Adjusting to Relationship Changes During Anxiety Treatment

When you are going through anxiety treatment, you will be confronted with addressing parts of your life that are contributing to your anxiety. One of these is the relationships that are in your life. As a result, many relationships in your life will change. While this is often scary, it is an important piece of healing from anxiety and can help you regain health and happiness. Anxiety treatment at Corner Canyon Health Centers helps clients make these adjustments in a way that aligns with their life and priorities. Getting help is the first step towards healing your mental health. 

Anxiety Disorders

Having anxiety, or a sense of worry, is a normal part of life. Feeling anxious about a job interview or nervous about going on a date are very common and healthy emotions. However, struggling with an anxiety disorder is different. If you are struggling with an anxiety disorder, these feelings do not decrease after an event but often increase over time. As a result, anxiety disorders can impact many aspects of your life, making it hard to function on a daily basis. 

If you are uncertain if you have anxiety or an anxiety disorder, working with a counselor is the first step. However, understanding the different types of anxiety disorders can help. There are several different types of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), phobia-related disorders, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. 

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

GAD is a mental health disorder that results in feelings of dread or anxiety that interrupt your daily life. Unlike healthy anxiety, living with GAD involves almost constant worry for months or years at a time. Symptoms of GAD include:

• Feeling easily fatigued
• Worry, concern, or feeling on edge 
• Feeling irritable and restless
• Difficulty concentrating
• Physical pain like stomach aches, muscle aches, or headaches with no other cause
• Difficulty falling and staying asleep
• Unable to control feelings of worry or concern

Phobia-Related Disorders

Unlike the overarching feelings of worry or concern with GAD, phobia-related disorders involve a specific phobia. A phobia is a fear of and aversion to a specific and unique thing or situation. If you have a phobia, you may experience:

• Uncontrollable worry about encountering the thing or situation you fear
• The need to take active steps to avoid the thing or situation you fear
• Intense and immediate anxiety upon seeing or experiencing your phobia 

There are multiple different types of phobia-related disorders. Specific-phobia disorders are mental health disorders where you are intensely afraid of a specific object or situation. Examples include flying, heights, or spiders. Agoraphobia is a disorder you are intensely afraid of certain situations like open spaces, small spaces, being outside of your home alone, or public transportation. Separation anxiety disorder is also a phobia-related disorder where you fear being away from another person. 

Panic Disorder

If you experience panic disorder, you will have sudden and frequent panic attacks. However, experiencing a panic attack does not mean you have a panic disorder. If you struggle with panic disorder, you may feel constantly worried about your next panic attack and be consistently trying to prevent it. 

A panic attack has both physical and mental symptoms. Physical symptoms include a pounding or racing heart, sweating, trembling, and/or chest pain. Mental symptoms include an impending feeling of doom, feeling out of control, or feeling fearful that you are going to die. Panic attacks occur suddenly and with no clear indication of danger or a trigger. If you are struggling with a panic disorder, panic attacks can occur several times a day. 

Social Anxiety Disorder

Feeling nervous meeting new people or while in a new relationship is healthy. However, if you are struggling with social anxiety disorder, the fear of being watched or judged by others can be paralyzing. The fear of social situations can lead to social avoidance or the following symptoms while in social situations:

• Severe blushing, sweating, or trembling
• Lack of focus 
• Racing or pounding heart
• Difficulty making eye contact
• Ridgid posture and unable to relax
• Out-of-control feelings of self-consciousness 
• Fear of being negatively judged by others 

Anxiety Due to Other Mental Health Disorders

While anxiety can be a result of anxiety disorders, it can also be a symptom of other mental health disorders. For example, if you are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you are likely to have anxiety. Additionally, mental health disorders like depression or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can also cause anxiety. Finally, substance use disorders (SUDs) can also lead to symptoms of anxiety.

Due to the many different reasons that you can experience anxiety, getting help from a treatment center is important. Corner Canyon Health Centers begins treatment with an intake that helps you to get the individualized treatment you need to address the true underlying causes of your anxiety. 

Relationships and Anxiety

When you are struggling with anxiety, your relationships are significantly impacted. Your mental health challenges impact how you think, feel, and act. Therefore, anxiety can make it difficult to practice necessary social skills like active listening, focusing on others, or empathizing. This is not due to any fault of your own but simply the nature of anxiety symptoms. 

Additionally, your anxiety is impacted by the relationships that you have. If you are in relationships that are stressful or abusive in any way, these stressors can cause and increase your anxiety. However, it can be challenging to distinguish if you are in a relationship that adds to your anxiety due to an anxiety disorder. Only through treatment will you begin to make more sense of what relationships are supportive for you. 

Anxiety Treatment

If you are struggling with anxiety, getting treatment can have a significant and lasting influence on your health and wellness. As one of the highest incidences of mental health disorders, there are many different methods of anxiety treatment. Primarily, medication and psychotherapy are used in conjunction to both manage symptoms and treat anxiety. 

Medication in Anxiety Treatment

Effective anxiety treatment often involves medication. There are three primary types of medication used to treat anxiety:

• Anti-anxiety medications
• Antidepressants 
• Beta-blockers

Anti-anxiety medications like benzodiazepines are commonly used as a way to manage symptoms. They are fast acting and can help you to feel calm quickly. Antidepressants can take weeks to begin to work. However, they are often helpful. Finally, beta-blockers are a type of medication that influences the physical symptoms of anxiety. 

Psychotherapy in Anxiety Treatment

While medication is helpful for healing from anxiety, psychotherapy is often another important piece of the healing process. Anxiety treatment at Corner Canyon Health Centers often includes cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of psychotherapy that helps you understand and improve patterns surrounding your anxiety. This includes addressing relationships and how they impact your anxiety. 

Adjusting Relationships in Anxiety Treatment

Part of anxiety treatment is learning how your relationships impact your anxiety and vice versa. This is because the relationships that you hold in your life play a significant role in your mental health. By addressing traumatic relationships, managing your symptoms and how they impact your community, and learning how to build a supportive community, you can improve your overall mental health. Remember, you do not have to do it alone. Treatment at Corner Canyon helps you through the entire process of anxiety treatment. 

Addressing Trauma in Anxiety Treatment

Experiencing trauma at any age can cause a variety of mental health challenges. This might include childhood trauma, witnessing an accident, or being in relationships that are stressful or abusive. During anxiety treatment, these past or present traumas will need to be addressed to have lasting changes in your mental health. 

Addressing trauma in anxiety treatment is the first step to seeing what relationships are healthy and beneficial for you. By working with a counselor, you can delve into your historical and current relationships that seem to increase your anxiety. This can help you have a better understanding of these relationships. You may not always like what you see. However, anxiety treatment can be the first step to making important and healthy changes to the relationships that you maintain. 

Managing Symptoms

In anxiety treatment, you are likely to discover that some relationships that you have are not healthy or helpful for you. However, relationships are not black and white. Some individuals in your life will have a certain relationship that works most of the time. However, when you are experiencing anxiety symptoms, they are not supportive or helpful for you. 

The dynamics of important relationships in your life will be unique to you. By working with a counselor in anxiety treatment, you can begin to understand the ins and outs of your relationships. In doing so, you will have a better understanding of how these relationships impact your symptoms and how to better manage your symptoms in your relationships. 

Building a Healthy Community

Healing from anxiety or any mental health disorder is a long road. However, with support, you can make changes in your life for the better. One of these is to build a healthy community. It is a vital piece of long-term healing from anxiety and regaining health and happiness in your life. 

In anxiety treatment, you will learn the skills to build a healthy community. This includes communication skills, social skills, and inner awareness. These skills help you to decipher what relationships are helpful and important in your life. By acknowledging your own feelings, you will begin to see what is important to you and how you can align your relationships with how and who you see yourself to be. 

Additionally, these skills will help you to build on positive relationships that you have. While anxiety treatment includes many changes, building a healthy community is a change that can improve your mental health and overall quality of life. However, in order to do so, you need the skills to build relationships that last. 

Managing Anxiety During the Changes in Anxiety Treatment

Humans are very habitual. You likely take the same road home from work and buy the same brand in the grocery store. Relationships can also be very habitual in your life. As a result, they are often built into your life, making them hard to change. When you are already struggling with anxiety, these changes are more likely to be challenging. 

However, you can manage your anxiety during the changes that you make. In doing so, you give yourself a chance to make important and healthy adjustments in your life. Learning to make changes at your speed and having support are two important pieces of managing anxiety every step of the way. 

Making Changes at Your Speed

In anxiety treatment, the first step is to treat your symptoms. However, as you go through the treatment process, you will also begin to make changes that impact your anxiety in the future. With the support of a treatment center, you will identify what you want to change and how you will go about changing. 

However, once you start to make changes in your relationships, you are likely to face challenges. One of these is anxiety. Feeling nervous or anxious during change is normal and okay. However, during anxiety treatment, it is important to manage the amount of anxiety you are feeling. Therefore, you may need to adjust the speed of the changes to suit your needs.

Changing the speed of these relationships changes can happen in many different ways. It may look like approaching one relationship at a time, with support from a counselor. However, it may also incorporate pauses, where you step in to have an important conversation and then take a break. Remember, there is no right or perfect way to make changes. If you do the best you can at the moment and asks for you, you will get through the tough spots. 

Having Support

One of the best things you can do to manage anxiety while making these vital relationship changes is to have support. If you are not close to family or friends, that is okay. Support can come in many ways, and you are not alone on the path to healing from anxiety. 

Building a strong repertoire with your counselor in anxiety treatment can be a great place to start. As you go through the process of anxiety treatment, you can lean on your counselor. This may include addressing how you feel about certain relationships or role-playing how you are going to start or interact with them. 

Additionally, in anxiety treatment, you can meet other like-minded individuals who also struggle with their mental health. These peer relationships can give you a feeling of belonging and understanding. While this type of support is very different than loved ones or from a counselor, it is very helpful. It can give you a group of people you can talk situations through and get ideas from on how to manage anxiety and make the changes you need to regain your happiness. 

Anxiety Treatment at Corner Canyon

All treatments at Corner Canyon Health Centers are individualized. This includes anxiety treatment. Therefore, there is no set anxiety treatment plan that you attend. Instead, you are seen as a whole person struggling with the symptoms you are experiencing. 

Corner Canyon staff works to get to know you and your history. This provides a better understanding of what treatments are more likely to be helpful in order to help you heal from the root causes of your anxiety. Remember, anxiety is a feeling of excessive worry or concern that can be due to many different reasons. With the knowledge of who you are and what you are struggling with, your treatment plan will address the causes of your anxiety with tools that are most likely to help you heal. 

Part of anxiety treatment at Corner Canyon Health Centers is addressing parts of your life that can be difficult. This includes relationships that are in need of change. Changing relationships may include drawing boundaries or having tough conversations. However, it may also mean walking away to give yourself the chance to heal. Regardless of the answer, you are an active and vital participant at Corner Canyon. You will receive support and guidance that will help you manage your anxiety during the healing process and follow the path that feels most authentic to you and your goals. 

Through your anxiety treatment journey, you may find that your relationships are changing drastically. You may lose some friendships and gain some worth through struggles or find it is best to walk away. At Corner Canyon Health Centers, we understand that these changes are very difficult. However, they are important and can help you to regain health and happiness in your life. Our treatment programs offer a unique blend of mental health treatments that are designed to help you heal and move forward in your life. If you or someone you love is struggling with anxiety, we can help. Call us today at (877) 717-6237 to learn more about our mental health treatment programs.