Anxiety

Anxiety causes excessive worrying about the risk of danger or misfortune. If your anxiety never lets up, visit Haresh Tharwani, MD, DFAPA, and the team at MD Psychiatry & Emotional Health, PLLC. At their offices in Durham and Cary, North Carolina, the team offers a range of therapies, supported by expert medication, to reduce your anxiety and bring you peace of mind. To benefit from their expertise, call MD Psychiatry & Emotional Health, PLLC, today or book an in-person or telehealth appointment online.

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is the fear, stress, or worry most people experience when facing challenges in their lives or a threat to their safety. Your body prepares you to cope with these challenges by releasing hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that make you sharper and stronger. When the problem subsides, so should the anxiety.

Some people experience anxiety that doesn’t go away or becomes extreme in certain situations. That kind of anxiety is a mental health disorder that can get so severe it affects your ability to function in daily life.

What symptoms does anxiety cause?

In addition to feelings of dread, worry, fear, and nervousness, anxiety can cause:

• Irritability
• Nausea and vomiting
• Excessive sweating
• Headaches
• Abdominal pain
• Muscle tension
• Difficulties sleeping
• Rapid heartbeat or palpitations
• Difficulty concentrating

Severe anxiety can trigger panic attacks, where you suddenly feel a loss of emotional control that causes physical symptoms, including chest pain and shortness of breath. You might be unable to move or speak, or you might shake uncontrollably, cry, or scream.

Panic attacks are extremely distressing, so people who get them tend to avoid going anywhere that could trigger one.

What are the different anxiety disorders?

There are several anxiety disorders, the most common being:

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

GAD is where anxiety never leaves you. The feelings of fear and worry are constant and uncontrollable, so you rarely, if ever, get any peace. You might worry about daily activities, stories you see on TV, or the many things that you imagine could go wrong. Almost everything becomes a source of stress with GAD.

Phobias

Phobias are an intense, overwhelming fear of an activity, object, lifeform, or situation. Common phobias include the fear of snakes, spiders, enclosed spaces, heights, or flying, but anything could develop into a phobia. The fear is often irrational, or at least far outweighs the risk of the source that the phobia presents.

Social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder is a phobia that focuses on being with other people, especially in large crowds or small gatherings with strangers.

Panic disorder

Panic disorder causes frequent panic attacks that can be disabling in their intensity.

How is anxiety treated?

The MD Psychiatry & Emotional Health, PLLC, team uses psychotherapy, medication management, or a combination of the two to treat anxiety. They can also assess you for innovative treatments like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a painless method of improving brain function in areas that regulate emotions like anxiety.

If you need compassionate help with anxiety, call MD Psychiatry & Emotional Health, PLLC, today or schedule an in-person or telehealth appointment online.