Living with an anxiety disorder can feel like you’re always one step away from disaster, like you can’t let your guard down even with loved ones, or like you shouldn’t risk leaving your house.
But this doesn’t have to be the case. Treatment for anxiety disorders at BRC can help you regain control of your life from panic attacks, constant worrying, frequent stomachaches, or other common symptoms that are holding you back.
We offer short-term residential mental health programs at our state-of-the-art facility in Canton, not far from Boston. Our client-centered approach makes your needs and goals in recovery the focus of your treatment plan, with compassionate, personalized care provided by our psychiatrist, registered and psychiatric nurses, therapists, and other licensed medical and clinical professionals.
Our multidisciplinary treatment options include medication management, stabilization services, one-on-one psychotherapy, group therapy, and other evidence-based treatment services. Because anxiety disorders and substance abuse often co-occur, we also offer treatment for clients with a dual diagnosis.
Our Residential Program For Anxiety Disorders
Shortly after arriving at BRC, you will receive an assessment from our psychiatric team to determine your care needs and recovery goals. For clients experiencing a crisis, our stabilization services will help you reestablish the balance of body and mind.
This will likely include medication management services along with other leading treatments for anxiety disorders, including evidence-based therapy. Holistic options like meditation and yoga classes at BRC teach healthy ways to deal with anxiety and stress, while our recreation activities provide a source of relaxation and fun.
Medication Management
Whether or not you are currently taking a prescribed mental health medication, our psychiatric team can help determine which medication is the best option for you. For example, we may change the dosage of your current prescription or recommend another medication in order to achieve the desired outcomes without, or with minimal, side effects.
Psychotherapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most effective form of therapy used to treat anxiety disorders. It can help you identify and address unhelpful beliefs that are leading to unwanted reactions or other behaviors that you’d like to change.
CBT may involve exposure interventions, helping you safely and confidently face challenging experiences and become less anxious about them over time.
Wellness And Recreation Activities
You also have a wide range of wellness activities to choose from during your stay at BRC, including yoga and meditation classes, POUND and other group fitness classes, game nights, movie nights, arts and crafts, and more. These activities can help you learn practical relaxation techniques, build social skills, and just have some fun.
Learn More About The Types Of Anxiety Disorders
There are a number of different types of anxiety disorders, and it’s possible that a person could experience more than one at a time. Anxiety disorders also often co-occur with substance use disorders.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
GAD involves persistent, excessive, and unwarranted anxiety and worry that interferes with your daily life.
It often occurs along with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or other anxiety disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mental health disorders.
Panic Disorder
Panic disorder involves sudden, debilitating anxiety and terror that often includes a sense of impending threat, shortness of breath, chest pain, and heart palpitations. This is also known as a panic attack.
This may cause a person to avoid situations or locations where they experienced a panic attack in the past.
Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia)
Social anxiety disorder is characterized by anxiety related to social situations along with intense feelings of paranoia, embarrassment, and self-consciousness. These feelings stem from worrying about what other people think about you.
Specific Phobias
Phobias involve sudden, intense fear related to a specific object or situation, along with a strong urge to avoid that object or situation.
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia involves anxiety and avoidance behavior towards places or situations in which a person believes they will feel trapped, helpless, or exposed. Similarly, people with agoraphobia may refuse to leave a place where they feel safe, such as their home.
Diagnosing Anxiety Disorders
Each form of anxiety disorder has its own diagnostic criteria set forth in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), which a psychiatrist or other health professional uses to make a diagnosis.
This process may also involve a physical exam to rule out any other potential causes of symptoms, as well as screenings for common co-occurring disorders like depression or behavioral disorders.
Symptoms Of Anxiety Disorders
While everyone experiences worry and uncertainty, people with anxiety disorders usually do so with intensity or over long periods of time. Other mental and physical symptoms can also indicate an anxiety disorder.
These may include:
- feelings of nervousness, restlessness, or being trapped
- increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate
- excessive sweating
- muscle tension or trembling
- weakness or fatigue
- concentration problems
- sleep problems
- a preoccupation with avoiding situations that may trigger anxiety attacks
These symptoms are severe enough to interfere with the person’s performance at work or in school, relationships, health, and overall quality of life.
Risk Factors
There are specific risk factors linked with anxiety disorders.
These include:
- childhood trauma
- serious illness
- high levels of stress and insecurity
- certain personality types
- genetic factors
- co-occurring mental health conditions
- substance abuse
Statistics On Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders are common in the United States and are becoming more common. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders impact approximately 19.1% of American adults each year, with only 36.9% of those individuals receiving treatment.
Learn More About Anxiety Disorder Treatment At BRC
Call Bedrock Recovery Center today to learn more about our evidence-based treatment for all forms of anxiety disorders.
