What are the symptoms of anxiety? Can it be treated?

While anxiety symptoms vary from person to person, in general the body reacts in a very specific way to anxiety. When you feel anxious, your body releases adrenaline activating your fight or flight responses. As a result, some common symptoms of anxiety include difficulty focusing or thinking clearly about anything other than the thing you’re worried about, nervousness, restlessness, or being tense, feelings of danger, panic, or dread, rapid heart rate, rapid breathing (or hyperventilation), increased or heavy sweating, trembling or muscle twitching, weakness and lethargy, insomnia, digestive or gastrointestinal problems, a strong desire to avoid places or situations that trigger your anxiety, obsessions or fixations with certain thoughts, a sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder, performing certain behaviours over and over again, and anxiety following a particular life event or experience that has occurred, especially if it was life threatening or could have been, post-traumatic stress disorder. If your symptoms are due to anxiety the good news is that there are a number of effective treatment options - as an expert anxiety therapist in Sydney, Maria-Elena can help you explore these options. Discussing these with your doctor and deciding on the best of course of action for you is a great starting place. Psychological treatments for anxiety have been widely studied and shown to be very effective. Treatment usually involves behavioural and cognitive strategies, such as those found in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and involve learning techniques and skills to manage your physical and psychological symptoms. Exposure and response prevention as well as behavioural activation are also essential components for treatment as they allow you to slowly habituate to your fears so that you no longer experience the same intense reactions.