Collection: Working with Anxiety

Anxiety is an adaptive reaction that everyone, including animals, experiences from time to time. Employed appropriately, it is a built-in early-warning system that some threat or danger is imminent. Allowing ourselves to feel the fight or flight response of anxiety enables us to respond in ways that enhance our prospects for survival. It only becomes problematic when we experience a fearful apprehension that is out of proportion to the external circumstances and which accompanies symptoms such as palpitations, sweating, and other bodily “alarm system” reactions.

Yet many of us experience that problematic side of anxiety, with anxiety disorders being the mental health issue with the greatest prevalence. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (2020) estimates that, in a given year, 40 million Americans 18 years or older will suffer from an anxiety disorder, causing them to feel fearful and uncertain. That is 18 percent of the population: similar to the 13 percent similarly affected in the United Kingdom (Anxiety UK, 2020; Gray, 2013). In Australia over 26% of people will experience an anxiety disorder at some time in their life, with about half that having crippling anxiety within a 12 month period (Beyond Blue, 2020).

What are the diagnostic criteria for anxiety – and also for the commonly comorbid condition of depression - in the DSM and ICD classifications? Several courses explain these. This collection of text and video courses examines how to treat clients with anxiety-related disorders in a course reviewing symptoms, causes, and treatment. CBT is a widely-employed therapy for anxiety, and this collection also explains its use with general anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder.