Anxiety along with depression is the most common mental health problem we face.
What defines anxiety as an illness needing treatment is that it lasts longer than a normal fear reaction, and can be more severe and intrusive into daily life.
Anxiety needs treating if it last for more than two weeks after a triggering event.
Fear responses are normal and healthy in life. Fear is an important feeling that warns us of dangerous situations. It can save our lives under some circumstances.
Crucially fear is a reaction to a specific situation, whereas anxiety becomes more generalised to daily life, making us fearful and wary of even innocuous situations such as meeting friends for dinner.
Symptoms of anxiety can include:
being nervous and on edge
not being able to stop or control worrying
worrying about too many things at once
problems relaxing
being restless and unable to sit still
being irritable and flying off the handle
feeling fear of something terrible happening
Most bouts of anxiety can be dealt with very effectively and in a relatively short period of time using targeted psychotherapy, principally Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Mindfulness based CBT is also evidenced to be effective. We will offer you those therapies.
Where the anxiety is severe medication may be helpful and we will support you in accessing medical services for that.
Anxiety can and often is present in other conditions such as eating disorders, addiction, relationship abuse or problems, work stress, trauma and Post Trauma Syndrome.
We will help you identify if this is the case and offer you services for these conditions, or help you access services, alongside the psychotherapies we provide for the anxiety.
We are independent financially of any practitioner or organisation we recommend. Recovering no referral fees or commissions or services in kind. So we can offer you unbiased advice. We will usually have visited the services and practitioners we recommend personally.