Anxiety: You Don't Have to Be a Nervous Nelly

By: David P. Robbins, LPC

In America today, most adults have experienced or suffered anxiety or anxiety-related symptoms -- or even panic attacks -- or personally know someone who has. Anxiety can be debilitating for those who suffer from it, but the good news is that in most cases, there are effective treatments for anxiety! 

So, what is anxiety?

I would define anxiety as this: a fear and expectation of a thing. Anxiety is a normal emotional/physical state within the human body. One might wonder, "How does it get so bothersome that folks have to go see a therapist, or even a psychiatrist for medication to treat the issue?" Here is a short explanation:

People Fear That Which They Don’t Understand

By: Peggy Cunningham, MA, NCC, LPC

Director of Therapeutic Services

Mental illness surrounds us every day.  It lives beside us in our friends, family, co-workers, and the people we pass on the street.  Often there are no visible signs that a problem exists and we just greet the person and go about our daily lives.  On the other hand, sometimes we see that person on the street corner carrying on a conversation with a person whose not really there and wonder what is going on.  Another time we see someone walking down the street when it is 108 degrees with a stocking hat on and do not understand the hat keeps the voices away.  On another occasion a family comes home to find their home in chaos.  One member of the family reports that while others were away aliens invaded their home and a war was waged.  There are stories of being able to read people’s minds, television and radio frequencies that carry special messages to certain people and strange communication skills.  There are discussions of hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and thought broadcasting that we avoid and don’t understand.