Anxiety

Anxiety isn’t harmful in moderation, but it can be highly disabling if it gets out of control. If you continually feel anxious, contact Norvy Jean, NP-BC and the team at Nova Wellness Health in Wantagh, New York. They offer comprehensive, holistic care, including psychotherapy and medication management, for patients with anxiety disorders. Call Nova Wellness Health to arrange an in-person or telehealth consultation today. You can also book an appointment online.

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is an emotion encompassing fear, worry, and stress. It’s how you feel before a first date, hospital appointment, or other significant event. These feelings are normal and healthy; they even have benefits because the hormones your body releases when you feel anxious increase alertness and strength, helping you to react quickly and perform better.

While everyday anxiety is a natural experience, feeling extreme worry or fear frequently or continually isn’t good for you. In these cases, anxiety has become a mental health disorder that can take over your life.

Many people develop generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), where everything causes you anxiety. Making decisions becomes almost impossible because you fear choosing incorrectly. You might find social events or anything out of your comfort zone intolerable.

Some people have phobias, which are anxieties that focus on something specific. Common examples include spiders, snakes, heights, and confined spaces, but anything could be the source of a phobia. Anxiety can also peak when you’re exposed to the object of your fear, triggering a panic attack.

What are panic attacks?

Panic attacks are particularly distressing events that occur when facing a phobia and can also happen anytime if you have GAD. The symptoms include ones you might often have at some level because of your anxiety disorder, such as:

• Muscle tension
• Dry mouth
• Difficulty staying calm
• Shortness of breath
• Palpitations (racing, pounding heart)
• Sweating excessively
• Shallow, fast breathing
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Trembling

When a panic attack strikes, these symptoms worsen considerably. You might be unable to move or speak, or you may scream and cry. Chest pain that resembles a heart attack can develop. The experience can be so disturbing that it stops many people from leaving home or doing anything that could trigger an attack, and this reinforces the abnormal fear phobias cause.

How do I overcome an anxiety disorder?

The Nova Wellness Health team has extensive experience helping people overcome anxiety disorders.

If your anxiety is mild, you might only require psychotherapy — talking about your fears and learning to manage your responses using techniques like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).

For moderate-to-severe anxiety, you might also need medication to reduce your fear’s intensity.

Call Nova Wellness Health if you recognize these anxiety symptoms, or book an appointment online today.