Anxiety Symptoms & Diagnosis
Anxiety is the most common diagnosis we treat at Grow Through Life Counseling. Anxiety can occur at any age and onset can be gradual or rapid. Some common anxiety diagnosis in youth include Separation Anxiety, Selective Mutism, Phobias and Generalized Anxiety Disorders. We typical consider anxiety a clinical diagnois went it impacts functioning of daily life. For children and teens this could mean impacting academics or social relationships for adults their work performance. Anxiety has lots of symptoms including: worrying, ruminating thoughts, thinking of worst case scenarios frequently, feeling out of control, general nervousness not associated with any particular stressor, panic symptoms: rapid heart rate, sweating, hyperventilation. Anxiety can also take the form of the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as a means of creating safety and controlling the anxiety. Anxiety can also take the form a specific fear or phobia. An example of a specific phobia my be hypochondria or the fear of illness which is expected to see rise as we deal with pandemic. Social phobias are also expected to rise as society reintegrates post pandemic and social pressures of school, work and life return to normal. Anxiety is function of the amygdala (almond shape part of the brain) which fires messages to the brain about safety and triggers the "fight or flight" reaction as part of our survival. Anxiety is good when it keeps us safe but bad when impacts our functioning normal. Anxiety is also commonly part of major life adjustments and frequently can arise when family changes such as divorce, breakups, death or loss, moves or changes schools or work occur. If you are unsure if you are experiencing anxiety, we recommend scheduling an assessment to get this answer.
Anxiety Treatment
At Grow Through Life Counseling, we treat anxiety in children, teens and adults with a combination of psychotherapeutic interventions. Each therapist may have a little different approach, but we all use interventions of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Play Therapy, Strengths Based and Solutions Focused Modalities to create insight into how and why the anxiety exists and to start new coping strategies to help decrease the adverse reaction of the amygdala and increase calmer neuropathways. Practice implementing the strategies taught by the therapist are very important and the more motivated our clients are to use more productive coping skills and patterns of thought, the faster positive progress can occur. Also, we promote using the positive skills you may already have for example: exercise, yoga, meditation, reaching out to trusted supports, creative activities, as these are promote calmer brain states. If someone has been anxious for quite awhile before seeking care, this can impact prognosis and it may take longer to see results. We love helping youth because we know if we can do early intervention we can reduce anxiety both short and over the long term of their life as well, improving the quality of their life for the rest of their life.
If you or a family member is experiencing anxiety, we'd love to help. You are reach us by calling our intake department 619-549-0329 ext 0 to schedule your assessment. We are will either answer or please leave us a message and we'll call you back to get your scheduled with one of our great team members. We are taking new clients for anxiety treatment in San Diego, Sorrento Valley, La Mesa, Santee, Eastlake, Scripps Ranch, Oceanside and Murrieta!