While everyone may experience stress or worry from time to time, a person suffering from an anxiety disorder will feel consistent and disproportionate fear in certain circumstances. Different types of anxiety disorders can affect people differently, but all anxiety disorders are considered treatable conditions.
Anxiety treatment in Los Angeles typically combines therapy and, when appropriate, medication to help manage symptoms that go well beyond everyday stress or worry. It’s designed for anyone whose fear or worry is persistent, disproportionate to the situation, and gets in the way of daily life.
An anxiety disorder is a mental health condition that causes a person to feel stress or fear when faced with specific situations. Many different types of anxiety disorders can affect people differently. Someone can suffer from more than one anxiety disorder at a time.
While the causes of anxiety may vary depending on the type of disorder, there are common symptoms among all anxiety disorders. The stress brought on by anxiety disorders is disproportionate to the reality of the situation. Many people feel anxious over a job interview or stressful situation at home. The difference between those feelings and an anxiety disorder is that anxiety disorders will cause similar feelings in circumstances most people would never consider stressful.
Most of the time, a person with an anxiety disorder will understand and be aware that their stress or worry levels outweigh the given situation. However, despite this awareness, they will be unable to control their emotions.
Anxiety disorders are not usually considered dangerous, though they can be incredibly disruptive to a person’s life. Depending on the causes of anxiety, a person may go to extreme lengths to avoid areas or situations they may feel anxious about. This can negatively affect performance at work or school or lead to missing out on significant life events.
Anxiety disorders usually first appear in adolescence and get worse over time. The most common symptoms associated with anxiety disorders are nervousness, fatigue, stomach issues, muscle pains, headaches, elevated heart rate and blood pressure, and a sense of impending danger. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) reports that about a third of U.S. adolescents and adults experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives.
The causes of anxiety disorders are still not fully understood. Most likely, they are caused by a combination of various risk factors. Biological, psychological, and environmental factors can all play some role in the development of mental health conditions, such as anxiety disorders.
Trauma or abuse, especially at an early age, can cause a person to develop an anxiety disorder. Even a traumatic event later in life can immediately cause an anxiety disorder in someone who may never have struggled with anxiety in the past. Major life changes can also play a similar role.
Personality can also play a role in anxiety. People who may be shy or quiet are naturally more likely to develop an anxiety disorder than someone talkative and outgoing. Having other anxious people in your family is also a significant factor, although research is unclear if that is a matter of genetics or learned behavior.
Underlying medical conditions can cause some anxiety disorders. Bad reactions to medications or drug use and withdrawal can play a major role in the development of anxiety disorders. Heart disease and respiratory disorders such as asthma can also increase levels of anxiety a person feels.
There are six major types of anxiety disorders that can affect people in different ways and require different treatment approaches. It is crucial to receive the correct diagnosis to treat your anxiety disorder properly. The six most common types of anxiety disorders are:
Generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD, is a condition that causes a constant feeling of worry of impending dread. As opposed to a disorder that causes a specific situation to be the source of anxiety, people who suffer from GAD feel anxious about most aspects of life. Because they are usually experiencing some level of stress or anxiety, people suffering from GAD often appear restless or “jumpy.”
Panic disorder is a condition that causes chronic and frequent panic attacks. The panic attacks may be brought on by a specific set of circumstances or occur for seemingly no reason. While most people may experience a panic attack once or twice in their lives, a person with panic disorder will experience panic attacks regularly.
One of the worst symptoms associated with panic disorder is the fear of the next attack. Because they can occur at any time, people who have panic disorder may try to be afraid of driving or traveling and avoid parties or other large social gatherings.
Phobias are intense fear associated with one specific thing or circumstance. It is possible for a person to only suffer from one phobia or suffer from many different phobias. The anxiety related to phobias is often severe enough to cause panic attacks when faced with the source of the fear.
Common examples of phobias are:
Agoraphobia is a fear of being in situations or areas that may be difficult to leave or escape. While agoraphobia is a phobia, it is often separated due to how common it is and how many people suffer from it.
An agoraphobic may be unable to use public transportation or attend any social gathering with a large crowd. The fear associated with the disorder is often severe enough to cause a panic attack. If left untreated, agoraphobia can progress to the point that a person may be unable to leave their house at all.
Social anxiety is the fear of being in public or in crowds of people. Often associated with introverts, social anxiety goes far beyond simple shyness. Someone suffering from social anxiety may have panic attacks or extreme fear at the thought of talking in front of crowds or meeting new people.
Low self-esteem or a poor self-image are usually significant factors in social anxiety. Most people who suffer from social anxiety feel that they will be embarrassed when engaging with other people.
Separation anxiety is a condition that causes a person to feel an extreme sense of fear when apart from another specific person. Separation anxiety is prevalent among young children when separated from their parents. Most children move past this; however, some do not. Adults can also develop separation anxiety, especially after experiencing trauma or a major life event.
Both post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder were formally considered anxiety disorders. However, due to unique causes and involved treatment approaches, both disorders are now uniquely classified as their own conditions. While anxiety does play a major role in both disorders, neither is considered an anxiety disorder because other symptoms are also present.
Anxiety disorders are usually treated through a combination of medication and therapy options. Certain medications, such as benzodiazepines, are effective in reducing the symptoms associated with anxiety disorders. In some cases, antidepressants may also be used to treat anxiety.
However, it is important to note that even if medications effectively reduce anxiety symptoms, they are not cures for anxiety. Medications are best used as one aspect of a broader treatment plan.
Talk therapy approaches, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, are often helpful to people suffering from anxiety. CBT works to build coping methods and encourage healthier behavior in the future by reframing the negative thoughts and emotions we may experience.
Beyond medication and general talk therapy, treatment for anxiety often draws on a few specific, evidence-based approaches.
According to the NIMH, common approaches include cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure-based therapies, and certain medications. These are often used in combination rather than as standalone solutions. Which combination makes sense depends on which anxiety disorder someone has, how severe their symptoms are, and what has or hasn’t worked for them before.
Exposure therapy, a specific form of CBT, gradually and safely introduces a person to the situations or objects that trigger their anxiety, helping reduce the fear response over time. Relaxation techniques, mindfulness-based approaches, and support groups are also commonly used alongside these core treatments.
When medication is part of a treatment plan, it may take some trial and error to find what works, since different medications affect people differently and can take time to reach full effect. Because anxiety disorders vary so much from person to person, a treatment plan is usually adjusted over time based on what’s working and what isn’t, rather than decided once and left unchanged.
Yes. Anxiety and addiction can be treated together. For many people, treating both at once works better than addressing them separately.
It’s common for someone with an anxiety disorder to use alcohol or other substances to quiet symptoms like racing thoughts or physical tension, even though this tends to make the underlying anxiety worse over time.
This pattern reflects an understandable, if unhelpful, attempt to manage symptoms that haven’t been properly treated. It can create a cycle where withdrawal or comedown effects add even more anxiety on top of what was already there.
SAMHSA confirms that anxiety and other mental health conditions commonly co-occur with substance use disorders. Integrated treatment that addresses both conditions within the same coordinated plan is generally more effective than treating either one alone. This typically involves therapy that addresses both the anxiety and the substance use, along with medical support for withdrawal symptoms when needed.
If you’re not sure whether your anxiety came first or whether substance use is playing a role in how you feel day to day, that’s something a treatment provider can help sort out.
Standard outpatient therapy is enough for many people, but a higher level of care may be worth considering if any of the following sound familiar:
If any of this sounds familiar, a clinical assessment can help determine whether a more structured option, such as an intensive outpatient program or partial hospitalization program, would better fit your needs right now.
Stepping up to a higher level of care isn’t a sign that weekly therapy “failed.” It’s simply a recognition that some periods call for more support than others, and stepping back down to a lighter level of care is usually possible once symptoms are more manageable.
At AM Health Care, we are here to help you deal with your mental health in any way possible. We believe in designing a treatment plan that precisely suits your condition and your needs. Mental health disorders can be disruptive and potentially dangerous when left untreated, so there is no reason to wait any longer.
Please call us today at 866-806-8142 to learn more about how we can help you and potential treatment options. Our admissions team can help match you with the AM Health Care facility and level of care best suited to your anxiety treatment needs.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of self-harm or suicide, help is available right now — call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any time, day or night.
The best-supported treatments for anxiety are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) — including exposure-based therapy — and, when appropriate, medication such as antidepressants. Most people do best with a combination rather than one approach alone, and the right mix depends on which anxiety disorder is present and how severe symptoms are. When anxiety comes with substance use or depression, integrated treatment of both conditions works best.
The 3-3-3 rule is a simple grounding technique: name 3 things you can see, 3 sounds you can hear, then move 3 parts of your body. It can interrupt spiraling anxious thoughts in the moment by redirecting attention to your senses. It’s a coping tool, not a treatment — if anxiety is frequent or interfering with daily life, techniques like this work best alongside professional care.
Anxiety treatment works by retraining how your mind and body respond to fear. Therapy like CBT identifies and reframes the thought patterns driving anxiety, exposure therapy gradually reduces the fear response to triggers, and medication can lower the physiological intensity of symptoms while those skills develop. Treatment starts with an assessment to identify which anxiety disorder is present, and the plan is adjusted over time based on what’s working.
Stay calm yourself, speak in a steady voice, and avoid dismissing their fear with phrases like “just relax.” Ask what helps — some people want space, others want reassurance — and try slow breathing together: in for four counts, out for six. If panic symptoms are frequent or severe, gently encourage professional support; anxiety disorders are highly treatable.
AM Health Care offers all levels of care for inpatient and outpatient mental health and substance treatment. We have six different facilities that each specialize in a different aspect of addiction and mental health recovery, ensuring that wherever we offer AM Health Care treatment, you or a loved one will be placed in the hands of an experienced professional.
While we will do our best to accommodate any requests toward any of our six different facilities, we cannot guarantee placement at any one location. This is because each AM Health Care facility offers different levels of care for either substance treatment or mental health treatment. When you contact the AM Health Care team, we will do our best to accommodate your needs and place you in a facility that will help you the most.
AM Health Care accepts most major insurance providers’ PPO policies. The best way to know if your insurance will cover your treatment at AM Health Care is to get in touch with our team. If you’d like to have us reach out to you about your insurance, use our verify insurance form.
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