Most of us experience anxiety in our daily lives. But do you feel severe anxiety which never goes with time? Is it persistent? If that is the case with you, you should think about it seriously and get it treated through counselling, because counselling is the best way to treat anxiety, says Colleen Hurll, Psychotherapist and an expert in Marriage Counselling in Hills District, Sydney. Following are the symptoms which you should consider as indicators that you need anxiety counseling.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a feeling of fear and stress. All of us feel it some or the other time. But a sufferer of anxiety disorder may feel it even if s/he is not actually in a fearful situation. S/He would just imagine a terrible condition and keep worrying. When someone around you is suffering from anxiety disorder, s/he may show symptoms, like:

• Feeling sick
• Sweating
• Palpitation
• Chest pain
• Fast breathing
• Headache
• Dry mouth
• & more

For identifying the need of anxiety counseling, you will have to understand the various anxiety disorder conditions.

Response to Stress

Anxiety can just be one among the many responses to stressful conditions. Three types of reaction disorders exist:

Acute Stress Reaction: The meaning of acute is quick development of symptoms, over some minutes or for hours, as a reaction to stressful situation. This type of reaction occurs due to an unexpected crisis in life, e.g. family problem, death of a loved one, accident, etc. It is known as situational anxiety. It may also occur before something stressful, like examination, an important tournament, performance, etc. Besides other anxiety symptoms, irritability, low mood, poor concentration, poor sleep, etc are seen.

Adjustment Reaction: It is similar to acute stress reaction, but occurs due to adjustment to the problem. E.g. a house move or a divorce can give rise to adjustment reaction symptoms. Symptoms too are similar to acute stress reaction, but depression also may be present.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): This may follow a serious trauma like a serious accident or assault. Main symptoms are:

• Persistent memories, thoughts, dreams, images or flashbacks of the traumatic situation, which are distressful
• Avoiding conversations, people, activities, places or anything that may trigger the memories of the traumatic event
• Emotional numbness and detachment from others
• Lack of loving feelings
• Pessimistic outlook
• Loss of interest in activities previously enjoyable
• Increased excitement not present before the traumatic event, like problem in falling asleep, irritability, increased vigilance, trouble in concentrating

Phobic Anxiety

A phobia refers to an intense fear for a thing or situation. Coming near the situation may cause anxiety. Sometimes even merely the thought of such a situation can cause anxiety. As a result, your life is restricted and you start suffering.

Social Phobia: Social phobia is a commonest anxiety disorder. A socially phobic person is very anxious thinking over what others may think about her/him. As a result, s/he may avoid meeting people and also performing before others, particularly strangers.

Agoraphobia: Agoraphobia is also a common anxiety disorder. It is considered to be anxiety about public places; but, this is only half truth. Agoraphobic person is anxious of a number of places and conditions, like shops, public places, crowds, buses, trains, planes, elevators, bridges, restaurants, cinemas and many more.

Other Phobias: There are many other phobias like fear of injections, animals, vomiting, chocking, being alone and so on.

If you or your dear one is experiencing such type of severe fear, individual counseling can be extremely helpful. Don’t delay in getting proper counseling and get rid of your problem at the earliest.