Sweaty palms, heart racing… that dreaded anxious feeling.
The word anxiety is sometimes used to describe the worry, nervousness or fear we experience before and during a job interview or maybe even when going to your first therapy session. It’s normal to have felt our heart pounding, and to experience shallow and rapid breathing in these situations.
A certain level of anxiety can actually be helpful for us. We can think about it as similar to the way that we pull our hand away from a hot stove when we feel pain. In the same way, we rely on our anxiety responses to alert us to dangers we might need to face or manage. However, sometimes our anxiety alarm can be out of whack and can activate during our normal day to day tasks, such as while introducing ourselves to a new person we meet. Believe it or not- there is no real danger there.
There is a concept in therapy coined by Dr. Dan Siegel called “Name it to Tame it.” The idea of this is that when we are able to place a name on something (name it), it provides us with some form of relief from it (tame it). With that in mind, we will review some common types of anxiety that people experience:
Phobias. A phobia is a fear of specific things or specific situations. For example such as an intense fear of heights, animals, insects, flying in planes.
Social Anxiety. This type of anxiety is described as a fear of appearing foolish, criticized, rejected or harshly judged by other people in social situations. We’ve likely all felt this from time to time but can become a problem if it is getting in the way of engaging in our daily tasks.
Panic disorder. Panic disorder can be described as a surge of physical anxiety symptoms (such as heart beating rapidly, shaking, sweating, feeling dizzy, or feeling nauseous) paired with the person feeling as if we are about to die, or are going crazy, or feel that we are losing control.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD can be described as experiencing repeated intrusive memories of traumatic, distressing events. The individual may spend significant time attempting to avoid these memories.
Health Anxiety. This type of anxiety is described as persistent worries about having an illness or a physical problem, despite being found healthy by medical tests.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder. GAD is characterized by frequent worries and physical symptoms of anxiety occurring across a number of events and activities.
Of course, there are many more types of anxiety that are not mentioned here. In therapy, we may begin to notice that there are patterns in our anxiety and we may feel that they may fit into one of these categories. Gaining insight into the specific type of anxiety we experience can allow us to be more effective in treating and coping with our anxiety.
If anxiety is preventing you from things you need or want to do, it may be time to reach out for help from a psychotherapist.