Anxiety can be an extremely debilitating disorder. Depending on the degree, anxiety can impair a wide range of human behavior. The individual may suffer difficulty in career advancement as debilitating anxiety is often triggered when the person is faced with social situations or when being evaluated. That fear can cause the avoidance of social gatherings or business meetings.
The person may experience an unbearable fear of making a mistake or of public speaking. Anxiety can produce ill-rational suspicion of others’ actions. The person often suffers from a lack of self-confidence and becomes afraid to face life’s daily interactions.
The person may suffer impaired ability to engage in normal activities such driving, flying, or going outside, (agoraphobia). They may fear closed spaces, (claustrophobia).
The individual may develop obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is usually characterized by recurring, unwanted, anxiety-provoking, intrusive ideas, images, or impulses (obsessions) that may seem silly, weird, or horrible to the person. The person also has urges (compulsions) to act in a manner that will relieve the distress cause by the obsessions.
Typical obsessions include fears of contracting a terminal disease; of being poisoned by chemicals or germs; of being preoccupied with symmetry (straightening pictures, objects, lining items in perfect order; of counting numbers; of excessive checking like closing and opening doors, windows); by second guessing themselves, and with superstitions.
The worries can be very bizarre, and a person knows that the thoughts are irrational, but it doesn’t lessen the effect. For people with OCD, it may take hours to get out of the house or finish a normal activity such as doing laundry or cleaning the house.
Panic attacks are another form of anxiety. Symptoms may include shortness of breath or smothering sensations; heart palpitations; sweating; shaking or trembling; dizziness; choking; nausea or abdominal distress; chest pain numbness or tingling and a fear of dying.
The dread of suffering panic attacks can create severe avoidance of activities and places prohibiting people from leading normal lives. The person may be unable to go to the grocery store; of driving children to school; of driving on a freeway, or many other activities.
Recent advances in brain imaging provided new insight into how anxiety and the “brain lock” manifest themselves in the brain. In our office, we stay current into the latest research. Based on the most recent knowledge in the field we provide comprehensive treatment for this at times debilitating disorder.
Dr. Elizabeth Kolve
Doctor of Psychology
Marriage & Family Therapist
805-497-2555
Westlake Village, CA
