient and happens only in the context of stressful situations. Other people may have a genetic predisposition.

Treatment looks very different based on the individual, including use of mindfulness and meditation techniques, skills-based talk therapy, and various forms of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). In some cases, depending on the severity of the symptoms, medication management might be added to the discussion.

It’s vital to know that anxiety is treatable. It’s not something that people have to live with for the rest of their lives. For most people that come to us, treatments are time limited, they’re goal directed, and people feel better relatively quickly.