Anxiety is a common emotion characterized by tension, worried thoughts, and uneasiness. While all people experience anxiety, some people experience it more frequently and intensely. When a state of anxiety begins to interfere with a person’s functioning, it is referred to as clinical anxiety.
Anxiety Disorders Laguna Beach, California
Anxiety plays a role in many mental health disorders. In certain psychiatric disorders, anxiety plays a central role, and these are called anxiety disorders. In the U.S., experts have identified the following anxiety disorders:
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): As its name implies, GAD is the most broadly defined anxiety disorder diagnosis. GAD is characterized by persistent feelings of anxiety and worry that disrupt daily living.
- Panic disorder: Panic attacks are short, intense bursts of anxiety that can appear suddenly and cause physical symptoms such as shakiness, hyperventilation, dizziness, and chills. People who have a panic disorder typically experience frequent panic attacks. In addition, people with panic disorder experience “reactionary” symptoms, meaning they experience anxiety or negative changes in behavior as a result of their panic attacks.
- Phobia disorders: Phobias are a type of intense irrational fear that’s focused on a specific subject or object. Experts in the U.S. categorize phobias into five types. These include animal phobias, such as a fear of snakes or spiders, natural environment phobias, such as a fear of the ocean or heights, blood-injection-injury phobias, such as a fear of injections or wounds, situational phobias, such as a fear of crowds, and other phobias.
- Agoraphobia: Agoraphobia is the fear of leaving home, being in open spaces, or being somewhere from which it would be hard to escape. Previously, agoraphobia fell under the umbrella of panic disorder, but it has since become a classification of its own.
- Social anxiety disorder: Social anxiety disorder is an anxiety disorder where anxiety is centered around social interactions and relationships. People with social anxiety disorder may experience severe anxiety when meeting new people, when starting conversations with others, and when initiating phone calls or emails.
- Separation anxiety disorder: Experiencing some anxiety around separating from people or home can be normal. People with separation anxiety disorder experience severe, developmentally atypical anxiety in these situations. Separation anxiety disorder can be diagnosed at any age.
- Selective mutism: Selective mutism is an unwillingness to speak that occurs in specific, anxiety-inducing situations. This type of mutism begins in childhood and may continue into adulthood if left untreated.
Several other types of anxiety disorders exist as well, primarily categorized by the underlying cause. These disorders include substance/medication-induced anxiety disorder, anxiety due to another medical condition, other unspecified anxiety disorder, and unspecified anxiety disorder.
The Prevalence of Anxiety Disorder
Anxiety disorders are very common. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 19.1% of adults in the U.S. had an anxiety disorder in the previous year, and 31.1% of adults in the U.S. will have an anxiety disorder during their entire lifetimes. Women are diagnosed with anxiety disorders more frequently than men.
Experts believe anxiety disorders are caused by both genetic and environmental elements. Anxiety disorders may be caused by traumatic childhood experiences or a family history of similar disorders.
Alter Wellness Care Anxiety Program
At Alter Wellness Care, located in beautiful Laguna Beach, California, our mission is to provide a safe, stigma-free environment for those seeking mental health care. Our care is holistic, trauma-informed, and comprehensive. We take time to help you discover the underlying cause of your problems, and we help you capitalize on your strengths, abilities, and aspirations.
At our facility, we offer three major treatment plans, each designed with your needs in mind.
Our Intensive Outpatient Programs
Intensive outpatient programs (IOPs) are mental health programs designed to help you recover in a more structured environment. At Alter Wellness Care, we offer two IOP levels: IOP5 and IOP3.
- IOP5 is our longest treatment program, lasting 40 to 60 days. We offer treatment multiple times a day every weekday. When not in treatment, our clients stay in a safe and comfortable local sober living house.
- IOP3 is a mid-length program lasting 30 to 40 days. Like IOP5, your treatment will take place every weekday. During weekdays and weekends, you will stay in a local sober living house.
Our Partial Hospitalization Program
A partial hospitalization program (PHP) is a treatment program offering flexibility alongside quality care. Our PHP is a mid-length program lasting 30 to 45 days. During treatment, our clients attend therapy three to five days a week and stay at a local sober living house seven days a week.
Our Treatment Options in Laguna Beach
As a part of our treatment programs, we offer a variety of treatment options for those in our care. No matter where you are in your mental health journey, you deserve quality, empathetic care. At Alter Wellness Care, we help you with the following options:
- Psycho-educational groups: Learn about your anxiety and its symptoms alongside your peers with the aid of our expert, compassionate staff.
- Skill development groups: Our staff will help you to identify and develop the skills that will best help you achieve your treatment goals.
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) groups: When you have anxiety, it can be easy to find yourself caught up in self-defeating thought patterns. CBT is an evidence-based therapy option that helps you to recognize when your thoughts are hurting you and create new, kinder thought patterns.
- Acceptance therapy: Acceptance therapy is a new approach to therapy that focuses on action-based treatment. Through acceptance therapy, our clients learn to identify what is most important to them and to create plans and strategies for living more fulfilling lives.
Alter Wellness Care, located in Laguna Beach, California, is a state-of-the-art treatment center for those with anxiety disorders or other psychiatric illnesses. To learn more, call (866) 515-1580.
