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Anxiety disorders come in a broad range

Uday Mittal
/
Unsplash

Anxiety disorders come in a broad range, befitting their ubiquitous nature in society. For those who have experienced the trauma of violent relationships or childhood abuse, there is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. For those who harbor a fear of being judged by others, there is social phobia. For those who experienced an event at a very particular point in time, specific phobias – from spiders to heights to thunder – may have developed. And for those whose brains simply will not let them shake their all-encompassing concerns about life, there is Generalized Anxiety Disorder. And, of course, these are just a few of the illnesses within the anxiety family.

Clearly, we all feel anxious from time to time. Grouping your groceries together by food group, size, or container type in the cart does not mean you have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. But if your need to return home multiple times each hour to ensure the stove is off or the door is locked takes up so much of your time that you’re unable to hold a job or maintain social relationships, you are likely in need of medical assistance.

The prevalence of anxiety across the city of Wichita, and the lack of a distinct line between situational anxiety and an anxiety disorder, makes it difficult for many of us to decide at what point we need to initiate a conversation with medical professionals. For this reason, online mental health screenings are not difficult to find with a simple internet search. These screenings can be done in the privacy of your home or office and can help provide the guidance you may need to decide if your concern merits additional attention.

Eric Litwiller has served the south central Kansas community through his work at Mental Health Association since September of 2017. As Director of Development and Communications, he is charged with seeking the private investment required to raise awareness of the scope of mental health concerns throughout the region in an effort to eliminate the unfair stigma associated with mental illness.