Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders
As a practice we specialise in anxiety and anxiety disorders. Many of our psychologists have worked and trained in well regarded specialist anxiety treatment centres in Sydney, and several have conducted research into the nature and treatment of anxiety and anxiety disorders. We ensure that we remain abreast of recent developments in the understanding and treatment of anxiety, and Lissa travels overseas to attend seminars and workshops from world leaders in anxiety research and treatment.Needless to say, anxiety is a normal and inevitable part of human experience. We all know what it feels like to be nervous - even extremely anxious - about a big date, exam, job interview, important speech, or some other life event. A certain amount of anxiety is helpful as it provides energy, excitement, and focus for the task. However, in a significant proportion of people anxiety can become incessant, extreme, and out of proportion to the situation, despite the person's best efforts to stay calm. When anxiety interferes significantly with a persons life or wellbeing it is often referred to as an anxiety disorder.
Common anxiety-related problems and types of anxiety disorder include:
- Social anxiety including fear of public speaking
- Excessive worry or generalised anxiety
- Panic attacks
- Posttraumatic reactions
- Fears and phobias
- Obsessions and compulsions
If anxiety gets out of hand, it can interfere with enjoying life and reaching your potential. An anxiety disorder can hold you back at work, stop you doing things you'd like to do, interfere with social and family relationships, and undermine confidence and self esteem. People often become quite depressed about feeling excessively anxious, which only makes their situation more stressful, isolating, and difficult.
Fortunately, anxiety disorders are treatable. A substantial amount of research in the last few decades has focussed on understanding and treating anxiety and anxiety disorders. This has given us good knowledge of what underlies various different anxiety conditions, and what helps to overcome them.
Unfortunately, however, many of the things that people do to reduce their anxiety in the short term may exacerbate their anxiety in the long term. Effective treatments and therapies for anxiety and anxiety disorders break this cycle, by helping you to understand what really drives your anxiety, to learn constructive techniques for managing your anxiety in the short term, and develop lasting changes that cultivate comfortable levels of anxiety in the long run.
Click here to learn more about anxiety disorder in teenagers and adolescents.