Anxiety Treatment

Anxiety and Stress

Shortness of breath. Racing heartbeat. Sweating. Nausea. Lightheadedness. These are just a few of the symptoms common to both stress and anxiety. While many use these two terms interchangeably, there are differences. And understanding the differences helps us better treat each.

“What if???”

If you are prone to “what if…” thinking, you are experiencing anxiety. Anxiety is future-oriented and internally generated. Your persistent worries don’t go away even in the absence of a stressor. Chicago psychologist David Carbonell, PhD, refers to this as an “anxiety trick.” You experience discomfort and then get fooled into treating it like danger. Often, people will try to avoid the things that make them anxious, yet the anxious feelings persist.

Dealing With Changes and Challenges

Stress, on the other hand, is more present-focused and is externally generated by an actual stressor. It can be a short term response to a recognized stressor and can resolve when the stressor is resolved. Stress is our body’s reaction to a change or challenge. Hans Selye, early pioneer of modern stress theory, thought stress could be either good or bad. Those feelings of butterflies in your stomach at age 16 right before you took your first driver’s test? Probably good stress because they allowed you to be more focused and alert to accomplish the task at hand.

Helping You With Your Stress and Anxiety

Helping you with stress and anxiety begins with a thorough evaluation. I may use various anxiety scales to assist me in the initial phase. I want to know what your goals for anxiety treatment are. Sometimes it is useful to have a physical exam by your primary care physician and I will suggest this if I feel it would be useful.

There are a number of tools that can be helpful in addressing and alleviating stress and anxiety. Cognitive behavioral techniques such as a Thought Record can be useful when working with anxiety and automatic negative thoughts. Various breathing and relaxation techniques and mindfulness methods can be helpful for both stress and anxiety. Exercise is very beneficial, too.

Helping you learn to understand your anxiety and be comfortable and confident in using various tools to address allows you to successfully manage it in the future.

For a concise article on worry, stress, and anxiety visit https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/smarter-living/the-difference-between-worry-stress-and-anxiety.html

Contact my office in Evanston, Illinois today to make an appointment. I look forward to helping you!