Anxiety, is it spoiling your life?
Anxiety can be extremely disabling, and at its worst it can prevent individuals from carrying on with everyday life, which can lead to isolation and loneliness. In actual fact anxiety can also be a good thing, as it part of the body's natural "Fight or Flight" mechanism for recognising danger. Experiencing some anxiety is normal for most people, but the problems start when it becomes severe.
Anxiety is usually split into three categories, general anxiety, phobias and panic disorder.
I will talk general anxiety, in this article and cover the other two in the near future.
General anxiety can hit us at any time. A particularly stressful situation at home can follow us into our workplaces and create anxiety. This level of anxiety usual dissipates once we have started to manage the original stressful situation and life soon returns normal. However, there can be times when we feel particularly anxious for what appears to be no reason, or at least we are not aware of the reason. In these cases the anxiety can begin to feed off itself, as all we are aware of is feeling anxious all the time, which in turn leads to anxiety.
Sounds a bit odd, I grant you, but being anxious for no apparent reason can lead to us feeling anxious about being anxious all the time! There are many physical symptoms that can be associated with anxiety for instance:
headaches
pounding heart
pins and needles
stomach upsets
loose bowel movements
excessive wind
excessive thirst
Experiencing just one or several of these symptoms can mean you are suffering from general anxiety disorder, especially if you find you are also losing your patience quickly, having trouble concentrating or having difficulty sleeping.
You should, of course make an appointment to see your GP if you are worried about any of these symptoms as they can rule out other possible causes. It is easier to diagnose your condition if you are aware of current stressful situations; say for instance you have a driving test soon or an important meeting at work. It would be safe to assume that once the stressful situation has passed then so will the symptoms and the anxiety.
If however you are unable to identify any reason for feeling anxious and it is adversely affecting your life, you may find it helpful to see a counsellor. Working together with an experienced counsellor can help you to pinpoint the cause of your anxiety, identify the triggers and put strategies in place to help you manage the affects.
Anxiety is usually split into three categories, general anxiety, phobias and panic disorder.
I will talk general anxiety, in this article and cover the other two in the near future.
General anxiety can hit us at any time. A particularly stressful situation at home can follow us into our workplaces and create anxiety. This level of anxiety usual dissipates once we have started to manage the original stressful situation and life soon returns normal. However, there can be times when we feel particularly anxious for what appears to be no reason, or at least we are not aware of the reason. In these cases the anxiety can begin to feed off itself, as all we are aware of is feeling anxious all the time, which in turn leads to anxiety.
Sounds a bit odd, I grant you, but being anxious for no apparent reason can lead to us feeling anxious about being anxious all the time! There are many physical symptoms that can be associated with anxiety for instance:
Experiencing just one or several of these symptoms can mean you are suffering from general anxiety disorder, especially if you find you are also losing your patience quickly, having trouble concentrating or having difficulty sleeping.
You should, of course make an appointment to see your GP if you are worried about any of these symptoms as they can rule out other possible causes. It is easier to diagnose your condition if you are aware of current stressful situations; say for instance you have a driving test soon or an important meeting at work. It would be safe to assume that once the stressful situation has passed then so will the symptoms and the anxiety.
If however you are unable to identify any reason for feeling anxious and it is adversely affecting your life, you may find it helpful to see a counsellor. Working together with an experienced counsellor can help you to pinpoint the cause of your anxiety, identify the triggers and put strategies in place to help you manage the affects.
