There are many options available to deal with anxiety disorders It's 3 a.m., four hours until you need to start getting ready for another day, but you haven't fallen asleep yet.

Not for lack of trying. If you suffer from anxiety, you just can't seem to get your mind - - or body -- to wind down. Your head reels with dangerous questions: Will my presentation go well? Are my loved ones safe? Am I a good parent/friend/daughter/ wife? What's my life worth? Hands sweating, heart racing, muscles tensing, you know tomorrow will be another in a long line of days you stumble through tired, cranky and stressed out. But it doesn't have to go on forever.

David Miers, coordinator of mental health services at Bryan LGH, said anxiety is the most common form of mental illness. We're not talking about simple, short-term stress. We're talking about anxiety that can go on for days, even months.

Characterized by symptoms such as rapid heart and breathing rates, dizziness, irritability, trembling, fatigue and an unshakable fear that something bad will happen, anxiety takes many forms, including generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder or agoraphobia, panic disorder and phobias. Women are about twice as likely to be affected by some types of anxiety, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and phobias, according to Miers.

Anxiety is also extremely treatable. Sean Samuels, an intern at Nebraska Mental Health Centers, said many people can get over anxiety.

"You're not broken or different or emotionally scarred for the rest of your life," he said. Several paths to recovery exist, depending on the severity of one's problem.

For most people, just talking -- to a friend, a counselor or a support group -- about anxiety is helpful. Barbara Fox, director of the self Help Information Service of Nebraska, has been part of a local anxiety support group for nearly 40 years.

Born into an immigrant farm family plagued by worries about poverty and death, Fox believes she inherited her anxiety.

"They had real things to worry about," she said. Talking about her fears with other people helped her discover how they developed and how to change.

"Life's a lot more fun now. I'm just happy most of the time," she said. According to therapist Janet Waage Lingren, anxiety is often tied to the way we talk to ourselves.

"We create a lot of our own anxiety with self talk," she said. "If you're going about everyday saying there's not enough time, your body responds to that message." The Lincoln woman knows. And not just because she's a therapist. Following her husband's death, Lingren developed serious anxiety of her own.

At one point it got so bad that she anded in the emergency room for a panic attack she mistook for a heart attack or stroke. "It was just the stress of the situation," she said.

Lingren tried a variety of treatments, including medication, to diffuse her anxious feelings. She got the best results from a combination of therapy and neurofeedback. Psychotherapist B.J. Wheeler of Lincoln led Lingren's neurofeedback sessions. She attached sensors to Lingren's scalp and, while Lingren played computer games, Wheeler monitored Lingren's brain waves on a different screen. Lingren said neurofeedback helps the brain learn to calm itself and improves one's ability to stay focused. "Part of dealing with anxiety is to be able to concentrate on what I'm trying to do, regardless of what's going on around me, and to do that calmly," she said. Wheeler was introduced to neurofeedback about five years ago. She now uses it on all kinds of clients -- not just the anxious ones.

Lingren also performs neurofeedback in conjunction with therapy. What if you can't tell whether you've truly got anxiety or are just stressed out? Consider the seriousness and frequency of your symptoms. Normal stress doesn't last for days or weeks.

Samuels said when anxiety starts interrupting people's day-to- day functioning, it's a problem. Still not sure? Talk to an expert.

About a year ago, Shirdene Samuels (no relation to Sean), a University ofNebraska-Lincoln graduate student, visited her general practitioner about her sleeplessness, upset stomach and edginess. To her surprise, he told her the symptoms she thought were stress or depression-related actually indicated anxiety. The doctor was ready to write her a prescription, but Samuels wouldn't accept.She wanted to learn more about what was troubling her.

She did some research and concluded that she probably suffered from generalized anxiety disorder. She immediately began to change some of the behaviors that increased her anxiety. Her experience inspired her to make a documentary about anxiety for her master's thesis. By showing how people with anxiety live, Samuels hopes to attack the negative stigma attached to it.

Sean Samuels said that stigma may prevent some anxiety sufferers from seeking the treatment they need.

But unless they do something about it, the problem will persist. "And, goodness, how it ruins your life," Fox said. "It takes control tells you what you can and can't do. You're critiquing yourself every minute. "You don't have to live that way."

This Article has been submitted by the Jeremy's Prophecy Dot Com team for informational and educational purposes. Jeremy's Prophecy Dot Com is a website dedicated to telling the story of Jeremy Jacobs, a character in the novel, Jeremy's Prophecy Dot Com.