If you haven’t noticed, I am very passionate about what I do! I joke with my patients and colleagues that I skip the small talk and get right to business. 

I like to help people start feeling better ASAP!

At the same time, I have to catch myself to make sure we cover anxiety education! This is a VERY important part of treatment. Not knowing what we are experiencing is very scary. I believe we can find comfort in knowing and understanding what we are feeling and why it is happening.

My next series of blog posts will cover this important info!

So let’s start with what anxiety is!

This seems like a silly question, right? You are probably thinking, “Seriously, Andrea? We all know what anxiety is!”

Anxiety is a big word. I think a lot of times we use the word anxiety, but do not always know what it means. Working with kids, they have heard words like scared, afraid, and nervous. However, they don’t always know what anxiety is. I see this in older patients as well. I believe this is something that is just not taught when are young. I go to a preschool every month with hopes of making a change to this!

I think of anxiety as an umbrella term, with many feelings and symptoms underneath it. I typically start by breaking this down to include fear and worry. I think about fear as our “life or death” response. You are hiking and come in contact with a bear. In that present moment, you are feeling fear. Fear is helpful in that it can alert us of REAL danger. When I say real, I mean life or death.

Worry is related to our thoughts and is future focused. WORRY IS NOT A FEELING! Let’s say I am thinking about going hiking again, and I start questioning, “What if I run into a bear again? What if it kills me this time? Who will take care of my children if I die? What if I don’t die? What if I have to live with a missing limb?” This is worry. I am sure you have all been down this path before with your thoughts! It is when this worry seems excessive, intense, or persistent that we may consider it to be part of an anxiety disorder. Regardless, I believe it is always good to get professional help around this!

Stay tuned for more important info!

Xoxo,

Andrea