Are you suffering from anxiety?

Have you ever... Walked into a room full of people and thought you were going to pass out from fear? Thought it would be easier to set your face on fire than to say hi to someone you found interesting? Found yourself standing in front of the herpetarium at the zoo sweating and shaking, while your kids are screaming to go inside and see the snakes? Do you often... Feel edgy or uncomfortable for no obvious reason? Experience insomnia, muscle aches, and medically inexplicable gastric complaints? Roll a worrying thought around your head for hours, unable to let it go? Find yourself frozen with indecision, your stomach tied in knots? These experiences and others like them are more common than you may think. Debilitating anxiety can be extremely difficult to live with. Left untreated, anxiety can lead to substance abuse or other forms of self-medication. Normal life experiences can become unmanageable. Following are the basic categories of the anxiety disorders:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder: nonspecific symptoms of anxiety experienced most of the time.

Phobias: includes agoraphobia, social anxiety and a number of specific phobias.

Panic disorders: those cases in which panic attacks (shortness of breath, racing heartbeat, rise in blood pressure, feelings of panic and extreme anxiety) are experienced.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder): characterized by repetitive, intrusive and compulsive patterns of thought and behavior.

Stress disorders: anxiety disorders brought on by some stressor. These disorders include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Acute Stress Disorder.

Lifeworks offers creative treatment options to those suffering from anxiety-related disorders. We work with several area physicians who prescribe and monitor medications in appropriate cases. And LifeWorks staff are trained in other non-medication relaxation techniques, controlled breathing, progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery.

Modern life is an obstacle course of stress-inducing hurdles. Why go through it carrying the weight of crippling but treatable anxiety? Take the LifeWorks Challenge! Take a deep breath and pick up the phone - help is available!

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Recommended Reading: on Anxiety, Depression, and other tough stuff

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Resource links on Anxiety, Depression, and other tough stuff