Anxiety disorders are when you feel fear, restlessness, and agitation that don't go away. Your anxiety symptoms often continue to get worse.

Feelings of constant dread or worry can get in the way of daily living. They can interfere with school and work and your social and home life.

At Carilion, we treat all types of anxiety disorders, including:

• Generalized anxiety disorder: Feelings of dread or anxiety that last for long periods—months or even years. It gets in the way of your daily life and activities.
• Social anxiety disorder: An intense, ongoing fear of social situations. You may be worried that other people are watching and judging you. Social anxiety disorder can make it hard for you to take part in work, school, or other activities.
• Panic disorder: A panic attack is a sudden, intense episode of fear or sense of losing control when there’s no clear danger. Your heart rate increases, and you may have trouble breathing. Panic disorder is when you have regular panic attacks.
• Separation anxiety disorder: When you fear being apart from those you love or depend on. You may worry that something may happen while you're gone.

Phobias are another type of anxiety disorder. A phobia is an intense and often irrational fear of specific objects or situations. Your fear doesn’t match any actual danger you face. People with phobias often go out of their way to avoid their fear. 

Phobias include 5 main types: 

• Animal type: This includes phobias of specific animals and insects. Examples include the fear of snakes (ophidiophobia) and the fear of spiders (arachnophobia).
• Natural environment type: This includes fear of the dark or night (nyctophobia) and fear of dirt, germs, or contamination (mysophobia).
• Situation type: This includes fear of flying (aerophobia), heights (acrophobia), and enclosed spaces (claustrophobia). 
• Blood-injection-injury type: This includes fear of needles (trypanophobia) and fear of blood (hemophobia).
• Other type: Includes fear of failure (atychiphobia), fear of clowns (coulrophobia), fear of vomit (emetophobia), and fear of patterns with clusters of holes (trypophobia).

Agoraphobia is a unique situational phobia that combines intense fear of at least 2 situations. 

These fears include:

• Open spaces
• Enclosed spaces
• Crowds
• Away from home alone
• Public transportation
• In line

In extreme cases, you may not want to leave the house.

You can’t just wish anxiety away or tell yourself not to worry or fear something. Like any medical issue, anxiety disorders and phobias need treatment. 

Left untreated, phobias and anxiety raise your risk of substance use disorder. Your anxiety may make you turn to alcohol, cannabis, or illicit drugs to manage your symptoms.

Outpatient therapy

If you have an anxiety disorder or phobias, the first step is to start outpatient therapy at one of our mental health clinics.

Types of therapy used for anxiety and phobias include:

• START NOW Program: This is a strengths-based therapy for anxiety, stress, and depression. It focuses on self-empowerment, growth, change, and acceptance.
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): The gold standard of talk therapy, CBT can help manage anxiety disorders. It teaches you different ways of thinking, behaving, and reacting to your anxiety and fears.
• Prolonged exposure therapy: A type of CBT, exposure therapy helps you face your fears so you can better control them. It's most often used for phobias but can also help with anxiety. You’ll also learn ways to help you relax during exposures. 
• Acceptance and commitment therapy: A newer type of talk therapy. It teaches you strategies to manage your anxiety symptoms. These include mindfulness and goal setting.

Medicines

Mental health medicine can help get troubling symptoms under control. Common medications for anxiety include antidepressants, anti-anxiety medicine, and beta-blockers.

Inpatient programs

When anxiety or phobia symptoms turn severe, you may need more intensive treatment. We can provide this through inpatient programs. You'll stay at the hospital overnight until you're stable. When you’re ready to leave, we’ll find you suitable support in an outpatient clinic or program.

Our College Students in Crisis Program helps students facing severe mental health issues. Our mental health experts help take care of your urgent needs at the hospital. We also help reduce the impact of being in the hospital on your studies, making it easier to return to school.

If you or a loved one is in crisis, call Carilion CONNECT at 540-981-8181 or toll-free at 800-284-8898. You can also call or text 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Learn more about emergency mental health care.