When Anxiety Does More Than Make You Worry

What is Anxiety?


There are plenty of reasons to feel anxious these days. Just a quick glance at news headlines can rattle nerves. Relationships can cause us to fret and worry. Careers create apprehension and angst. Managing stress and anxiety is something everyone must do to some extent. It's just a part of life.

But when anxiety does more than make you worry, fearful thoughts and panic can balloon out of proportion, and make it difficult just getting through the day. And if you've survived trauma, anxiety often worsens traumatic stress and PTSD.  Knowing the difference between normal worry or stress and serious anxiety can be a bit confusing.  But if anxiety is interfering in how you take care of yourself and your ability to engage in your life, it's important to try to figure it out.

Good things to know about anxiety

The statistics:

If anxiety is interfering with your life, you're not alone. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety is the most common mental health problem in the United States, affecting almost one-third of adults.

(And adolescents. Parents, read this recent article:


Why we all have some anxiety:

Anxiety has a purpose. It helps us notice and avoid dangerous or risky situations. But when anxiety takes over, you may begin to avoid anxiety producing situations to try to get it to stop. Anxiety symptoms can feel so intense, you just want to rid yourself of it. Staying within a comfort zone(or trying to appease your anxiety) can feel like a relief in the short term. But this kind of coping strategy usually just leads to worsening the anxiety in the long run.

When anxiety takes charge:

Anxiety can quickly become a bully(as many people have described their anxiety to me), pushing you around and controlling too much of your life. Anxiety can affect the way you feel about yourself,and influence how you go about your day-to-day. And anxiety is very common among those who are recovering from depression, trauma, or PTSD, just making things more difficult.

Help for anxiety:

When you're struggling to manage anxiety, a positive first step is to equip yourself with some facts.

The symptoms of anxiety can be very physical, and can easily be mistaken for something else. Many of the people I've worked with commonly end up in the doctor's office or emergency room with panic or anxiety, thinking that they're having heart or breathing problems. Digestive issues can also worsen with anxiety, requiring medical help. Sometimes, you might feel like you're going “crazy”, or that something is very wrong with you. Getting to know how anxiety is showing up in your life will help you free yourself from its grip.

If you're curious about common signs/symptoms of anxiety, here is a link to a helpful article:



One last note about anxiety:

If you're suffering with anxiety, you understandably want relief. The good news is that anxiety is highly treatable. I offer therapy for anxiety disorders, and for unresolved trauma and depression which commonly occur along with anxiety. Anxiety takes many forms and effects each person in unique ways. I integrate traditional talk therapies (Psychodynamic and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) as well as EMDR, (a therapy developed for the treatment of trauma) to create an approach that's responsive to your needs and experience.

If you'd like to learn more about how I can help you overcome anxiety, please contact me for a free phone consultation at (626) 808-5463 or hollyaevansmft@gmail.com