How Can I Help Myself
Face your fear if you can
If you always avoid situations that scare you, you might stop doing things you want or need to do. You wont be able to test out whether the situation is always as bad as you expect, so you miss the chance to work out how to manage your fears and reduce your anxiety. Anxiety problems tend to increase if you get into this pattern. Exposing yourself to your fears can be an effective way of overcoming this anxiety.
Know yourself
Try to learn more about your fear or anxiety. Keep an anxiety diary or thought record to note down when it happens and what happens. You can try setting yourself small, achievable goals for facing your fears. You could carry with you a list of things that help at times when you are likely to be become frightened or anxious. This can be an effective way of addressing the underlying beliefs that are behind your anxiety.
Try to learn more about your fear or anxiety. Keep a record of when it happens and what happens.
Exercise
Increase the amount of exercise you do. Exercise requires some concentration, and this can take your mind off your fear and anxiety.
Relax
Learning relaxation techniques can help you with the mental and physical feelings of fear. It can help just to drop your shoulders and breathe deeply. Or imagine yourself in a relaxing place. You could also try learning things like yoga, meditation, massage, or listen to the Mental Health Foundations wellbeing podcasts.
Healthy eating
Avoid alcohol, or drink in moderation
Tip : Distinguish Between Solvable And Unsolvable Worries
Research shows that while youre worrying, you temporarily feel less anxious. Running over the problem in your head distracts you from your emotions and makes you feel like youre getting something accomplished. But worrying and problem solving are two very different things.
Problem solving involves evaluating a situation, coming up with concrete steps for dealing with it, and then putting the plan into action. Worrying, on the other hand, rarely leads to solutions. No matter how much time you spend dwelling on worst-case scenarios, youre no more prepared to deal with them should they actually happen.
All Of Us Have Experienced Anxiety To Some Extent Or Degree At Some Point In Our Lives
We know exactly how we feel.
For example, when we do something that is completely outside our comfort zone.
Move house, buy a home, start a family, go for that job interview, scale up your business. Anything outside of our comfort zone is going to give us a little bit of anxiety, which is not a problem.
But if anxiety goes unchecked it can become a huge problem.
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What Makes Anxiety Worse
Avoid soothing your anxiety with things that can lead to more anxiety, advises Dr. Albers.
For example, stress eating is like putting a Band-aid® on a gaping wound, she says. You want to deal with your anxiety directly.
Dredging up bad experiences from the past or imagining scary scenarios in the future will just heighten your anxiety. When this happens, realize what youre doing.
Remind yourself that bad things happen relatively sparingly and that our brains are well-equipped to handle a crisis, if one occurs, says Dr. Bea. Be engaged in your real life, not in imagined moments.
The best way to begin is to work on developing a new relationship with your thoughts.
Thoughts are like breezes. Theyre not good or bad, they just come and go, he says. You dont have to react to them Oh, wow, works better than Oh, no. Being grounded in the present moment, without judgment, is the place to be.
Can Anxiety Disorders Be Treated
Yes. Talk with your doctor if you think you have an anxiety disorder. He or she can help you with the skills you need to cope with your anxiety. Your doctor may also suggest counseling and give you medicine if you need it. The most important thing is to take action. Anything you do will help give you a sense of control over your anxiety.
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What Makes You Anxious
Because anxiety is a type of fear, the things weve described about fear above are also true for anxiety.
The word anxiety tends to be used to describe worry, or when fear is nagging and persists over time. It is used when the fear is about something in the future rather than what is happening right now.
Anxiety is a word often used by health professionals when theyre describing persistent fear. The ways that you feel when youre frightened and anxious are very similar, as the basic emotion is the same.
Why Wont My Fear Go Away And Leave Me Feeling Normal Again
Fear may be a one-off feeling when you are faced with something unfamiliar.
But it can also be an everyday, long-lasting problem even if you cant put your finger on why. Some people feel a constant sense of anxiety all the time, without any particular trigger.
There are plenty of triggers for fear in everyday life, and you cant always work out exactly why you are frightened or how likely you are to be harmed. Even if you can see how out of proportion a fear is, the emotional part of your brain keeps sending danger signals to your body.
Sometimes you need mental and physical ways of tackling fear.
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What Is Panic Disorder
Panic disorder is another type of anxiety. It occurs when you have repeated periods of very bad panic, called panic attacks. Panic attacks last about five to 30 minutes and may include any of the symptoms listed in the box below. Panic attacks can lead to phobias if they arent treated.
Panic Attack Symptoms
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Feeling like youre going to choke
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Chest pressure or chest pain
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Pounding heart
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Shortness of breath or tightness in the throat
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Sweating
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Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
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Hot flushes or chills
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Sense of unreality or dreamlike sensations
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Fear of losing control, doing something embarrassing, going crazy, or dying
Realize That Now Is The Perfect Time To Start Feeling Better
And finally, realize that your anxiety and fear will not go away until you stop waiting and start learning. There are many resources available to you to help you overcome your anxiety books, courses, doctors, counselors, support groups, and more.
Some of you have been waiting for the perfect time to conquer your anxiety. You may be saying to yourselfI cant tackle my anxiety right now. Ill wait until my symptoms arent so strong to make changes in my life. Or Ill start making changes when my life is less hectic. The list goes on and on.
Heres what Ive discovered: Youll be waiting a lifetime for these things to happen. Because when you wait for something else to happen to improve your life, youre giving away your power. You feed your anxiety and feelings of loss of control.
The only perfect time to conquer your anxiety is right nowthis moment. You do not need to feel symptom-free or confident or energetic, or anything else to begin. All you need to do is take the first step.
Practice these six habits daily, and youll see your skills improve as you take back your power from anxiety.
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Social Anxiety And Self
How does this relate to social anxiety? If you apply this to social anxiety, you can imagine that the person struggling with SAD would be stuck at the level of safety needs. If you struggle daily with social anxiety disorder, you may not feel in control of your mind and body. You also might have trouble finding or keeping a job, meeting people, and other situations.
Social anxiety makes it hard for you to seek friendship, improve family bonds, feel good about yourself, and show yourself respect.
It also might make it hard for you to be creative, spontaneous, and accepting. When you are focused on when the next anxiety attack is coming, it can be hard to step back and accept yourself, choose creative pursuits, or make spontaneous plans.
But does it have to be that way? Was Maslow necessarily right in all cases?
Results from a 2011 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggested that a person could achieve self-actualization and good social relationships even if basic and safety needs are not completely met.
Perhaps this means that you can jump up into self-actualization, even if you are still battling social anxiety. Try to make small changes each day to feel more in control. Focus on one area at a time until you have mastered it. Alongside these small changes, you can also be working on overcoming your anxiety.
Getting A Your Anxiety Under Control In Three Steps
Before I tried several self help books, Ive been looking for anxiety treatments for a long time. Ive tried the three steps I listed below and they worked for me. Before we get to the tips, however, let me tell you something about what I felt like when I was still looking out for anxiety treatments.
You will find so many treatment options for anxiety disorders. There are so many options that its stressful to try everything at once. I was tempted to try all of them, and in fact, I did just that. At the back of my mind, I knew I should not consider medication that might keep me addicted. But when the pressure sets in, the urge to go for the quick fixes like medication became unbearable. Did I use medication? Yes, I did. But as soon as I understood just how dependence could make me a slave to medication, on a psychological and financial level, I came up with my own ways to combat the anxiety symptoms. I used several methods to do this, including Linden and Panic Away.
With enough persistence, getting your anxiety under control can be extremely doable. If I was able to do it, so can you.
3 Steps to Get Your Anxiety under Control
1. Commit on a Daily Basis
Anxiety may be induced by sometimes forgetting to let stress be a non-significant element. You remind yourself by committing and taking things positively.
2. Dont Rush Treatment
3. Get Out
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How Can I Calm My Anxiety Fast
Medication is an option for long-term anxiety. But, they are not always an instant fix. Anti-anxiety medications, such as Ativan, Klonopin, or Xanax, can work quicklywithin minutes or hours. Antidepressant medications, sometimes used to treat anxiety, can take a few weeks to reach maximum effectiveness. As Heathman explains, Medication can take much longer to work as medication must be ingested, digested, absorbed, and then transferred in the bloodstream.
If youre experiencing anxiety for the first time or youre having an unexpected spike of anxiety, there are some techniques you can employ in the moment to help with your developing symptoms. Sudden onset anxiety is best controlled with relaxation techniques, Heathman says, which can work instantly after being employed. Some calming strategies include:
All of these techniques work by changing your brains focus, so that anxiety symptoms can pass. One of the keys to calming anxiety is also recognizing when and why it is happening. If you can sense that it is spiking, Saxena explains, then you can challenge yourself to use the same thought pattern to understand that it is a passing feeling.
How To Stop Worrying Tip : Create A Daily Worry Period
Its tough to be productive in your daily activities when anxiety and worry are dominating your thoughts and distracting you from work, school, or your home life. This is where the strategy of postponing worrying can help. Rather than trying to stop or get rid of an anxious thought, give yourself permission to have it, but put off dwelling on it until later.
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How Do I Get Help
Talking therapies
Talking therapies, like counselling or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, are very effective for people with anxiety problems, including Computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which takes you through a series of self-help exercises on screen. Visit your GP to find out more.
Medication
Drug treatments are used to provide short-term help, rather than looking at the root of the anxiety problems. Drugs may be most useful when they are combined with other treatments or support.
Support groups
You can learn a lot about managing anxiety from asking other people who have experienced it. Local support groups or self-help groups bring together people with similar experiences so that they can hear each others stories, share tips and encourage each other to try out new ways to manage themselves. Your doctor, library or local Citizens Advice bureau will have details of support groups near you.
Can Anxiety Disorder Be Treated
Indeed, it can, and with high success rates. But according to the ADAA only about 37% of Americans suffering from the illness seek medical treatment, which is unfortunate. There are two kinds of treatment available: medications and behavioral therapy by licensed therapists.
The most often prescribed drugs for anxiety disorder are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors . Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, Lexapro and Celexa are SSRIs and are considered standard anxiety disorder treatment. Two popular SNRIs are Effexor and Cymbalta. Theres also a third category: sedatives like Zanax and Klonopin.
All of them require prescriptions and your physician will decide which drug may work best for you. That depends on your type of anxiety, how the side effects of each medication match your health and preexisting medical conditions, other drugs that you may take and possible allergic reactions.
Typically, for an SSRI or SNRI to take full effect it requires about a month or two. During this initial treatment period its important that you keep track of your improvements and any side effects you may experience. Keeping a treatment diary is recommended this will also allow your doctor to better monitor your progress.
If you dont feel any improvements after 2-3 months of treatment, talk to your doctor about maybe putting you on a different medication. It could be that you are not responding well to your current ongoing treatment.
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