Anxiety Disorders

Fears and worries that continually or severely affect your thoughts and behaviors indicate you’d benefit from anxiety disorder treatment. Keilah Ford, DNP, FNP-C, PMHNP-BC, of KADDs Wellness in Houston, Texas, takes a holistic approach to helping people with anxiety disorders heal. She evaluates everything influencing a patient’s mental health, including spiritual, social, physical, and emotional well-being. To benefit from Dr. Ford’s considerable experience and compassionate anxiety disorder treatment, call KADDs Wellness today. You can also book a telehealth or in-person appointment online.

What are anxiety disorders?

Anxiety disorders are conditions that cause excessive, harmful anxiety levels. Feeling anxious about an interview or exam is natural, but worrying continuously about everything or experiencing overwhelming fear in certain situations isn’t.

Anxiety disorders often make it difficult to sleep well or enough, affect the appetite, and cause muscular aches and pains. You might find your school or work performance suffers. Anxiety disorders often adversely affect relationships, and many people with anxiety also develop depression.

What are common anxiety disorders?

Common anxiety disorders include:

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

People with GAD experience intense worry and fear all or most of the time. Their triggers could include anything from making phone calls to major catastrophes like earthquakes.

Phobias

People with phobias have extreme fears of specific objects, such as spiders or snakes, or situations, like flying or confined spaces.

Social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder is a phobia people develop that makes it highly stressful to be with others. Crowds and meeting strangers are particularly distressing.

Panic disorder

Panic attacks are highly unpleasant experiences where you lose control of yourself. You might scream uncontrollably or freeze and be unable to move or speak. Panic attack symptoms include:

• Excessive sweating
• Fast, shallow breathing
• Shaking
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Weakness
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Feeling of unreality

Severe panic attacks can cause heart attack-like symptoms such as chest pain and difficulty breathing.

Any anxiety disorder can cause a panic attack; for example, you might have one when faced with your fear if you have a phobia. With panic disorder, panic attacks also occur randomly with no identifiable trigger.

Anxiety is a symptom of several other mental health disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). OCD causes intense, often unpleasant obsessions that people try to control by developing rituals (compulsions) they must perform frequently. PTSD affects people after horrifying or life-threatening events.

How do I overcome an anxiety disorder?

Dr. Ford provides compassionate, trauma-informed care for people with anxiety disorders.

Many patients do well with psychotherapy techniques like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT helps you understand your fears and challenge them so you can alter unhealthy thought patterns.

If required, Dr. Ford might prescribe anti-anxiety drugs to improve the connections in your brain’s mood center. She uses GeneSight® DNA testing to determine which drugs will be most effective.

With expert support, you can overcome your anxiety disorder. Call KADDs Wellness to arrange an in-person or telehealth consultation or book an appointment online today.