Anxiety Disorder Facts
Most people experience feelings of anxiety before an important event such as a big exam, business presentation or first date. Anxiety disorders, however, are illnesses that cause people to feel frightened, distressed and uneasy for no apparent reason. Left untreated, these disorders can dramatically reduce productivity and significantly diminish an individual’s quality of life. more >>
Anxiety Disorder Treatment
Many people with anxiety disorders can be helped with treatment. Therapy for anxiety disorders often involves medication or specific forms of psychotherapy. Medications, although not cures, can be very effective at relieving anxiety symptoms. more >>
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by 6 months or more of chronic, exaggerated worry and tension that is unfounded or much more severe than the normal anxiety most people experience. People with this disorder usually expect the worst; they worry excessively about money, health, family, or work, even when there are no signs of trouble. They are unable to relax and often suffer from insomnia. more >>
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suffer intensely from recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) or rituals (compulsions), which they feel they cannot control. Rituals such as hand washing, counting, checking, or cleaning are often performed with the hope of preventing obsessive thoughts or making them go away. Performing these rituals, however, provides only temporary relief, and not performing them markedly increases anxiety. Left untreated, obsessions and the need to perform rituals can take over a person’s life. OCD is often a chronic, relapsing illness. more >>
Book Description:
Anxiety is a major mental health problem in the U.S., seriously affecting approximately 10 to 15 percent of the adult population. Completely updated, this new edition of The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook presents step-by-step guidelines, questionnaires, and exercises to help sufferers learn skills and make lifestyle changes to help them get relief from the most distressing symptoms. Expanded coverage of traditional and new medications, plus supplements and herbs such as kava, St. John’s wort, and SAM-e, and an updated list of resources and Web sites make this a major tool in anxiety recovery. Widely recommended by therapists, this book, in a new edition, reflects all the latest developments in the field of anxiety treatment.
The Shyness & Social Anxiety Workbook: Proven Techniques for Overcoming Your Fears
Book Description:
This step-by-step guide to overcoming fear of social interaction provides a comprehensive overview and includes behavioral skill-building exercises that have been proven effective in most cases.
Diagonally-Parked in a Parallel Universe: Working Through Social Anxiety
Book Description:
Everyone has experienced fleeting anxiety in social situations. But perhaps your self-consciousness intensely insinuates itself into one or more important aspects of your everyday life. If so, you likely suffer from the agonizing pangs of social fear. Perhaps you dread meeting people, giving a speech, using a public restroom, eating in public, talking to your boss, or having your social skills or work observed or your competence assessed. Or perhaps you feel threatened in new social situations where you don’t know the rules, avoid such situations altogether, or just want to escape. We all experience social anxiety a little differently yet we’re all riding the same skittish horse.
When our social fears are intense and persistent, we have social anxiety disorder/social phobia (SA/SP – “sasp” for short). This means every day we’re forced to confront the pain of being in the spotlight, evaluated, or being embarrassed by the very social situations we long to embrace. Socially we find ourselves on the periphery of life’s dance, trying to follow the choreographed patterns and rhythm, but usually seeming to be one beat out of synch, zigging when we should zag. Often feeling like the butt of a cosmic joke, we see ourselves as the ball in a pinball machine, bouncing from bumper to bumper, missing targets, and always on the verge of “tilt.” This is being diagonally-parked in a parallel universe.
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I am not a health care professional. I am an abuse survivor. The resources on
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Last edited: 01/02/03.
