Most of us are well acquainted with the term “Anxiety.”  It can be the pressure you feel before appearing in an exam or the tingling in your stomach when you are excited about something. Anxiety can also increase your heart rate when you are under a lot of stress.

Anxiety is a force that helps you stir up and perform. It keeps you on your toes and stimulates you to cope with all the changes in your life. But what if these symptoms grow on you so much that instead of stimulating you, they get in your way and make it impossible for you to take a step?

What if you have been feeling anxious and apprehensive for quite some time? You always find yourself highly concerned about certain things, and there is no possible prospect of getting better. If you seem to have no control over your emotions of being anxious, then chances are that you are suffering from an anxiety disorder.

How is anxiety typically diagnosed?

For the diagnosis, the first step is to get physically evaluated by your family doctor. They will look at your overall health and figure out if there are any underlying problems. One of them could be the root cause of your anxiety.

Your doctor might suggest you get a few blood tests to be sure if he suspects there is another disease: E.g., hypothyroidism or an infection. Then, you could get yourself treatment according to your diagnosis.

How to diagnose anxiety clinically?

1.      Psychological evaluation:

After you complete the physical evaluation and you can’t find the exact cause of anxiety, your doctor will ask about your family history. They may want to know if anyone else in your family has anxiety.

It will help them determine if you have a genetic tendency for anxiety. They will also ask you about your symptoms, their severity, how long you have been suffering, and how much those affect your quality of life.

Your doctor might ask you to complete a questionnaire to get all the necessary information.

This process is also known as a psychological evaluation.

2.      Medical history:

Another aspect to look for when evaluating a patient’s symptoms is to take their complete medical history. If you are a patient, be very honest with your doctor. Tell them everything about yourself, such as whether or not you have excessive drinking habits, problems with substance abuse, or if there are any medications you already take for anxiety.

Who can diagnose anxiety?

If you have been experiencing anxiety symptoms for over a few weeks, you must see your family physician first. They will evaluate your health to see if any problem needs to be addressed.

However, suppose you are perfectly well physically, but still have symptoms of severe anxiety. In that case, you need to visit a certified mental health practitioner with experience diagnosing and treating mental health conditions, such as a psychiatrist or psychologist.

Symptoms of anxiety:

Some common symptoms of anxiety include:

• Panic and uneasiness
• Increased pulse and heartbeat
• The feeling of being in danger
• Insomnia
• Nausea, sweating, dry mouth, and shaking hands
• Rumination

The most common anxiety disorders are

• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Panic disorder
• Social anxiety
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Post-traumatic stress disorder

What are the criteria for an anxiety diagnosis?

Even the diagnostic criteria for anxiety is not a “one for all” tool. Your diagnosis depends on what and how you explain your anxiety symptoms and the related factors.

Mental health professionals use the “diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders” (DSM) for the prognosis of all mental health diseases, including anxiety disorder.

According to DSM, the following are the symptoms you should look for if you have to diagnose anxiety.

• Excessive tension about many things most days in the last six months or even more.

• If the patient cannot control his distress and is always in a state of panic.

• Multiple symptoms join in with being worried, such as anxiety fatigue, sleeplessness, brain fog, and muscle tension.

• All these symptoms join forces and start meddling with your quality of life.

• These symptoms are not the result of some other mental or physical illness, and there are no medications or psychological issues that trigger these anxiety symptoms.

Risk factors:

Some factors make you more likely to have an anxiety disorder, such as:

• Genetic history
• History of substance abuse
• Trauma
• Some chronic health conditions
• Negative thoughts and low self-esteem

How to treat it?

If you are an anxiety patient, you must seek a permanent cure. There are some methods to help you manage your symptoms, but there is no magical tunnel out of this.

Anxiety disorder should be treated well in time. Otherwise, the patient and his family will suffer greatly due to unnecessary troubles. Regarding ketamine treatment for anxiety, some patients opt for anti-anxiety medications prescribed by their psychiatrist, while others manage their symptoms with CBT, therapy, and relaxing exercise.

Another breakthrough in the treatment of anxiety is at-home ketamine therapy. It works well for patients with treatment-resistant anxiety. Out of three anxiety patients, 1 is always resistant to other conventional treatment methods. For such patients, ketamine infusion is the best option.

What makes it more efficient than other treatment methods is that while oral medications take more than a few weeks to dissolve the symptoms, ketamine therapy shows its results in little as two hours, which is unbelievable. Also, ketamine for anxiety has almost no serious side effects and no dependency, and the relief period is also more extended than other drugs.

Bottom line:

Anxiety is not a simple problem determined by a few specific characteristics. It is not a physical disease like some infection related to a germ; one simple lab test could evaluate it, and you could go for the treatment. It is way more complicated than that.

Ketamine infusion therapy helps you to get relief from several types of mental health conditions, such as different types of anxiety disorders, depression, and OCD. If you have symptoms of any mental health condition, you can call us at Nepenthe Wellness Center to get a free consultation at any time.

It will be an honor for us to treat you and help you get back to your life.