Anxiety Disorder Treatment

Anxiety Treatment Center in St. Augustine, Florida

At our Anxiety Disorder Treatment Center in St. Augustine, Fl we offer treatment options that can ease the symptoms of anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and phobias through counseling and therapy that focuses on ending the cycle of worry and fear.

Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time, but people diagnosed with an anxiety disorder may find that getting through their daily life is unbearable.

Persistent, excessive fears and worries invade a person’s thoughts when they have problems with anxiety making it hard at times to even get through the day. 

Anxiety can worsen when someone is also dealing with a substance abuse problem, making professional treatment a necessity to make a full recovery.

Our anxiety treatment program will not only get to the root causes of your anxiety and fears, but teach you helpful coping skills in order to manage the symptoms of panic and anxiety when they occur.

anxiety disorder

Negative Thoughts and Anxiety

People who are dealing with a generalized anxiety disorder may have exaggerated worries that are attached to irrational thoughts. People with anxiety often think and expect the worst in their life instead of focusing on positive or hopeful thoughts. They become overly concerned about money, family, health, work, or other issues that might not be as problematic as they believe. 

In therapy and counseling, people with anxiety issues can examine some of their beliefs and how they affect their emotional life. They can learn to change some of these beliefs and alter the way they react to some of their recurring negative thoughts. 

Talking one on one with a counselor can help people get in touch with their past and maybe discover some of the reasons why they might have developed anxiety. Discussing an illness in therapy can help a person understand what triggers their anxiety, and a counselor can help them find the best ways to handle it. 

They can learn strategies and essential tools that make their anxiety more manageable so they can more easily get through their daily life.

Symptoms of Anxiety 

While anxiety is unique to each individual person, the physical and emotional symptoms often present themselves in the same way. Some of these symptoms include:

anxiety disorder

  • Feelings of Apprehension or Dread
  • Feeling Tense or Jumpy
  • Restlessness or Irritability
  • Anticipating the Worst 
  • Shortness of Breath
  • Sweating
  • Headaches & Insomnia
  • Upset Stomach

Types of Anxiety Disorders

There are several types of anxiety disorders that people could have. Each one is unique and needs to be treated in the correct way. A few examples of anxiety disorders are:

  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Chronic exaggerated worry that is focused on the aspects of everyday life. This type of anxiety can consume hours of a person’s day leading to exhaustion, insomnia, and nausea.
  • Social Anxiety Disorder: This disorder focuses on the fear of social interaction. The fear is so intense that panic attacks are often the result of an upcoming or forceful interaction. 
  • Panic Disorder: This type of anxiety can cause panic attacks or intense and sudden feelings of terror. Often those with this type of disorder will isolate themselves to try and avoid anything that could trigger the reactions.

Our therapists in our St. Augustine rehab are not only able to determine if you have an anxiety disorder but also diagnose which disorder you might have. This will benefit your recovery process as you will begin to learn how to deal with your emotions and feelings in a positive, healthy way. 

Methods of Treating Anxiety Disorder

For people with substance abuse problems, it is vital to find treatment options without the use of addictive medication. For issues like anxiety, symptoms can reduce through cognitive behavioral therapy and methods like relaxation techniques, deep breathing, meditation, and yoga, or other types of exercise.

Mindful meditation can be an effective way to become more aware of the negative and worrisome thoughts that enter your mind and try to clear them by focusing on your breath.

 Healthy eating and exercise can be an essential part of minimizing anxiety. A poor diet and lack of proper nutrition can affect a person’s mood and overall sense of well-being. Eating well and exercising regularly has been proven to improve symptoms of anxiety and depression significantly.

One of the most effective tools for treating anxiety is connecting with a group of supportive people through a treatment program. Support groups are a safe place where people can discuss their issues with peers who are experiencing many of the same problems.

anxiety disorder

Medications

Medication is often a helpful tool for managing anxiety disorders. Anxiety can often cause a person to enter into a self-made prison. Prescribed by a health care provider, medication is able to give you back the sense of freedom that has been missing. Anti-anxiety medication can reduce the physical and emotional aspects of anxiety. While antidepressants can help with an anxiety disorder if you are diagnosed with co-occurring depression.

It’s important to speak with a specialist such as a psychologist, or another type of health care professional to discuss benefits, risks, and side effects. Dependency could become an issue if you are already dealing with an addiction. If you have struggled with addiction, either now or in the past, then you should be monitored after being introduced to new medications. 

Psychotherapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a well-researched therapy and is a vital tool when dealing with anxiety disorders. The therapists at our St. Augustine rehab will often use this approach. CBT teaches patients to focus not on the situation, but their reaction to the situation. By teaching the patient strategies on how to better control their thoughts and emotions, they can then begin to reduce the causes that lead to anxiety. 

One of the largest issues in dealing with anxiety is that the person suffering from the disorder is only focused on the reaction that they are having. They don’t think about why they are having these thoughts or reactions. By working through their thoughts and feelings leading up to an anxiety attack, they can then begin to understand what triggers them. Once they are able to do that then they can work on how to prevent being triggered. 

Anxiety disorder is a treatable illness, and many people who have been diagnosed with some form of anxiety find that they can still lead satisfying lives with the help of professional treatment. Our treatment center offers effective therapy and group counseling to help people successfully manage their symptoms of anxiety. Patients can learn critical coping skills and techniques that will end the cycle of anxious thoughts that they deal with every day. 

The Anxiety program at our St. Augustine Mental Health Treatment Center offers treatment for anyone who is handling substance abuse problems while dealing with anxiety. Patients who have a dual diagnosis can achieve complete recovery for both their addiction and their anxiety disorder. Dr. Paul’s By The Sea is a safe place to focus on reducing anxiety and living a substance-free lifestyle.