Anxiety Treatment Centers in California
Although there are numerous mental illnesses in the world, some are more common than others. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness people in the U.S. are struggling with as it affects 40 million adults. That’s 18.1% of the population every year. Because of how common anxiety disorders are, mental heal health facilities must provide quality anxiety treatment. Luckily, Montare Behavioral Health is renowned for our effective anxiety treatment centers in California.
What is Anxiety Disorder?
Anxiety is a common experience for many people. Anxiety includes feelings of stress, nervousness, and restlessness. There is a difference between someone who experiences anxiety in stressful or fearful situations and someone who suffers from an anxiety disorder. For one, anxiety disorder causes individuals to feel more anxious than regular anxiety does. This is because an anxiety disorder causes anxious feelings at a more severe level.
Anxiety disorders also cause physical and emotional distress that interferes with an individual’s daily life. This is because people that suffer from anxiety disorders experience high levels of anxiety even when there is no threatening or stressful situation or anything to fear.
If left untreated, symptoms of clinical anxiety could prevent individuals from engaging in social and family relationships. Symptoms of anxiety could also lead to negative effects on one’s career. It can even stop individuals from participating in daily activities with others. Montare Behavioral Health’s anxiety treatment centers in California look to help each patient reverse the symptoms so they can repair the strained relationships caused by them.
How Does Someone Develop Anxiety Disorder?
- Moving or shifts in living situation
- Problems with family or other relationships
- Death or the loss of someone you loved
- Pregnancy or no longer being pregnant
- Chemical imbalance in the brain
- Genetics
Individuals who experience severe or long-term stress can also experience changes in the brain that regulate mood and cause anxiety to develop. People that experience trauma often develops anxiety as well.
Problematic behaviors can also bring about this disorder as well as a co-occurring mental health diagnosis.
Anxiety and Co-Occurring Mental Illnesses
It is common for individuals to suffer from multiple mental illnesses simultaneously. This is especially true when it comes to anxiety. For example, anxiety and depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, and anxiety and borderline personality disorder are all common co-occurring mental illnesses.
Out of all of these mental illnesses, depression is by far the mental illness that co-occurs with anxiety the most. As a result, many of the people that are diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with anxiety disorders.
Stress vs. Anxiety Disorders
Although they may appear to be the same, there are distinct differences between stress and anxiety. One key difference between the two is that stress only occurs when in the face of threats, stressful triggers, and fearful situations. Standard anxiety acts similarly in that it only appears in the face of threats, anxious triggers, and fearful situations.
Anxiety disorders, on the other hand, continue to appear even when there are no threats, triggers, or fearful situations around. As a result, people start to feel anxious in some way nearly all day, every day.
Over time, being anxious at such high levels can cause individuals to experience physical pain. Anxiety disorders can also cause people to isolate themselves from others and alter their behavior patterns to protect themselves.
Because of all of the long-term effects that suffering from anxiety disorders can have on people’s lives, it’s important for people to be able to easily access anxiety treatment programs at mental health treatment centers. Luckily, Montare Behavioral Health offers recovery options at our anxiety treatment centers in California.
Statistics on Anxiety Disorders
Unfortunately, many people with anxiety disorders aren’t receiving the help that they need. For example, only 36.9% of people that suffer from anxiety disorders receive treatment. This is unfortunate, as not entering a treatment program will only lead to further physical, emotional, and behavioral issues.
For example, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, people that suffer from anxiety disorders are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, people that suffer from anxiety disorders are also six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than people that don’t.
Symptoms of an Anxiety Disorder
In order to diagnose an individual, a physician or doctor will evaluate the person, perform a physical exam, and ask questions about the individual’s medical history. Because there are no lab tests to diagnose anxiety, a doctor will first use various tests to look for physical illnesses that may be causing the anxiety.
If the individual is absent of physical illness, then the doctor likely diagnoses the individual with an anxiety disorder. The doctor will then refer the individual to a mental health professional to provide treatment.
Common symptoms of an anxiety disorder include:
- Feeling restless, wound-up, or on-edge
- Being easily fatigued
- Having difficulty concentrating; mind going blank
- Being irritable
- Having muscle tension
- Difficulty controlling feelings of worry
- Having sleep problems, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, restlessness, or unsatisfying sleep
Types of Anxiety Disorders Treated at Our Treatment Centers in California
There are various types of anxiety disorders. Some of the common types of anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and other phobias. The most common anxiety disorder is GAD.
While each condition has its own set of symptoms, they each share the core common symptom of persistent, excessive fear or worry in situations that are not threatening. Listed below are the various types of anxiety treated at our inpatient anxiety treatment centers in California.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Individuals that suffer from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) experience excessive anxiety or worry, most days, for at least six months straight. Individuals that suffer from GAD may worry about personal health, work, social interactions, family, relationships, and similar everyday life circumstances.
Constant fear and anxiety will cause significant problems for people with GAD as it starts to affect a variety of areas of their lives, including school, work, and social interactions. Thus, it’s best for individuals with GAD to speak with a medical professional to develop a treatment plan for proper recovery.
Panic Disorder
Individuals that suffer from panic disorders experience recurrent and unexpected panic attacks. Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear that come on very quickly. These can occur without reason or be brought on by triggers, such as feared objects, people, or situations. Most people know of panic disorders by the outward appearance of someone having a panic attack. However, most people who suffer from panic disorders more often experience silent panic attacks.
Symptoms of Panic Attacks include:
- Heart palpitations, pounding heartbeat, or increased heart rate
- Sweating
- Trembling or shaking
- Sensations of shortness of breath, smothering or choking
- Feelings of impending doom
- Feelings of being out of control
Individuals that suffer from panic disorder may consistently worry about when the next one will occur. As a result, people may actively try to avoid panic attacks by avoiding places, situations, people, or behaviors that may have caused them a panic attack in the past. Doing this will only cause significant problems in their daily lives. Thus, anyone that suffers from panic should schedule counseling or other treatments to overcome this affliction.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
People develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic or life-threatening event. People that experience PTSD often remembers upsetting memories or past traumatic moments when triggered by a person, place, or thing. For example, many people that have been in combat experience PTSD when hearing a gun-like noise.
Individuals, such as people that have been in combat, can learn how to manage their PTSD through a variety of therapies. Many programs offer ongoing counseling options as PTDS generally requires long-term therapy for a full recovery.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) causes people to have unwanted fears and obsessions that cause them to have repeated thoughts or behaviors at an extreme level. For example, individuals that suffer from OCD may have an irrational fear of germs that causes them to repeatedly and obsessively wash their hands.
When people with OCD have repeated unwanted thoughts, they are experiencing obsessions. When people with OCD exhibit repeated and obsessive behaviors, they are experiencing compulsions.
Common OCD obsession themes include:
- Fear of germs
- Constantly doubting situations and never having certainty that one has done things
- Needing things to face a certain way, be symmetrical, or be in a certain order
- Obsessive and repeated unwanted thoughts about things like aggressive behaviors, sex, and religion
Common OCD compulsion themes include:
- Continuously washing or cleaning things
- Obsessively counting things
- Continuously checking on things or situations
- Constantly putting things in a certain order
- Obsessively needing to follow a strict routine
- Constantly demanding reassurance
Individuals that suffer from OCD should enter treatment centers that specialize in therapy or counseling techniques for OCD.
Phobia-Related Disorders
Phobias are defined as intense fears of specific objects or situations. For example, a person with a phobia may have irrational fears about encountering spiders or other insects. Other common types of phobia disorders include phobias about flying, heights, animals, blood, and similar objects.
People that suffer from phobias usually take active steps to avoid their phobias. This is because such people experience immediate and intense stress if they encounter their feared objects or situations.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Individuals that suffer from social anxiety disorder (SAD) experience intense fear or stress when in social or performance situations. As a result, people that suffer from SAD will avoid social and performative situations due to stress that their heightened emotions will be negatively judged. The worry that people with SAD experience in social interactions may manifest in a range of situations including the workplace or at school.
About California Anxiety Treatment Centers
As discussed previously, a medical professional will utilize specific interview techniques and assessment tools to diagnose an individual.
Every type of anxiety disorder has different symptoms and thus, different forms of anxiety treatment. The most common form of anxiety treatment is a combination of medication and psychotherapy. Therapy sessions are extremely important as they help clients get to the root causes of their conditions. EMDR is also used for treating anxiety at our Montare Behavioral Health treatment centers.
It’s very common for anxiety disorders to co-occur with other mental illnesses such as depression and bipolar disorder. Thus, not entering a treatment program can not only worsen that person’s condition but also worsen his or her co-occurring mental illness.
By choosing not to seek treatment, it can also affect one’s daily life by preventing that person from engaging in normal activities like work or school. That’s why it’s so important for anyone with an anxiety disorder to receive a diagnosis and enter a treatment program.
Begin Healing at Our Anxiety Treatment Centers in California
Seeking mental health treatment is beneficial for people who suffer from anxiety disorders. Luckily, Montare Behavioral Health offers multiple anxiety treatment centers throughout Southern California.
We offer inpatient or residential treatment along with outpatient treatment for all types of anxiety disorders. We also offer medication management services for clients with mental illnesses that require them to take prescription medications.
By providing clients with the treatment that they need, we help them restore control over their lives. Thus, if you suffer from anxiety or any other type of mental illness for that matter, you should call us today or contact us online.
