People who live with anxiety disorders can tell you how debilitating they are. When you're in the throes of a panic attack, it's nearly impossible to function. Your chest tightens, you start hyperventilating and your hands and feet turn into pins and needles, and no matter how many panic attacks you've had, you're always convinced that this one is going to kill you. Unfortunately, anxiety disorders are often dismissed by those who don't have them, and a lot of people mistake genuine anxiety disorders with the everyday anxiety that almost everyone experiences. The truth is, anxiety disorders are the most prevalent type of mental illness in the United States, and more than 40 million Americans suffer from them. Although anxiety disorders cannot be completely cured, therapy can be highly effective in treating them. If you're a Christian and struggling with an anxiety disorder, Faithful Counseling can help you get back to your life.
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What are anxiety disorders?
Anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive fear or worry that interferes with daily activities. While a certain amount of anxiety is normal and even healthy, people with anxiety disorders experience intense fear and worry that is out of proportion or age inappropriate and seriously hinders their ability to function.
There are several types of anxiety disorders, but the four most common ones are:
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- Social anxiety disorder
- Separation anxiety disorder
Here's a brief overview of these four conditions:
Generalized anxiety disorder
People with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) experience excessive stress and anxiety about everyday things for no apparent reason. The exact source of stress will vary from person to person, but money, health, family, school and work are some of the most common.
Unfortunately, the physical symptoms caused by GAD can make things like work and school more difficult and exacerbate the condition; it can easily become a vicious cycle, which becomes increasingly difficult to escape.
In addition to a constant sense of dread and a fear of dying, people with GAD often experience:
- difficulty concentrating
- Heart palpitations or rapid heart beat
- Irritability
- Restlessness
- Trouble sleeping
- Shaking or trembling
- Shortness of breath
- Tension and muscle aches
These symptoms can make everyday tasks more difficult than they should be, and in an effort to cope with them, people with GAD are twice as likely to abuse drugs or alcohol than the general population.
Panic disorder
Panic disorder is characterized by repeated and unexpected episodes of intense fear. Panic disorder differs from GAD in that the attacks happen at random and are not associated with any specific stressors. During an episode, people with panic disorder can experience:
- Abdominal distress
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness
- Heart palpitations
- Chest pain
People with panic disorder live in constant fear of having a panic attack, and they often forego activities that they would otherwise enjoy for fear that they may experience an episode.
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Social anxiety disorder
People with social anxiety disorder have an intense fear of everyday social situations that interferes with their lives. People with social anxiety disorder:
- Constantly worry that people will judge them negatively
- Fear being the center of attention
- Fear interacting with strangers
- Have a severe and irrational fear of public speaking
Social anxiety disorder also comes with some physical symptoms. The most common are blushing, sweating, shortness of breath and trembling.
Separation anxiety disorder
People with separation anxiety disorder experience severe stress when they're not in close proximity to loved ones; they constantly worry that loved ones may be injured, abducted or killed, show extreme and impractical hesitation to leave the proximity of their loved ones and suffer severe depression or anxiety when they do.
Faithful Counseling for anxiety
Faithful Counseling is an online-therapy platform that will match you with a counselor and facilitate counseling sessions between you and your therapist. When it comes to anxiety disorders, your therapist will likely begin with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which is up to 75% effective in alleviating the symptoms of anxiety disorders.
How does Faithful Counseling work?
When you decide to sign up for Faithful Counseling, the platform will ask you to complete a short questionnaire and provide some basic information about yourself. The questionnaire will include questions about your:
- Age
- Physical and mental health
- Prior therapy experiences
- Relationship status
- Therapy goals
- Religious beliefs
Once you've completed the questionnaire, Faithful Counseling's platform will use your answers to match you with a therapist, which takes anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Once you've been matched, your therapist will send you a message. After that, you can send your therapist a reply and start planning your therapy.
Faithful Counseling offers three therapy options: messages, audio calls and video chats. You can also choose to use a mixture of these options.
What stands out about Faithful Counseling?
Because mortality and an intense fear of death play a role in so many anxiety cases, it's often helpful to have a therapist who understands your beliefs and values. Every therapist who works with Faithful Counseling is a practicing Christian. Although there are many denominations in the Christian faith, all of Faithful Counseling's therapists have agreed to the site's statement of faith and its four fundamental tenets. Even if your counselor is of a different denomination, he or she will still have an understanding of your beliefs, and that can make it easier for you to share your thoughts and fears with your counselor.
Additionally, Faithful Counseling doesn't require you to share detailed contact information, so you can be as anonymous as you want to be. This often makes people less reluctant to share intimate thoughts and feelings, which is a crucial part of effective therapy.
Faithful Counseling is also more convenient and accessible than traditional therapy. With Faithful Counseling, you'll be able to message your therapist whenever you want, which isn't usually something you can do in a traditional therapy setting.
How much does Faithful Counseling cost?
Faithful Counseling is a subscription service and will cost you between $60 and $90 per week. The site will bill your debit card or PayPal account every four weeks until you cancel your subscription, which you can do at any time for any reason. Since traditional therapists can charge as much as $200 per session, Faithful Counseling is an affordable and effective alternative.
Overview of Faithful Counseling for anxiety
Anxiety disorders can be extremely debilitating and severely impact your professional and social life. Therapy is often quite successful in reducing the severity of anxiety symptoms, and with Faithful Counseling, you can start receiving therapy in a matter of days or even hours. Unlike traditional therapy, online counseling is accessible, affordable and convenient, and it can be just as effective as in-person therapy. If you're suffering from an anxiety disorder, the worst thing you can do is try to ignore it. Your anxiety symptoms are very unlikely to just go away on their own, so you should look into treatment as soon as possible.
https://ct.counseling.org/2017/05/living-with-anxiety/
https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/issues/anxiety
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