Many people feel the same way. Fear is a feeling that occurs more often than you think. The fear can be triggered by different triggers. Fear of flying, fear of animals, fear of heights, fear of loss or even without a concrete reason, people can be afraid.
Fear is an important evolutionary function
Fear already protected our ancestors from threatening situations and enemies. It kept them from being attacked by enemies or protected them from danger. Even today it is important to have a certain fear. Because everyone knows the moment when you are about to face a disaster and then you might change your mind again because you are afraid. This can protect you from unpleasant or even dangerous situations.
However, fear, misdirected or in an enormously strong expression can make life quite difficult and limit. It can even limit you to the extent that you no longer go out among people. Depressive moods are also often triggered by an anxiety disorder and its limitations. Anxiety has many faces. That's why at WePractice, there are many ways to address them together and alleviate your anxiety. Our therapists use different procedures and methods so that therapy can be designed as individually as you are.
Anxiety disorder - what exactly does it mean?
Anxiety disorder is a collective term. It is used to describe anxiety-related mental disorders whose common characteristic is excessive and often exaggerated fear reactions in the absence of a real external threat.
Triggers can be events in childhood, genetic factors, but also internal conflicts. Next to depression, anxiety disorder is one of the most common mental disorders. According to experts, 14% suffer from an anxiety disorder in Europe.
How can I tell if I have an anxiety disorder?
An exaggerated fear becomes noticeable early on. You are afraid of things or situations that other people perceive as completely normal.
However, a short phase of anxiety or fear in certain situations is quite normal. However, if you feel that your fear is no longer under control, our experts can help you.
However, if anxiety is taking over your life and you are no longer able to cope with your everyday life without worries, it may make sense to seek therapeutic support. Therapy is not a bad thing, it can help you get a grip on your anxiety and make your life less limiting. Our experts are hand-picked therapists who have experience and knowledge in the field of anxiety disorders and are happy to offer you support.
Symptoms of an anxiety disorder
Accompanying anxiety disorders can be physical signs of anxiety such as:
Palpitations
Sweating
trembling
Shortness of breath
Nausea
Chest tightness
dizziness
People with an anxiety disorder often have a tendency to avoid emotion-producing situations because of their fears. This is also called avoidance behavior. With very clear anxiety states, such as a fear of flying, the avoidance of the situation is associated with certain restrictions, but actually quite unproblematic. It becomes more complicated, however, if one suffers from acute claustrophobia and avoids all kinds of situations and places where many people congregate in a small space. This can also be in a train, bus, restaurant or public toilet. Here, the avoidance can quickly lead to stress, which is why the longer the more one restricts oneself and "avoids" social life. This is extremely limiting and the quality of life suffers.
What can you do yourself?
At first, everyone tries to get a grip on their fears themselves. The step to the doctor or to the psychotherapist is often only dared later. First they read books or look for information on the Internet. However, many people already proactively try to change something about the situation. With yoga or other relaxation techniques, good results can already be achieved, but the effectiveness has not been well proven in studies.
However, relaxation techniques are often used in psychotherapies.
Other people turn to herbal sedatives or homeopathic pretarates. However, these remedies are also not subject to rigorous studies.
Such self-treatment, however, can also lead to waiting even longer to seek professional help. In this transitional phase, the anxiety disorder may limit one's life much more. Then it is high time to get professional support.
What happens during psychotherapy?
There are various methods and approaches in psychotherapy. The most promising for anxiety disorder is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is not only effective for anxiety disorders but can also help with symptoms such as depressionhttps://wepractice.ch/lp-therapie-bei-depression
which often accompany an anxiety disorder. The therapy aims at a direct confrontation with the fears. This can also be very stressful under certain circumstances.
Usually, a KVT is perceived in weekly sessions over several weeks. The therapy is divided into 2 parts. The "cognitive" part, which deals with your thoughts and feelings, and the part that deals with your behavior.
The goal of cognitive behavioral therapy is to change your anxiety-causing thought patterns by learning the following:
recognize and question unrealistic fears and worries
assess the real probabilities and consequences of fear
triggers to deal with uncertainty in the right way.
In a second part of the therapy you will try to minimize the fear in the triggering situations in small steps and actively change your behavior. Here you face your fear in order to overcome it.
How do I find the right therapist?
WePractice has hand-picked and experienced experts who can offer support for anxiety and anxiety disorders. All of our therapists offer you a free get-to-know-you phone call so you can get to know the experts before booking a session and clear up any unanswered questions right away.
Sessions can be held in the comfort of your own home or in our friendly and centrally located premises right next to Stadelhofen train station in the heart of Zurich.
You are not sure which expert is the right one for you? No problem, we are happy to help you find the right expert for you. Just write us in the chat.