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What Causes Generalised Anxiety?
Generalised anxiety disorder isnt caused by one specific thing it develops from a combination of genetics, individual differences in personality, and life experiences.
Theres strong evidence that genes play an important role in the development of anxiety. Generalised anxiety disorder runs in families, and having a parent or sibling with anxiety can increase your risk of having anxiety as well.
Stressful life eventsalso play a part in the development of anxiety and depression. Stressful situations like unemployment, illness, childbirth, divorce, financial insecurity, moving, retirement, or starting a new job can have a significant impact on your mental health. Ongoing conflicts with others, loneliness, and the loss of someone or something important can also take their toll on our well-being.
Your personality structure can also influence how you feel. For example, being self-critical or perfectionistic, setting high standards for yourself, or being a worrier can increase your risk of developing anxiety.
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Treatment Options For Patients With Anxiety
There are two primary treatments for individuals with anxiety:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy , which involves learning how to lower anxiety and face distressing situations.
- Medication management with antidepressants, which works well on its own but even better when coupled with CBT.
During therapy, continue to show your support by:
- Asking your loved one what you can do to help them.
- Asking if you can attend a therapy session to learn some skills to better support them.
- Making time for your own life and interests to sustain your energy.
- Encouraging your loved one to try another therapist if the first one isnt a good fit.
Depression Symptoms In Adults
Depression in older adults is not a normal thing. Old-aged people are always found neglecting to recruit help from professionals. Which is, unfortunately, the most important part to be noticed about them.
- Loss of memory
- Physical problems, or hormonal changes in older adults.
- Sleeping disorders, change in appetite, loss of interest in sex when not under any medications.
- Due to not receiving proper attention from their family members or their children.
- They felt lonely, which leads to a loss of hope and constant guilt.
- Unhealthy surrounding situations trigger a feeling of hopelessness and negative thoughts.
- Loss of interaction with friends and other people leads to suicidal thoughts and a feeling of captivity.
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Name What Youre Feeling
When youre experiencing an anxious episode, you may not realize whats going on until youre really in the thick of it.
Recognizing anxiety for what it is may help you calm down quicker.
Name that this is anxiety not reality and that it will pass, says Kim Hertz, a psychotherapist at New York Therapy Practice. When you are in a heightened state of anxiety, you want to disrupt that cycle, and for some people, thought-stopping techniques are effective and as simple as saying stop to the internalized messaging that heightens anxiety.
In other words, consider recognizing that what youre feeling is anxiety and talking yourself through it.
Embrace absolute truths, says Steven Sultanoff, clinical psychologist and professor at Pepperdine University. I will get through this one way or another.
Naming your sensations and feelings may help you step away from them. This is anxiety, it is not you and it wont last forever.
Coping Tips For Living With Severe Anxiety
Anxiety disorder does not have a cure, but you can take steps to manage it. This is a chronic mental illness that never fully goes away. That doesnt mean you cant make significant improvements to reduce anxiety and function more normally.
Treatment is the foundation of managing anxiety. It will give you many of the tools needed to reduce symptoms and live well with this disorder. One-time treatment is not a cure, though. You will need to learn and practice coping skills.
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What Is Depression And Anxiety And How To Overcome It
We always discussed it. There are so many different types of anxiety and depression. Let’s talk about it. What is depression, its main cause/ root of these problems and how can we overcome them.
While anxiety is primarily characterized by concern, tension, and fear, depression is primarily characterized by a sustained gloomy, depressed or hopeless mood. Depression is a mood disorder that can affect daily life and is also marked by a lingering sense of melancholy and loss of interest.
When Anxiety Becomes Crippling Seeking Professional Care
If you have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, or feel that you could be diagnosed, you can benefit from professional treatment. Anyone struggling with anxiety will get something out of care, but there are also important signs that indicate treatment is essential:
- You cant control your anxiety, worries, and fears, and they become overwhelming.
- Your physical health is suffering because of anxiety.
- You are unable to do essential taskstake care of yourself, work, care for children.
- Anxiety leaves you frozen, your mind blank, and you cant think or act.
- The anxiety is with you more days than not.
- You avoid or miss out on doing activities or socializing because of anxiety.
In other words, if anxiety is taking over your life, preventing you from doing normal activities, and making you miserable most days, its time to get treatment.
A stay in a residential facility is a great option for crippling anxiety. It will give you the opportunity to focus on therapy and learning coping skills. The more effort and time you can put into treatment, the better you will be able to function and manage this mental illness.
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How To Help Someone With Anxiety
All of us worry and get scared from time to time. But those with anxiety may feel consumed by fears of things that might seem irrational to others. It can be hard to relate to these concerns, and as a result, many people dont know how to best help someone with anxiety. People are often dismissive of people experiencing anxiety, says Joseph McGuire, Ph.D., a pediatric psychologist with Johns Hopkins Medicine. With other medical illnesses, you may be able to see physical symptoms. But with anxiety, you dont necessarily see what the person is dealing with. So its important to be sensitive to what the person with anxiety is going through, even if it doesnt make sense to you. Its distressing to watch a loved one experience panic attacks and face anxiety every day, but there are things you can do to help. It starts with recognizing the signs of excessive worry and understanding the best ways to support your loved one.
What Is Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Mental health statistics show GAD â characterized by excessive, exaggerated and pervasive worrying â affects 3 percent of the U.S. population, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health.
“People with generalized anxiety disorder tend to continuously expect cataclysmic and apocalyptic outcomes,” says Rosalind S. Dorlen, PsyD, a New Jersey-based, board-certified clinical psychologist and member of the psychiatry department at the Overlook Medical Center. They also struggle to stop or control worrying, which is often out of proportion for the situation.
When severe, GAD can negatively affect a person’s quality of life and interfere with their ability to function daily.
If you’re stuck in a constant state of worry, fear and dread, you may want to seek the help of a professional .
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Challenge Your Anxious Thoughts
Our mind can play tricks on us when were anxious, which means our thinking can end up distorted. For example, an abrupt email from your boss might make you think youve made a mistake, or a friend not texting you back may lead you to think theyre not talking to you. However, before you accept thoughts like this, which will fuel your anxiety, ask yourself whether the thought is a fact or an opinion. If its an opinion, you may be getting anxious for nothing
How Do You Cope
To cope with plain-vanilla anxiety, “get real,” as they say. “Separate out the real risks and dangers that a situation presents and those your imagination is making worse,” advises Ross. It’s a twist on the old adage: “Take control of the things you can, and accept those you can’t change.”
“Ask yourself: Where can you take control of a situation? Where can you make changes? Then do what needs to be done,” she says. “What things do you simply have to accept? That’s very important.”
Very often, it’s possible to get past an anxiety cycle with the help of friends or family — someone who can help you sort out your problems. But when anxiety becomes overwhelming, it’s time for a therapist, or perhaps medication.
Here are two strategies that therapists use to help us conquer anxiety:
Challenge negative thoughts.
Ask yourself: Is this a productive thought? Is it helping me get closer to my goal? If it’s just a negative thought you’re rehashing, then you must be able to say to that thought: ‘Stop.’ “That’s difficult to do, but it’s very important,” Ross says.
Rather than becoming paralyzed with anxiety, here’s another message you can send yourself: “I may have to take a job I don’t like as much, may have to travel further than I want, but I’ll do what I have to do now. At least I will have the security of income in the short term. Then I can look for something better later.”
Learn to relax.
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Work With Anxiety Not Against It
Steven Hayes, professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Nevada in Reno, a prominent figure in the field of mental health and, more importantly, a man who is no stranger to panic attacks himself advocates for a more self-compassionate and self-accepting way of dealing with anxiety.
In fact, Prof. Hayes is the founder of one of the newest and most innovative forms of cognitive behavioral therapy, called acceptance commitment therapy . This form of therapy starts with the acceptance and neutral, non-judgemental observation of negative thoughts, and moves toward bringing the client into the present moment and helping them lead a meaningful life.
In this video, he explains why seeing anxiety as your enemy is not helpful. If you see your feelings of anxiety as your enemy, he says, then you see your personal history as your enemy if your physical sensations are your enemy, then your body is your enemy and fighting your anxiety means fighting yourself.
This self-denial and self-avoidance are what ultimately leads to psychopathologies, Prof. Hayes notes. Instead, he suggests, try to hold your fear in a self-compassionate way. Bring that frightened part of you close and treat it with some dignity.
Its perhaps worth mentioning that ACT has proven effective in the treatment of anxiety in a wide range of
Types Of Extreme Anxiety
It is also essential to understand that there are many different types of anxiety disorders. Your doctor or therapist can evaluate your symptoms and determine what kind of condition you might have.
If you or a loved one are struggling with anxiety, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for information on support and treatment facilities in your area.
For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database.
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Tip : Learn To Calm Down Quickly
While socially interacting with another person face-to-face is the quickest way to calm your nervous system, its not always realistic to have a friend close by to lean on. In these situations, you can quickly self-soothe and relieve anxiety symptoms by making use of one or more of your physical senses:
Sight Look at anything that relaxes you or makes you smile: a beautiful view, family photos, cat pictures on the Internet.
Sound Listen to soothing music, sing a favorite tune, or play a musical instrument. Or enjoy the relaxing sounds of nature : ocean waves, wind through the trees, birds singing.
Smell Light scented candles. Smell the flowers in a garden. Breathe in the clean, fresh air. Spritz on your favorite perfume.
Taste Slowly eat a favorite treat, savoring each bite. Sip a hot cup of coffee or herbal tea. Chew on a stick of gum. Enjoy a mint or your favorite hard candy.
Touch Give yourself a hand or neck massage. Cuddle with a pet. Wrap yourself in a soft blanket. Sit outside in the cool breeze.
Movement Go for a walk, jump up and down, or gently stretch. Dancing, drumming, and running can be especially effective.
Focus On What You Can Change
Many times anxiety stems from fearing things that havent even happened and may never occur. For example, even though everything is okay, you may still worry about potential issues, such as losing your job, becoming ill, or the safety of your loved ones.
Life can be unpredictable and no matter how hard you try, you cant always control what happens. However, you can decide how you are going to deal with the unknown. You can turn your anxiety into a source of strength by letting go of fear and focusing on gratitude.
Replace your fears by changing your attitude about them. For example, stop fearing to lose your job and instead focus on how grateful you are to have a job. Come to work determined to do your best. Instead of fearing your loved one’s safety, spend time with them, or express your appreciation of them. With a little practice, you can learn to dump your anxiety and pick up a more positive outlook.
At times, your anxiety may actually be caused by a real circumstance in your life. Perhaps youre in a situation where it is realistic to be worried about losing your job due to high company layoffs or talks of downsizing.
When anxiety is identified as being caused by a current problem, then taking action may be the answer to reducing your anxiety. For example, you may need to start job searching or scheduling interviews after work.
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Test Out Your Assumptions
Often, when we get anxious about things, were making a negative prediction about what will happen. For example, you might be anxious about going to a party on your own because you think no-one will talk to you. However, if you test this out, its likely that youll prove yourself wrong, showing you that there was nothing to be anxious about in the first place