Who Can Diagnose Anxiety?
Anxiety disorders can be diagnosed by a range of mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, and licensed therapists. Psychiatrists, being medical doctors, can also prescribe medication if needed, while psychologists and therapists often focus on therapy-based treatments. It’s essential to consult with a professional who has experience in diagnosing and treating anxiety disorders, as they can provide the most effective treatment plan tailored to your specific needs.
At Talkspace, you can connect with a therapist or psychiatrist online for a mental health evaluation and receive a diagnosis and treatment plan from the comfort of your home.
“A doctor is trained to identify the different types of anxiety. The more details you share, the easier it is to complete the diagnosis. Before your appointment, write down a list or a paragraph or two about how you feel, what situations make you feel a specific way, and if you have any family members diagnosed with anxiety.”
— Cynthia Catchings, Licensed Clinical Social Worker-Supervisor (LCSW-S), CIMHP, EMDR
How Does a Doctor Diagnose Anxiety?
There are various criteria that a doctor considers when determining a diagnosis for anxiety.
First, you’ll go through a physical examination to rule out any underlying medical conditions or illnesses that may either be causing your symptoms or masking them.
Personal history & lifestyle
You’ll want to provide accurate information about your personal history and lifestyle habits. It’s important to be completely honest so your doctor can gain better insight into your overall health. You’ll likely be asked about your:
- History of illnesses
- Any alcohol or drug use
- Caffeine consumption
- Use of lab-made hormones
- Use of prescription medications
Symptoms
Assuming that your doctor rules out other possible causes for your symptoms, you might move on to the next steps of scheduling a psychological evaluation. On the day of your appointment, you’ll probably be asked questions about the type, frequency, and severity of your symptoms.
Some of the most common symptoms of anxiety are:
- Chills
- Diarrhea
- Twitching
- Dry mouth
- Trouble focusing
- Angina (chest pain)
- Increased heart rate
- Shaking and trembling
- Fast, quick breathing
- Hot flashes and sweating
- Upset stomach, nausea, or vomiting
These symptoms can also show up strongly and suddenly in an anxiety attack or panic attack. When this happens, it’s a clear sign of how anxiety can affect the body. Knowing this helps us better understand and deal with anxiety in all its forms.
A doctor or mental health professional will then consider criteria outlined in the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to figure out if you’re suffering from severe anxiety or a related condition — like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
DSM criteria for anxiety disorder can include:
- Experiencing excessive worry and anxiety most days, for at least 6 months
- Symptoms not caused by an underlying mental health condition
- Symptoms not caused by an underlying medical condition
- Symptoms that are significantly disrupting the quality of life
For the DSM-5 criteria, you’ll need to exhibit three of the following six anxiety symptoms:
- Disturbed sleep
- Difficulty focusing
- Muscular tension
- Restlessness
- Irritability
- Chronic fatigue
Physical & mental health conditions
One thing that can make diagnosing anxiety somewhat difficult is that it shares symptoms with several other physical and mental health conditions. To be sure that your symptoms are caused by anxiety and not another physical or mental health condition, a health care professional will first rule out other possibilities, including:
- Asthma
- Menopause
- Tachycardia
- Chronic angina
- Hyperthyroidism
- Mitral valve prolapse
- Adrenal gland tumors
- Myocardial infarction (heart attack)
Some anxiety symptoms are caused by side effects of substance abuse used to treat diabetes, thyroid disorders, hypertension (high blood pressure), and more. This is one reason why it’s so important to have a complete checkup before an anxiety diagnosis can be made.
“If you think that your doctor did not diagnose you correctly or you want a second opinion, look for a specialist. It’s recommended to get a second opinion from a therapist or psychiatrist to ensure you receive the best treatment after your diagnosis.”
— Cynthia Catchings, Licensed Clinical Social Worker-Supervisor (LCSW-S), CIMHP, EMDR
Steps for Getting an Anxiety Diagnosis
Knowing who can diagnose anxiety and how they do it, here’s a step-by-step guide to help you navigate the process of getting diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
- Recognize your symptoms: Begin by acknowledging your symptoms. A doctor or mental health professional will ask you what you’re experiencing so it’s important to know what the signs of anxiety look like.
- Consult a healthcare provider: Schedule an appointment with a healthcare professional. This could be your primary care physician, who can then refer you to a mental health specialist if necessary. At Talkspace, you can get connected with a mental health professional directly for a diagnosis.
- Prepare for your appointment: Before your visit, note down your symptoms, how often they occur, and any situations that trigger or worsen them. Also, list any medications or supplements you’re taking.
- Get your psych evaluation: During the appointment, your care provider will ask about your symptoms, medical history, and any family history of mental health issues. They may use diagnostic tools like questionnaires or the DSM-5 criteria we outlined to assess your anxiety levels.
- Discuss treatment options: If diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, discuss treatment options with your provider. Treatments can include therapy, medication, lifestyle changes, or a combination of these.
- Follow-up care: Regular follow-up appointments are crucial to monitor your progress and adjust treatment plans for anxiety as needed.
How to Get an Anxiety Disorder Diagnosis through Talkspace
If you think anxiety symptoms are persistent and interfering with your life, you deserve support. You can get a diagnosis and find relief conveniently with Talkspace. We’ll connect with a licensed provider who will evaluate your symptoms, listen to your concerns, and, if appropriate, diagnose you with anxiety disorder or another condition.
Talkspace makes it affordable to receive diagnosis and treatment for mental health conditions including anxiety disorder, with online therapy and psychiatry plans that take insurance. Your insurer and health plan will determine the specifics of your coverage and copays, but covered members only pay a copay (usually $25 or less). Separately, many employers cover the cost of Talkspace so employees can receive our care for free. You may also choose to pay with pre-tax dollars using your FSA/HSA card or simply pay out-of-pocket at costs lower than those of most in-person mental health providers.
Here’s how it works:
- Get started any time by answering a few questions on the Talkspace website or app.
- You’ll be connected with a therapist within about two days or a psychiatric provider within about a week.
- If you choose therapy you can message with your therapist as much as you like and also schedule live sessions. If you choose psychiatry you’ll schedule a live video session with your psychiatric provider.
Online therapy provides support for managing Anxiety Disorder through ongoing conversations, while online psychiatry usually involves a prescription for medication and ongoing medication management.
“Your doctor will be interested in hearing about your physical and emotional symptoms and also how you act in specific situations. Sometimes a stomach ache or chest pressure are not physical ailments, but signs of anxiety.”
— Cynthia Catchings, Licensed Clinical Social Worker-Supervisor (LCSW-S), CIMHP, EMDR
How to Treat Anxiety
You should learn to deal with and treat your anxiety as soon as you know it’s an issue. Untreated anxiety disorders can cause damage across virtually every area of your life — from school and work performance, to social functioning and family relationships.
Treatment plans for anxiety often involve a combination of psychotherapy, prescription medication, and self-help techniques. Take note that since there are different types of anxiety, naturally the treatment varies. Treatment options for anxiety, separation anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder may slightly differ. Treating your anxiety is important because unaddressed anxiety can lead to more severe physical and mental health problems.
Psychotherapy (or talk therapy) for anxiety
When it comes to how to help someone with anxiety, mental health professionals use a variety of therapeutic approaches to help patients. It is first important to understand how to diagnose anxiety. Once this is considered then the choice of which therapy to use depends on your specific symptoms, how severe your anxiety is, your temperament, and if you are an adult vs. a child. Anxiety in children can differ from anxiety in adults.
Once your therapist has this information, they may recommend one of the following types of therapy for anxiety.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is proven to be helpful for multiple anxiety disorders, and it’s one of the most commonly used types of anxiety therapy available. Cognitive therapy is based on teaching you to understand that your thoughts are causing your feelings, not the particular situation at hand.
CBT aims to help you identify and analyze how your behaviors and negative thoughts impact and affect your life. It allows you to then replace those unhealthy patterns with productive behaviors and positive thoughts. Once you begin to anticipate and understand what triggers your anxiety symptoms, you’ll find that you’re able to naturally develop coping skills to ward off fear, worry, and apprehension.
“With the help of cognitive behavioral approach, one can better understand what emotions may drive or trigger our behaviors. Taking time to reflect on sources of anxiety and imagined fear teaches us how to reframe an anxious mindset, while allowing a more grounded response, integral to mindful coping.”
— Elizabeth Keohan, Licensed Certified Social Worker-Clinical, (LCSW-C), LICSW, MSW
Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy is one of the most commonly used types of therapy for PTSD, social anxiety disorder, and phobias. Exposure therapy is based on facing what makes you apprehensive head-on and learning what’s causing you to feel so anxious. During a therapy session, you’re gradually subjected to situations or objects that cause your anxiety.
Exposure therapy involves three steps of systematic desensitization, which are:
- Combating mental and physical symptoms with intentional mindfulness and relaxation techniques, like guided imagery, meditation, and deep breathing exercises for anxiety (pranayama).
- Writing out a detailed list of what makes you feel anxious and then ranking them in severity.
- Gradually — with the guidance of a licensed therapist — exposing yourself to stimuli that cause you anxiety and then utilizing the techniques you’ve learned to cope with the feelings.
There are various methods a therapist might choose to help you face your triggers including imaginal exposure, in-vivo exposure, and virtual reality exposure, which combines in-vivo and imaginal exposure.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a type of CBT known to be highly effective for helping people cope with anxiety and various other challenges. It emerged as a method for treating borderline personality disorder and has since become a mainstream approach for treating consistent feelings of worry, self-doubt, intense fear, and apprehension.
Dialectical behavioral therapy is focused on four principles:
- Mindfulness is the main principle used in dialectical behavior therapy. Being mindful is an art that requires diligent practice throughout life. It develops stronger and stronger with time. It teaches you to be aware of your emotions, thoughts, behaviors, environment, and people around you, all at the same time. Mindfulness is about being aware.
- Distress tolerance in dialectical behavioral therapy teaches you how to manage anxiety symptoms as they arise in stressful situations.
- Interpersonal effectiveness training teaches you to set limits, to say no, and to stand up for yourself in a confident, fair manner.
- Emotion regulation teaches you to contain negative emotions as you see them developing. Even if you’re amid intense anxiety, the key is to recognize and take action to manage your emotions.
DBT for anxiety teaches you to accept yourself for who you are and the way that you are while you’re making improvements in certain areas. You’ll learn to have a “dialectical” (reverse) outlook on what triggers your anxiety. Essentially, this allows you to experience a trigger, analyze it, and take immediate counteractions to abolish it.
Sometimes, medication for anxiety can work well to boost and complement the benefits of therapy for anxiety. However, in the long term, the tools taught in a therapy session tend to be far superior to chronic pharmaceutical use. Therapy offers you specific, concrete, and effective ways to self-manage symptoms of your anxiety, so you don’t have to rely on anxiety medication to disguise or numb them.
Medications for anxiety
There are several types of medications used to treat anxiety disorders. That said, you should know that, in some cases, certain medication is typically only intended for short-term use to avoid dependency. For some, it can be a temporary tool that can aid in getting you through the particularly tough times. For others, it can be a long term solution for managing anxiety. Nonetheless, medication works best when combined with therapy.
How does medication treat anxiety?
Medication cannot cure you of an anxiety disorder. However, it helps improve your symptoms so you can manage your daily routines and the areas of life where anxiety has had an impact on healthy functioning. There are multiple types of medication that can be prescribed to treat the symptoms of anxiety.
Types of medication for anxiety
Anti-anxiety medications
The most common type of medication used to treat anxiety disorder is anti-anxiety medications, like Xanax and other benzodiazepines.
These prescription drugs reduce anxiousness, fear, worry, and panic. They work to resolve symptoms quickly, but they’re also associated with adverse side effects, including the possibility of physical addiction.
Your healthcare provider might prescribe anti-anxiety medication for you, but only for a short time. You’ll then have to gradually taper off your usage as you learn new coping skills to manage your symptoms naturally.
Antidepressants
A lot of times there is co morbid depression with anxiety disorder. A lot of times anti-depressants are prescribed to address the anxiety symptoms.There are several kinds of medication that work on different nero transmitter systems that can be prescribed to address particular symptoms of anxiety disorder.
Antidepressant medications can help people with anxiety by improving moods, which can lessen depression or negative thinking. Most antidepressants take some time to build up in your system and begin to show their effects, so you’ll have to be patient if you go this route.
If you’re taking an antidepressant and feel like you want to stop, be sure to contact your doctor or therapist first. Adverse side effects can result from suddenly stopping taking your medication.
Beta-blockers
Beta-blockers are typically used to treat hypertension, but they can also reduce some of the physical symptoms associated with anxiety. For instance, they can slow down a rapid heart rate, help control trembling and shaking, and work to create a general sense of physical relaxation. Talk with your healthcare provider about which type of beta-blocker might work best for you.
Anti-histamines
At times, medications like Vistaril, Atarax (hydroxyzine) are also prescribed for some anxiety symptoms in combination with other medications.
Catapres (Clonidine) Alpha-2-Agonist
This medication is typically prescribed for control of blood pressure, however, sometimes a psychiatrist may use it for some hyper Özil symptoms associated with severe anxiety.
Minipress (Prazosin) Alpha-1 blocker
This medicine is prescribed for hypertension but also used stand alone or in combination with other medication for severe anxiety disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder. It helps reduce nightmares and improve sleep disturbances that tend to be common symptoms of PTSD.
“Medications can often make the anxiety feel less overwhelming, so different therapeutic modalities have a higher propensity for success. Medications help with the start of a different lens, whereas therapy can reinforce the successes.”
— Meaghan Rice, Doctor of Psychology (PsyD.), Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
Holistic treatment for anxiety
So, how do you treat anxiety naturally? Of course, therapy is always an excellent treatment option for people living with an anxiety disorder. It allows you to openly express yourself and identify and explore triggers while learning new coping mechanisms aimed at helping you navigate your condition. As we’ve discussed, medications can provide short-term relief for some physical and psychological symptoms associated with anxiety. There’s more you can do, though, to treat your anxiety.
“A holistic approach will focus on the entire mind and body connection. Not only will therapy work to address dysfunctional beliefs, thoughts, and schema, but it will also involve a discussion about what the body needs in order to fuel the process. People learn a wide range of potential areas that they can work on and similarly have a broad range of ideas as to get to the best versions of themselves.”
— Meaghan Rice, Doctor of Psychology (PsyD.), Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
Long-term, deep healing can be improved when you combine multiple techniques to the process. Holistic treatments for anxiety can be very effective. Learning how to incorporate them into your daily life can allow you to manage triggers in the future. These holistic treatments can make the work you do in therapy even more effective.
Consider one or more of the following holistic treatments to learn how to treat anxiety disorder naturally:
- Educating yourself about the causes of anxiety and its symptoms is key in learning new coping mechanisms you can practice by yourself, anywhere you happen to be.
- Practicing mindfulness meditation can increase your awareness of triggers and improve your reactions to them.
- Exercising daily is well-known to have a positive effect on mental health and works to alleviate everything from anxiety to depression and more.
- Soaking in an Epsom salt bath — magnesium sulfate is known for its calming properties.
- Eating a healthy diet of unprocessed, low carb, low- or single-ingredient foods and drinking plenty of water does wonders for the body and mind.
- Diffusing relaxing essential oils like chamomile and lavender into your atmosphere at home can enhance peace and calm in your life.
- Limiting your intake of caffeine and stimulating beverages like coffee and energy drinks is an excellent way to reduce anxiety.
- Joining an anxiety disorder support group, either in person or online, can be a great way for you to understand more about what you’re thinking and why you react to situations the way you do.
- Engaging in meditative practices like Yoga, Tai Chi, and Pilates is a great way to calm the mind.
- Journaling about your days, fears, goals, and more can help you keep your anxiety in check.
Your therapist or healthcare provider can be your partner in self-care. Speak with them if you have questions about your therapy or medication. Together, you can figure out the best course of action to take moving forward.
Benefits of a holistic approach
Holistic treatments for anxiety — or any other mental health condition — can be a great tool, whether used on their own or when combined with therapy and/or medication.
True healing always occurs from within. A therapist can be invaluable for teaching you new coping skills and giving you an unbiased and safe space to go through your journey toward healing. That said, eventually you want to get to the point where you can learn how to deal with anxiety symptoms largely on your own. Having holistic approaches at your fingertips can be a game-changer.
As you learn to manage and overcome your anxiety, above all, remember to be gentle and patient with yourself and others.
Find Treatment for Anxiety with Talkspace
Talkspace is an online therapy platform that offers a convenient, effective place for you to get the therapy and healing you’re looking for. Our skilled therapists are ready to help you build skills to manage your anxiety. If you’ve been searching for answers about how to treat anxiety disorder, take the first step today and find anxiety treatment options.
