Anxiety Disorder Treatment
It is normal at times to feel anxious or worried. Sometimes these feelings can mushroom until they interfere with daily activities or make it difficult to carry out a normal routine. You may even avoid places or situations to prevent these feelings from occurring. These can be signs that you have an anxiety disorder.
If you’re struggling with anxiety disorder symptoms in the Charlotte area, contact Queen City Counseling & Consulting today to schedule a consultation with a specialist. Give us a call at (704) 457-8222 today to get started, or contact us through our secure online form.
What Are the Symptoms of Anxiety?
Symptoms of anxiety may start during childhood or the teen years and continue into adulthood.
Emotional symptoms may include:
- Feelings of apprehension or dread
- Feeling tense or jumpy
- Restlessness or irritability
- Anticipating the worst
- Being watchful for signs of danger
Physical symptoms may include:
- Pounding or racing heart and shortness of breath
- Sweating
- Tremors and twitches
- Headaches
- Fatigue and insomnia
- Upset stomach, frequent urination or diarrhea
Types of Anxiety Disorders
There are several different types of anxiety disorders. These include:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)-exaggerated worry about everyday life
- Social anxiety disorder-intense fear about social interaction
- Phobias-places, events or objects create powerful reactions of strong fear excessive to the trigger
- Agoraphobia-a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed
- Selective mutism– a severe anxiety disorder where a person is unable to speak in certain social situations, such as with classmates at school or to relatives they do not see very often
- Separation anxiety disorder– fear of being separated from a particular person, persons, or even a pet
- Substance/medication–induced anxiety disorder- involving intoxication or withdrawal or medication treatment
Anxiety disorders are the most common form of emotional disorder and can affect anyone at any age.
What is the Treatment for Anxiety Disorders?
Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is a popular treatment method used by many mental health care providers. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps a person recognize the connection between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and to re-appraise perceived threats which are causing anxiety and change their responses to anxious feelings. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps build capacity within an individual to tolerate uncertainty and difficult feelings (like anxiety) if in pursuit of meaningful goals which align with their personal values. Mindfulness training helps create clarity and a sense of calm by bringing greater awareness to thoughts and feelings and reducing reactivity. Each of these modalities is an evidence-based practice recommended for the treatment of anxiety and Queen City has providers trained in these therapies and more.
Medication is also available as a treatment option for anxiety and usually involves antidepressants and sedatives. These medications help to balance brain and body chemistry, prevent anxiety episodes, and curb the severity of symptoms. Talk to your doctor to see if medication is the best route for your anxiety.
When should I see Queen City Counseling & Consulting for an Anxiety Disorder?
If your anxiety is interfering with your family, work, or everyday life, you should seek professional help.
Talking to a medical professional can help if your fear or worry is unmanageable or you feel like it is getting out of control. Your worries may not go away on their own, and they may get worse over time if you don’t seek help. Six months is a good measure to see if things are improving or getting worse.
If you have suicidal thoughts or behaviors, seek emergency treatment immediately.
See a provider before your anxiety takes a toll upon your life or your relationships. It’s easier to treat if you get help early. The ultimate goal is to bring about improvements in your everyday life.
Take the First Step Toward Relief Today
If anxiety is keeping you or your teen from living life to the fullest, Queen City Counseling & Consulting is here to help. Our compassionate clinicians specialize in guiding teens and young adults through life’s toughest transitions with evidence-based strategies that foster healing and resilience. Don’t wait for anxiety to take a stronger hold—reach out today to schedule your consultation. Call us at (704) 457-8222 or connect with us through our secure online form to start your journey toward peace of mind and a brighter tomorrow.
Anxiety/OCD Resources
Reputable Websites for additional resources:
- International OCD Foundation: https://iocdf.org/
- Anxiety and Depression Association of America: https://adaa.org/
- Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions: https://www.spacetreatment.net/
- The National Insitute of Mental Health: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): https://www.nami.org/
Books recommended by our clinicians
Breaking Free of Child Anxiety & OCD: A Scientifically Proven Program for Parents.
Provides a completely parent-based treatment program for child and adolescent anxiety. Parents will learn how to alleviate their children’s anxiety by changing the way they themselves respond to their children’s symptoms–importantly, parents are not required to impose changes on their children’s behavior. Instead, parents are shown how to replace their own accommodating behaviors (which allow anxiety to flourish) with supportive responses that demonstrate both acceptance of children’s difficulties and confidence in their ability to cope. From understanding child anxiety and OCD, to learning how to talk with an anxious child, to avoiding common traps and pitfalls (such as being overly protective or demanding) to identifying the ways in which parents have been enabling a child’s anxious behaviors, this book is full of detailed guidance and practical suggestions. Worksheets are included to help parents translate the book’s suggestions into action, and the book’s compassionate and personable tone will make it a welcoming resource for any concerned parent.
Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents
With anxiety at epidemic levels among our children, Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents offers a contrarian yet effective approach to help children and teens push through their fears, worries, and phobias to ultimately become more resilient, independent, and happy. Reid Wilson, PhD, and Lynn Lyons, LICSW, share their unconventional approach of stepping into uncertainty in a way that is currently unfamiliar but infinitely successful. Using current research and contemporary examples, the book exposes the most common anxiety-enhancing patterns—including reassurance, accommodation, avoidance, and poor problem solving—and offers a concrete plan with 7 key principles that foster change. And, since new research reveals how anxious parents typically make for anxious children, the book offers exercises and techniques to change both the children’s and the parental patterns of thinking and behaving.
Playing with Anxiety
The companion book to Reid Wilson and Lynn Lyons’ parenting book, ANXIOUS KIDS, ANXIOUS PARENTS: 7 WAYS TO STOP THE WORRY CYCLE AND RAISE COURAGEOUS & INDEPENDENT CHILDREN (HCI Books, 2013), Casey includes stories of everyday encounters—imagining warm chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven, brother Elliot’s MARSH MAN comic book—as well as surprising feats—the accidental discovery of Post-it Notes, Benjamin’s uncle Steve’s jump from the helicopter, blind Eric Weihenmayer’s climb of the Seven Summits—to show the reader how to face the trials of the middle years. The narrative offers cautious kids (and their sometimes worried, often frustrated parents) a realistic guide for stepping into the new and scary experiments that arrive at each developmental stage, right up through the teen years.
Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts
In this compassionate guide, you’ll discover the different kinds of disturbing thoughts, myths that surround your thoughts, and how your brain has a tendency to get “stuck” in a cycle of unwanted rumination. You’ll also learn why common techniques to get rid of these thoughts can backfire. And finally, you’ll learn powerful cognitive behavioral skills to help you cope with and move beyond your thoughts, so you can focus on living the life you want. Your thoughts will still occur, but you will be better able to cope with them—without dread, guilt, or shame.
This book has been selected as an Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Book Recommendation—an honor bestowed on outstanding self-help books that are consistent with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and that incorporate scientifically tested strategies for overcoming mental health difficulties. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, our books offer powerful tools readers can use to jump-start changes in their lives.
Podcast:
Anxiety toolkit Podcast: Kimberly Quinlan
Kimberley is an LMFT out of Calabasas California and is dedicated to providing outstanding therapy and counseling for those with OCD and related disorders, Eating Disorders and Body Focused Repetitive Disorders. Kimberley is also passionate about advocating for those with Mental Health Disorders. Kimberley is dedicated to ongoing advocacy and education within the community for OCD, Eating Disorders and BFRB’s.
Kimberley is passionate about providing evidence-based treatment that assists her clients with reaching their goals and improving their quality of life. Her approach is both collaborative and compassionate. Kimberley has extensive training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) for OCD and OCD-related disorders and also teaches other clinicians how to provide quality CBT and ERP for OCD and OCD related disorders.
https://kimberleyquinlan-lmft.com/category/podcast/
The OCD Stories: Stuart Ralph
The OCD Stories podcast is a show that aims to offer hope and inspiration. Host Stuart Ralph interviews some of the best minds in OCD treatment and recovery. By providing good reliable and heartfelt information through interviews with inspired therapists, psychologists, and/or people who have experienced OCD, the podcast lights a path in the darkness and offers solutions. This podcast is for people who experience OCD, their families and loved ones, and therapists who work with OCD.
OCD Family Podcast: Nicole Morris, LMFT
Lead by LMFT Nicole Morris this podcast aims to create a community of support for family members, spouses, partners, parents, adult children (as there may be “adult” words) and chosen family of OCD Sufferers and their community. Episodes explore a range of topics related to OCD (intrusive thoughts, disgust, avoidance, exposures, various content areas of OCD and more!) and also include interviews with some of the most respected and well-known researchers and therapists working with OCD today.
https://www.ocdfamilypodcast.com/
YouTube Channel:
Helping your Child with Anxiety or OCD: Natasha Daniels
Natasha Daniels, a licensed child therapist and mom to three kids with OCD & anxiety, hosts this psychoeducational channel dedicated to helping parents support kids with OCD & anxiety—using practical, evidence-based strategies.
You’ll find:
- Parent education videos on child OCD and childhood anxiety
- Step-by-step tools to create a therapeutic home environment
- Support for managing compulsions, intrusive thoughts, and emotional regulation
- Guidance on reducing accommodations without damaging connection
- Curated videos made specifically for kids and teens to watch
This channel is your go-to resource whether you’re parenting a child with OCD, social anxiety, phobias, generalized anxiety, or body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs).