Anxiety in Adults

Anxiety is useful in certain situations, some of the time. But how do you know when the signs of anxiety you experience might be significant enough to qualify for an anxiety disorder? An appointment with your family physician or a trained mental health professional is a good first step. However, in preparation for that visit, or to decide whether a visit is needed, it can help to understand what professionals look for in diagnosing an anxiety disorder.

To begin with, there are eleven different “types” of anxiety and related disorders, and each anxiety disorder has a list of commonly occurring symptoms clustered into 4 areas:

  • Physical responses

  • Thoughts

  • Emotions

  • Behaviors

Next, anxiety specialists have identified that when people experience anxiety more often (e.g. most days, and for months at a time), and more intensely than others, it can create significant disruption in their lives.

This disruption can interrupt or even stop adults from participating in a variety of experiences such as attending higher education, pursuing meaningful work, joining social, athletic or recreational clubs, being in relationships, and more. Finally, it is this combination of factors that increase the chances of being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

It is common for adults to experience anxiety symptoms of more than one anxiety disorder. This means as you read the definitions below, it would be fairly common to say, “Yes! This sounds like me, but so does this other description!” Fortunately, the helpful approaches outlined throughout this website can be used for multiple anxiety problems, so that even if you have 2, 3, or more disorders, many of the same tools can be used for all of them.

For even more information and tools, visit MAP for Adults! My Anxiety Plan (MAP) is an anxiety management program designed to provide adults struggling with anxiety with practical strategies and tools to manage anxiety. MAP includes 6 easy to navigate units with 45 lessons.

 MindShift™ CBT https://www.anxietycanada.com/resources/mindshift-cbt/

Free Evidence-Based Anxiety Relief

Is anxiety getting in the way of your life? MindShift™ CBT uses scientifically proven strategies based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to help you learn to relax and be mindful, develop more effective ways of thinking, and use active steps to take charge of your anxiety.

Get the tools to tackle:

  • Worry, Panic, Perfectionism, Social Anxiety, Phobias

MindShift™ CBT Features:

CBT-BASED TOOLS

·       Interactive cognitive-based tools to help you reorient your thinking, and behavioural strategies to help you take action and make lasting positive change.

QUICK RELIEF

·       When you need anxiety help fast, use these quick and easy tools to help you take a breath, ground yourself, shift your thinking, and take steps to cope.

THOUGHT JOURNAL

·       Transform your worries into balanced and helpful thoughts by identifying and challenging thinking that keeps you trapped in anxiety.

COPING CARDS

·       Ease your anxiety in the moment by re-adjusting your thinking with helpful coping statements.

BELIEF EXPERIMENTS

·       Learn how to set up experiments to test out beliefs that fuel anxiety.

FACING FEARS

·       Overcome your fears by gradually facing them in small manageable steps.

EXPANDING YOUR COMFORT ZONE

·       Build your confidence by consistently doing new and challenging things.

CHILL ZONE

·       Listen to audio recordings of guided relaxation and mindfulness meditations to help you get, and stay, in a more relaxed and mindful headspace.

CHECK-IN

·       Keep track of your anxiety and mood over time with graphs and journal entries.

HEALTHY HABITS

·       Tips to set the stage to better manage anxiety by taking better care of yourself.

GOAL SETTING

·       Tools and tips to help you set and accomplish important life goals and keep anxiety in check. Reminders to keep you motivated and on track.

“As a clinical counsellor, I realized the need for an app that would help my clients who suffer with anxiety. Given the significant shift in technology over writing, I have found an app that encompasses all the necessary components of supporting and tracking anxiety symptoms. The new MindShift™ CBT app provides resources to help manage anxiety, including healthier thinking, a chill out zone, and taking action. As a clinician, I can now have my clients share their Thought Journals and Belief Experiment CBT homework by ‘sharing their progress” with me from this app. This helps me better track their progress and support treatment goals. I plan to use the MindShift™ CBT app exclusively as a support tool for my clients who have symptoms of anxiety. More importantly, clients can continue to use this one-stop resource app to help manage any future mild symptoms of anxiety.” – Rita Schnarr, MA, RCC, Clinical Counsellor

Disclaimer:
As a service to our readers, Transformation4Change looks for articles and information on Health and Wellness to help inform thinking and making right choices. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician

Dr. George Ayee