Anxiety Center - Pittsfield, MA
Pittsfield Psychiatrist Doctors for AnxietyType of Physician: Psychiatrist What is a Psychiatrist? A certification by the Board of Psychiatry & Neurology; practitioners are skilled in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental, addictive and emotional disorders. He or she is trained to understand the biological, psychological and social components of illness and is qualified to order diagnostic laboratory tests and to prescribe medications, as well as to evaluate and treat psychological and interpersonal problems. The psychiatrist is also prepared to intervene with individuals and families who are coping with stress, crises, and other problems in living. Specialty: Psychiatry Common Name: Psychiatrist Doctors in Pittsfield * Berkshire Mental Health & Substance Abuse  William E Knight MD  Berkshire Medical Center Psychiatry  Berkshire Medical Center Psychiatry  Austin Riggs Center  Austin Riggs Center  Austin Riggs Center  Austin Riggs Center  Philip J Pryjma MD  The Breen Center  County Psychiatric Center  Brien Center for Mental Health  Brien Center for Mental Health  SuEllen Hamkins MD  Cooley Dickinson Hospital Behavioral Health Services  Valley Medical Group PC  Valley Medical Group PC  Valley Medical Group PC  Cooley Dickinson Hospital Behavioral Health Services  Luz M Martin MD & Associates  Ballis Psychiatrics Associates  Carl Saviano MD  Marc A Bleicher MD  Therapeutic Associates PC  Sanford Bloomberg MD  Raymond Gottlieb MD  Michael Perlman MD  Richard C Rice MD  Ira Addes MD  Harold R Jordan MD  Service Net Inc  Donna M Cohen MD  Nancy Westermann MD  Holyoke Hospital Outpatient Psychiatry  Holyoke Hospital Outpatient Psychiatry  Holyoke Hospital Outpatient Psychiatry  Holyoke Hospital Outpatient Psychiatry  Franklin Medical Center Psychiatry  Franklin Medical Center Psychiatry  Franklin Medical Center Psychiatry  Providence Behavioral Health  Providence Behavioral Health  Ricardo A Mujica MD  Lydia A Kapell MD  RiverBend Medical Group Chicopee Office  RiverBend Medical Group Chicopee Office  RiverBend Medical Group Chicopee Office  RiverBend Medical Group Chicopee Office  Killian O'Connell MD  UMass Mental Health Services  UMass Mental Health Services  Baystate Medical Center  Baystate Medical Center  Baystate Medical Center  Kenneth Talan MD  Luz M Martin MD & Associates  Moris Pardo MD  Shoshana Sokoloff MD  Behavioral Health Network  Aloysius L Davis III MD  Behavioral Health Network  Ralph L Cohen MD  Brightside School Street Counseling Institute  Memory Wellness LLC  Valley Psychiatric Services Inc  Baystate Behavioral Health Associates  Bay State Behavioral Health  Baystate Behavioral Health Associates  Benjamin Liptzin MD  Baystate Behavioral Health Associates  Baystate Behavioral Health Associates  Psychiatry Care Associates PC  Elizabeth A Bramson MD  Counseling & Gynecology Group  Jay Pomerantz MD  Griswold Center Wing Memorial Hospital  Griswold Center Wing Memorial Hospital  Griswold Center Wing Memorial Hospital  Griswold Center Wing Memorial Hospital  Barre Family Health Center  George B Wells Human Services  George B Wells Human Services  George B Wells Human Services  George B Wells Human Services  George B Wells Human Services  Heywood Hospital Mental Health  Stephen R Greenberg MD  Newton Square Counseling Center  Arbour Counseling Services Pittsfield, MassachusettsUpcoming Local Events2012-06-10
2012-06-16
2012-06-17
2012-06-17
2012-07-22
2012-09-09
2012-10-07
2012-10-13
2012-10-14
2012-11-04
AnxietyIntroduction to AnxietyGeneralized anxiety disorder (or GAD) is characterized by excessive, exaggerated anxiety and worry about everyday life events with no obvious reasons for worry. People with symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder tend to always expect disaster and can't stop worrying about health, money, family, work, or school. In people with GAD, the worry often is unrealistic or out of proportion for the situation. Daily life becomes a constant state of worry, fear, and dread. Eventually, the anxiety so dominates the person's thinking that it interferes with daily functioning, including work, school, social activities, and relationships.
What Are the Symptoms of GAD?GAD affects the way a person thinks, but the anxiety can lead to physical symptoms, as well. Symptoms of GAD can include:
In addition, people with GAD often have other anxiety disorders (such as panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and phobias), suffer from depression, and/or abuse drugs or alcohol.
What Causes GAD?
The exact cause of GAD is not fully known, but a number of
Recommended Reading Related to AnxietyUrinary Incontinence in Women » Urinary incontinence (UI) in women facts*Urinary incontinence (UI) in men facts Medically Edited by: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD
Other Related Anxiety ArticlesEmergency Contact for Pittsfield
Nearby Pittsfield Hospitals *Berkshire Medical Center BMC Hillcrest Campus Austen Riggs Center Fairview Hospital North Adams Regional Hospital Samaritan Hospital Southwestern Vermont Medical Center Albany Memorial Hospital St Mary's Hospital Troy Northampton VA Medical Center Stratton VA Medical Center at Albany Albany Medical Center Albany Medical Center South Clinical Campus Capital District Psychiatric Center Columbia Memorial Hospital St Peter's Hospital Cooley Dickinson Hospital Noble Hospital Featured Articles*Provider Directory Terms of Use: The WebMD 'Provider Directory' is provided by WebMD for use by the general public as a quick reference of information about Providers. The Provider Directory is not intended as a tool for verifying the credentials, qualifications, or abilities of any Provider contained therein. Inclusion in the Provider Directory does not imply recommendation or endorsement nor does omission in the Provider Directory imply WebMD disapproval. |
Suggested Reading on Anxiety by Our Doctors
-
Related Diseases & Conditions
67 articles-
Lyme Disease
- Lyme disease is a bacterial illness, which is spread by ticks when they bite the skin. Initially the disease affects the skin causing a reddish rash associated with flu-like symptoms. It takes weeks to months after the initial redness of the skin for its effects to spread throughout the body. Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics. Lyme disease can be prevented by using tick avoidance techniques.
-
Muscle Spasms
- Muscle spasms are involuntary muscle contractions that come on suddenly and are usually quite painful. Dehydration, doing strenuous exercise in a hot environment, prolonged muscle use, and certain diseases of the nervous system may cause muscle spasms. Symptoms and signs of a muscle spasm include an acute onset of pain and a possible bulge seen or felt beneath the skin where the muscle is located. Gently stretching the muscle usually resolves a muscle spasm.
-
Panic Attacks
- Panic attacks are sudden feelings of terror that strike without warning. These episodes can occur at any time, even during sleep. A person experiencing a panic attack may believe that he or she is having a heart attack or that death is imminent. The fear and terror that a person experiences during a panic attack are not in proportion to the true situation and may be unrelated to what is happening around them. Most people with panic attacks experience several of the following symptoms: racing heartbeat, faintness, dizzyness, numbness or tingling in the hands and fingers, chills, chest pains, difficulty breathing, and a feeling of loss or control. There are several treatments for panic attacks.
-
Intestinal Gas
- Gas or "intestinal gas" means different things to different people. Everyone has gas and eliminates it by belching or farting (passing it through the rectum).
-
Rosacea
- Rosacea is a skin disease that causes redness of the forehead, chin, and lower half of the nose. In addition to inflammation of the facial skin, symptoms include dilation of the blood vessels and pimples (acne rosacea) in the middle third of the face. Oral and topical antibiotics are treatments for rosacea. If left untreated, rhinophyma (a disfiguring nose condition) may result.
-
Fibromyalgia
- Fibromyalgia, formerly known as fibrositis, causes chronic pain, stiffness, and tenderness of muscles, tendons, and joints without detectable inflammation. Fibromyalgia patients have an unusually low pain threshold. Symptoms of fibromyalgia include fatigue, abnormal sleep, mental/emotional disturbances, abdominal pain, migraine and tension headaches, and irritable bladder. Treatment of fibromyalgia involves patient education, medication, exercise, and stress reduction.
-
Anorexia
- Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by markedly reduced appetite or total aversion to food. Anorexia is a serious psychological disorder and is a condition that goes well beyond out-of-control dieting. With anorexia, the drive to become thinner is actually secondary to concerns about control and/or fears relating to one's body. There are psychological and behavioral symptoms as well as physical symptoms of anorexia including: depression, social withdrawal, fatigue, food obsession, heart and gastrointestinal complications, kidney function, flaky skin, brittle nails, and tooth loss (this list is not exhaustive).
-
Alcoholism
- Alcoholism is a disease that includes alcohol craving and continued drinking despite repeated alcohol-related problems, such as losing a job or getting into trouble with the law.
-
Depression
- Depression is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. The principal types of depression are major depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disease (also called manic-depressive disease).
-
Restless Leg Syndrome
- Restless leg syndrome (RLS or restless legs syndrome) is a common cause for painful legs that typically eases with motion, and becomes worse and more noticeable at rest. This characteristic nighttime worsening can frequently lead to insomnia. Treatment of the symptoms of restless leg syndrome is generally with medication as well as treating any underlying condition causing restless leg syndrome.
-
Suicide
- Suicide is the process of intentionally ending one's own life. Approximately 1 million people worldwide commit suicide each year, and 10 million to 20 million attempt suicide annually.
-
Dissociative Identity Disorder
- Dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder or split personality disorder) is a mental illness in which a person has at least two distinct personalities. Symptoms and signs include lapses in memory, feeling unreal, blackouts in time, hearing voices in their head that are not their own, not recognizing themselves in the mirror, and finding items in one's possession but not recalling how they were acquired. Treatment usually involves psychotherapy, medications, and sometimes hypnosis.
-
Borderline Personality Disorder
- Borderline personality disorder is a serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior. This instability often disrupts family and work life, long-term planning, and the individual's sense of self-identity. Originally thought to be at the "borderline" of psychosis, people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) suffer from a disorder of emotion regulation.
-
Bipolar Disorder
- Bipolar disorder (or manic depression) is a mental illness characterized by depression, mania, and severe mood swings. Treatment may incorporate mood stabilizer medications, antidepressants, and psychotherapy.
-
Indigestion (Dyspepsia, Upset Stomach)
- Dyspepsia (indigestion) is a functional disease in which the gastrointestinal organs, primarily the stomach and first part of the small intestine, function abnormally. It is a chronic disease in which the symptoms fluctuate infrequency and intensity. Symptoms of dyspepsia include upper abdominal pain, belching, nausea, vomiting, abdominal bloating, early satiety, and abdominal distention (swelling). These symptoms are most often provoked by eating.
-
Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP)
- Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is also also known as "click murmur syndrome" and "Barlow's syndrome." Mitral valve prolapse is the most common heart valve abnormality. Signs and symptoms of mitral valve prolapse include: fatigue, palpitations, chest pain, anxiety, and migraine headaches. Echocardiography is the most useful test for mitral valve prolapse. Most patients do not need any treatment, however, patients with severe prolapse may need treatment.
-
Colic in Babies
- Colic is crying or fussing that begins suddenly, lasting for a total of three hours a day and happening more than three days a week for about three weeks. Symptoms include the baby's face turning red, the belly is distended, the feet may be cold, the hands clenched, and the legs may alternate between being flexed or extended. Treatment may involve ruling out other causes of the fussing and the doctor prescribing anti-gas bubbly medicine.
-
Drug Abuse
- Drug addiction is a chronic disease that causes drug-seeking behavior and drug use despite negative consequences to the user and those around him. Though the initial decision to use drugs is voluntary, changes in the brain caused by repeated drug abuse can affect a person's self-control and ability to make the right decisions and increase the urge to take drugs. Drug abuse and addiction are preventable.
-
Grief: Loss of a Loved One
- Grief is the feeling one experiences after a loss (of a friendship, death of loved one, job). Complicated grief refers to grief that lasts for more than a year. Mourning describes the customs and rituals that help a bereaved individual make sense of their loss.
-
Wisdom Teeth
- Wisdom teeth are the third set of molars that people get in their late teens or early twenties. Impacted wisdom teeth that only partially erupt allows for an opening for bacteria to enter around the tooth and cause an infection, which results in pain, swelling, jaw stiffness, and general illness. Before your wisdom teeth are pulled, the teeth and the surrounding tissue will be numbed with a local anesthetic. Recovery from wisdom tooth removal depends upon the difficulty of the extraction.
-
Antisocial Personality Disorder
- Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) has many symptoms, signs, and causes. Therapy is one treatment option for antisocial personality disorder. It is closely related to other personality disorders (PD), such as borderline personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder.
-
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder that causes a person to suffer repeated obsessions and compulsions. Symptoms include irresistible impulses despite a person's realization that the thoughts are irrational, excessive hand washing, skin picking, lock checking, or repeatedly rearranging items. People with OCD are more likely to develop trichotillomania, muscle or vocal tics, or an eating disorder. Treatment for OCD includes psychotherapy, behavioral therapy, and medication.
-
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Chronic fatigue syndrome is a debilitating and complex disorder characterized by profound fatigue that lasts 6 months or longer, is not improved by bed rest, and may be worsened by physical or mental activity.
-
Rabies
- Rabies is a potentially fatal viral infection. Rabies symptoms include fever, headache, myalgia, and can progress to more serious symptoms such as seizures, coma and death. The rabies vaccine (rabies treatment) should be administered immediately after the person or pet has been bitten.
-
Jet Lag
- Jet lag (desynchonosis) is a temporary disorder that results from travel across time zones. Symptoms include anxiety, constipation, headache, nausea, dehydration, diarrhea, confusion, sweating, irritability, and even memory loss.
-
Adult ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
- ADHD afflicts approximately 3 percent to 5 percent of school-age children and an estimated 60 percent of those maintain the disorder into adulthood. Symptoms of adult ADHD include chronic lateness, anxiety, low self esteem, employment problems, difficulty controlling anger, impulsiveness, poor organization skills, procrastination, chronic boredom among others.
-
Anaphylaxis
- Anaphylaxis is a serious allergic reaction that affects a number of different areas of the body at one time, and can be fatal. Causes of anaphylaxis can be food allergy, latex allergy, allergy to insect or but stings/bites, asthma, or other materials or conditions. Symptoms include flushing, itching, hives, anxiety, rapid or irregular pulse. Severe symptoms may be throat and tongue swelling, swallowing, and difficulty breathing. Some disorders appear similar to anaphylaxis such as fainting, panic attacks, blood clots in the lungs, heart attacks, and septic shock. If you think that you may be having an anaphylactic reaction, seek emergency care or call 911 immedately.
-
Phobias
- Phobias are unrelenting fears of activities (social phobias), situations (agoraphobia), and specific items (arachnophobia). There is thought to be a hereditary component to phobias, though there may be a cultural influence or they may be triggered by life events. Symptoms and signs of phobias include having a panic attack, shaking, breathing troubles, rapid heart beat, and a strong desire to escape the situation. Treatment of phobias typically involves desensitization, cognitive behavioral therapy, and medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and beta blockers.
-
Alcohol and Teens
- Alcohol is the most frequently used drug by American teenagers. Teens that drink are more likely to drive under the influence, have unprotected sex, and use other drugs, like marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. Symptoms of alcohol abuse in teens include lying, breaking curfew, becoming verbally or physically abusive toward others, making excuses, smelling like alcohol, having mood swings, and stealing.
- See All Related Diseases & Conditions »
-
Lyme Disease
-
Medications
21 articles -
Procedures & Tests
0 articles -
Pictures, Images & Quizzes
17 articles -
Doctor's & Expert's Views
21 articles -
Health News
245 articles -
Health Features
31 articles
