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- Anxiety
- Stress
- Panic Attacks
- Assertiveness
Take
hold of your life and manage your stress in a 3 session therapy
using hypnosis to teach you to relax, deal more effectively with stress
and improve your quality of life with self hypnosis.
To
make an appointment independantly email
or phone 0779 2108272
Anxiety
is common and treatable
We
all feel anxious at certain times in our lives, perhaps before important
events such as a job interview. Although anxiety can be unpleasant, it
rarely lasts long and we usually manage to cope with it. But for one in
ten people, anxiety is much more severe. For them, it can become a frightening,
disabling condition, which threatens to take over their lives.
Some
people have generalised anxiety, which is not related to specific events,
but is an unpleasant feeling which is with them all the time. For others,
anxiety can be more episodic, occurring either spontaneously, or triggered
by some external stimulus.
An anxiety problem does not mean that
you are weak or that you are losing your mind or that you have a personality
problem. Severe anxiety is a problem that can be overcome with treatment.
What
is anxiety?
The
word 'anxiety' is used to describe the mental and physical response to
feared and threatening situations. This reaction may include trembling,
choking, increased heart rate, sweating, feelings of unreality and so
on. Anxiety is a normal response experienced by everyone at times. Nearly
being hit by a car, sitting for an exam or giving a public talk are all
examples of situations in which most people would experience some anxiety.
You
are likely to be suffering from an anxiety disorder if you have any of
the following:
- The
anxiety reaction occurs frequently
- Your
fears are out of proportion to the situation
- You
start to avoid places or situations where you experience anxiety
- It
interferes with your working, social or family life
Different
forms of anxiety
Try
to work out which the following descriptions best fit your situation.
Panic
disorder
People who suffer from 'panic disorder'
are likely to experience attacks of sudden and intense anxiety. These
panics cannot be associated with events occurring around the person. The
person is generally free from anxiety in between panics.
Common
symptoms of panic disorders include:
Psychological
symptoms:
- fear
of dying
- fear
of going crazy
- feelings
of unreality
- Physical
symptoms:
- light-headedness
- tightness
or pain in the chest
- shortness
of breath
- hot
and cold flushes
- choking
sensation
- nausea
- pounding
heart
- trembling
- numbness/tingling
sensation in fingers and feet
Panics
are also common with the other anxiety disorders. However, those panics
are easier to predict because they mostly occur in response to the feared
situation(s).
Social
phobia
The main feature of 'social phobia'
is the fear of being the focus of attention or subject of criticism. People
with this disorder may worry that they will do something silly or embarrassing
in front of others. Often social phobia is experienced in many different
social situations. This leads to the avoidance of these situations.
Commonly
feared situations include:
- speaking
in front of others
- being
the centre of attention
- asking
questions
- social
activities such as lunches, dinners, parties, marriages, religious
- gatherings/festivals
etc
- eating
in front of others
- writing
in front of others
Agoraphobia
People who have agoraphobia experience
psychological and physical anxiety and often panics, in particular places
or situations, in which:
- there
is a sense of being trapped or being unable to leave or escape
- it
would not be easy to get help should the need arise
- the
environment is different and unfamiliar
- they
have had a panic before
This
leads to the avoidance many situations and can severely affect day-to-day
life. In extreme cases people who suffer from agoraphobia find it difficult
to leave the house.
Examples
of commonly feared or avoided situations are:
- leaving
home
- travelling
alone
- crowds,
public places
Generalised
anxiety disorder
Generalised anxiety is different from
the other anxiety disorders. The experience of anxiety is not linked to
specific situations or to a fear of having panic attacks. It is ongoing
general anxiety, tension and excessive worrying about normal events and
the future. You may feel worried most of the time about things which might
go wrong or find that you are tense without knowing exactly what you are
worried about. But you are less likely to have all the feelings that are
listed under `panic' and `phobias'.
What
may trigger anxiety?
There are many possible triggers for
anxiety. It often starts during periods of psychological or physical stress.
Examples
of psychological and physical stress include:
Psychological
- relationship
break-ups
- severe
arguments
- loss
of someone close
- loss
of a job
- lack
of sleep
- work
pressure
- financial
problems
- physical
and sexual abuse
Physical
- physical
illness
- excessive
use of alcohol/ abuse of other drugs
- domestic
violence
- trauma
Breathing
too quickly and deeply
When people experience stress they
have a natural tendency to breathe more quickly and deeply. Breathing
too quickly and/or deeply (also known as 'over breathing' or 'hyperventilation')
can itself bring on anxiety. Breathing too quickly lowers the amount of
carbon dioxide in your lungs and by a complicated series of processes
this causes physical symptoms of anxiety.
Other
important things to note are:
You can get physical anxiety by slightly
over breathing for a long time. So, over breathing does not have to be
obvious to you or to others If you slightly over breathe, even a yawn
or sigh can trigger a panic attack or physical symptoms of anxiety. Changing
the way you breathe can be useful for managing anxiety
Worry
and negative thinking
When people experience stress there
is also a tendency to worry more than usual. Worry and unrealistic or
negative thinking can be triggers of anxiety. People who get anxious sometimes
think in ways that bring on the anxiety or make it worse.
For
example, you can:
- concentrate
entirely on unpleasant things, dwell on them and ignore good things
- spend
a lot of time worrying about something that never happens anyway
- think
everything is going wrong when only one thing has actually gone wrong
- misinterpret
what other people are doing and thinking - for example, assuming that
other people are looking at you and thinking how silly you are
- Often
changing the way you think and reducing worry can be useful for managing
anxiety.
How
is anxiety treated?
Feeling anxious does not necessarily
mean you have a problem. Anxiety is a normal response that everyone has
to certain situations. But anxiety is not always useful; sometimes it
reaches disabling proportions. The aim is not to get rid of all anxiety
but rather to reduce it to manageable proportions.
The
best way to manage anxiety is through psychological help and social support.
With different psychological methods, it is possible to:
- control
and stop panic attacks
- confront
feared situations previously avoided
- change
negative and unrealistic thinking and reduce worry
Psychological
methods include:
- breathing
control, relaxation
- problem
solving
- balancing
anxious thinking with reassuring thoughts Cognitive Therapy
- gradually
facing the things that you fear (graded exposure).
These
psychological methods are often taught in Anxiety Management Courses.
Tablets
are sometimes prescribed for anxiety but they do not solve problems or
cure anxiety in the long term. Even if you have been prescribed tablets,
it is still important to try to do other things as well to overcome your
anxiety.
In
order to reduce anxiety to manageable proportions the first thing to do
is to be clear about what the problem is. You should contact your GP for
professional advice.
Exercises
to help you identify your symptoms of anxiety can be found at http://www.whoguidemhpcuk.org/
Anxiety
can also be reduced by:
Physical
Specifically, aerobic exercise is
the form of exercise most consistently shown to reduce anxiety, and the
duration should be of more than twenty minutes. Anxiety reduction achieved
through aerobic exercise is similar to the reduction achieved through
meditation or relaxation.
Caffeine
intake
Try to avoid drinking too much tea
and coffee as caffeine can increase anxiety levels.
Alcohol
intake
People who are anxious may try to
cope with the anxiety by drinking more alcohol. This makes things worse.
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