Generalised anxiety and panic can create a constant sense of worry and dread, with panic attacks bringing sudden, intense fear that feels uncontrollable. If persistent worry and panic are affecting your quality of life, evidence-based therapy can help you regain a sense of calm and control.
What is Generalised Anxiety and Panic?
Generalised Anxiety Disorder involves persistent, excessive worry about many aspects of life – work, health, finances, relationships. The worry feels difficult to control and lasts for extended periods. Panic Disorder involves sudden, intense episodes of fear – panic attacks – that come with physical symptoms like chest pain, difficulty breathing, dizziness, or feeling like you’re dying or losing control. Generalised anxiety creates a constant low-level sense of dread. Panic attacks feel sudden and severe, even terrifying. Often the two occur together; people with generalised anxiety might develop panic attacks, and the fear of panic attacks can increase generalised anxiety. Both can create a cycle of worry, avoidance, and increasing anxiety.
How It Might Affect You
Generalised anxiety and panic can be incredibly limiting. Constant worry exhausts your mental and emotional resources. You might struggle to concentrate at work, sleep becomes difficult, and your body stays tense. Panic attacks, when they come, can feel so frightening that you start avoiding situations where you’ve had them, in case they happen again. Over time, people sometimes develop agoraphobia – anxiety about being in situations where escape might be difficult – because they fear having a panic attack. Social situations, driving, being in crowds, or being away from home might trigger anxiety or avoidance. Relationships can suffer if anxiety makes you withdrawn or irritable. The good news is that with evidence-based therapy, people develop powerful strategies to manage both generalised anxiety and panic – and often find they can return to activities and situations they’ve been avoiding.
Our Approach to Generalised Anxiety and Panic
Working with a psychologist at Growth Psychology, you’ll receive evidence-based support specifically designed for anxiety and panic. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) helps you identify the thought patterns that fuel anxiety and develop practical strategies to interrupt the anxiety cycle. We teach you about panic and how your body’s threat response works, which often helps reduce the fear of panic itself. Mindfulness and acceptance approaches help you change your relationship with anxious thoughts and sensations – rather than fighting them, you learn to observe them without letting them control your actions. We work collaboratively with you to gradually rebuild confidence and return to activities you’ve been avoiding. Your psychologist will tailor the approach to your needs, working at a pace that feels manageable. Learn more about our
therapeutic approaches.
When to Seek Help
If generalised anxiety or panic is affecting your daily functioning, limiting your activities, or just making life harder – seeking support can make a significant difference. Therapy provides tools and strategies that help you regain control and calm.
