What
is Anxiety?
Anxiety
ranges from something that is mildly debilitating, to something that
completely sideswipes you without any warning at all. It is a
feeling of being anxious or slightly worried, to being completely
overwhelmed and/or panicked.
The
feelings that accompany anxiety may be as mild as a slight discomfort
when walking down an isolated street, to something that is completely
disabling, such as the feeling of sheer panic that can occur completely
out of the blue.
Symptoms
of Anxiety?
Yes,
there are symptoms that are both cognitive (your thoughts) and
physiological (emotional and body sensations) that you will be able to
identify.
Body
sensations and feelings when anxious:
-
Dry
mouth
-
Difficulty
breathing, for example, rapid breathing that does not accompany
physical exertion
-
Feeling
shaky, often in the legs
-
Feeling
faint
-
Perspiring
noticeably (not due to physical exertion or high temperatures)
-
Feeling
trembling (in the hands, for example)
-
Difficulty
swallowing
-
Feeling
your heart pounding (not due to physical exertion)
-
Feeling
scared
-
Feeling
anxious in situations, and then totally relieved when they finished
-
Feeling
close to panic, or panicked
-
Feeling
terrified
Cognitive
Symptoms of anxiety:
-
Worrying
thoughts about future events, usually involving a negative outcome
-
Worrying
thoughts prevent sound sleep, or interrupt your sleep.
What
can you do about Anxiety?
Firstly,
anxiety disorders respond extremely well to cognitive therapy, i.e.
therapy that targets thoughts that result in a negative image in your
mind's eye, and a feeling that is negative in its effect on you.
Then, you can learn to interrupt those thoughts and images, and replace
them with new and positively effecting thoughts and images.
For
example, you are worried that you will miss the train or the bus, and
every time you have this thought, you have an image of missing the bus,
and how difficult that will make the rest of the day. Instead of
having this thought, you can train yourself to always think "I
am always on time to catch my bus," and then imagine the good
day that eventuates because you caught your bus on time.
Timeline
Techniques are often used for anxiety disorders, as they allow new ways
of feeling relaxed to be installed, right from the first instance that
your worry ever occurred.
Stress
Management & Relaxation help
Secondly,
learning stress management and relaxation techniques also proves to be
effective. The more that you lower your stress levels on a daily
basis, the easier it is to feel that you are in control and the less
likely you are to experience anxiety.
Thirdly,
when you lower your stress, you can begin to laugh and have fun again,
which increases your endorphin production, and improves your resilience
to stress and anxiety.
Fourth
and last, eat well, with healthy nutritional food, at three meals of the
day, and have healthy snacks mid-morning and mid-afternoon so that your
blood sugar stabilises and lends your emotions a hand.
Of
course, if this doesn't work, you need to see your friendly
psychologist!
Call
now to make an appointment.
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