There are currently no laws in place stipulating what training and qualifications a counsellor must have in order to treat anxiety.
However, the national institute for health and care excellence (nice) has developed a set of guidelines that provide advice about the recommended treatments. In the first instance, those suffering from anxiety should be offered access to a support group and self-help information recommendations by their doctor. If this doesn’t help, or the anxiety is more severe, psychological treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy and/or applied relaxation are recommended. Further treatment may require medication. Read the full nice guidelines:
generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder in adults: management.
Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
You may have generalised anxiety disorder if:
your worrying significantly affects your daily life, including your job and social life
your worries are extremely stressful and upsetting
you worry about all sorts of things and have a tendency to think the worst
your worrying is uncontrollable.
The information in this section is about a specific condition called generalised anxiety disorder (gad). Gad is a long-term condition that causes you to feel anxious about a wide range of situations and issues, rather than 1 specific event. People with gad feel anxious most days and often struggle to remember the last time they felt relaxed. As soon as 1 anxious thought is resolved, another may appear about a different issue.
This chronic disorder involves excessive, long lasting anxiety and worries about nonspecific life events, objects, and situations. Gad is the most common anxiety disorder, and people with it are not always able to identify the cause of their anxiety. Learn more about gad here.
Gad can cause both psychological (mental) and physical symptoms. These vary from person to person, but can include: feeling restless or worried having trouble concentrating or sleeping dizziness or heart palpitations.