Anxiety Is Not Always Bad
On that note, keep in mind that anxiety, as an emotion, is not inherently bad. Its only debilitating in the wrong amounts. Having the appropriate level of anxiety in our brain not too much, but just enough can actually motivate us. Like the example given above, anxiety is a contributing factor in motivating us to study for tests, determine how to act among others, maintain our physical health, achieve our aspirational goals, and so on. Its only when our levels of anxiety get out of balance that it becomes unhealthy and dysfunctional. Thats when we need to seek treatment.
How People Get Tricked
People’s natural instincts to protect themselves are what lead them to get tricked. See if you recognize your responses in these examples below.
A person with Panic Disorder gets tricked into holding her breath and fleeing the store , rather than shifting to Belly Breathing. and staying there until the feelings pass.
A person with Generalized Anxiety Disorder gets tricked into trying to stop the unwanted “what if?” thoughts, rather than accepting them and taking care of present business as thoughts come and go.
A person with Social Phobia gets tricked into avoiding the party, or hiding in the corner if he attends, rather than say hello to a stranger and see what happens.
A person with OCD gets tricked into repeatedly washing his hands, or returning home to check the stove, rather than accepting the intrusive thoughts of contamination and fire and returning his energies to the present activities at hand.
A person with a dog phobia gets tricked into avoiding the feelings by avoiding all dogs, rather than spending time with a dog until the feelings pass.
Whats The Outlook For People With Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders can often go undiagnosed and untreated. Fortunately, treatment can help. The right treatment can help improve your quality of life, relationships and productivity. It can also support your overall well-being.
You dont need to live with constant worry and fear. If you notice symptoms of an anxiety disorder, talk to your healthcare provider. Its best to get diagnosed and treated as soon as possible. Doing so can limit the problems that anxiety disorders can cause. Often, a combination of medications and counseling for anxiety can help you feel your best.
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How Do Anxiety Disorders Affect Children
Its normal for children to feel some amount of anxiety, worry or fear at certain points. For example, a child may feel scared of a thunderstorm or barking dog. A teenager might get anxious about an upcoming test or school dance.
But sometimes, children approach these situations with overwhelming dread or they cant stop thinking about all the fears tied to one of these events. It may seem that none of your comforts help. These children often get stuck on their worries. They have a hard time doing their daily activities, like going to school, playing and falling asleep. Theyre extremely reluctant to try something new.
When thinking about your childs anxiety levels, getting stuck is key. It separates the regular worries of childhood from an anxiety disorder that needs professional help. If the anxiety or worry interferes with your childs ability to function, it may be time to seek help
Stress Is Not Anxiety Or Depression
Stress is not the same as anxiety or depression but for some people, being stressed for a long time can lead to anxiety or depression, and it can affect a persons physical health, particularly cardiovascular health.
When we talk about being stressed, it usually means were upset or tense about something thats happening in our lives. Stress is a normal part of daily life. Its a natural physical and mental response that is designed to help people cope effectively with emergencies.
Some stress can be a good thing. It can help us get motivated to get things done, but health problems from stress happen when it is regular and doesnt let up.
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Anxiety Is A Stress Response
The American Psychiatric Association explains that anxiety is a stress response that plays a role in protecting us and alerting us to things that need our attention. However, anxiety that is out of proportion to a situation or hinders someones ability to function could mean an anxiety disorder is the problem.
When Anxiety / Worry Warrants Attention:
Features of Excessive Worry / Generalized Anxiety:
- Do you have persistent, excessive, intrusive worry?
- Do you find yourself asking/saying: What if ________ happens?
- Is your worry difficult to control?
- Do you worry when there is nothing wrong?
- Do you worry for most of your waking hours?
- Do you ask others for reassurance, but then continue to worry anyway?
- Does your worry shift from one concern to another concern? or worry shift from one topic to another topic?
- Do your worries tend to be about typical life situations?
- Do you have the voice in the head of self-doubt, criticism, failing?
- Does your worry interfere with your sleep?
- Does your worry interfere with your attention or concentration?
- Do you feel restless or edgy or irritable?
- Do you feel fatigued or exhausted
- Do you have sweating or upset stomach or headaches or muscle tension?
If you experience chronic or waxing-waning excessive worry / anxiety in more than one area, then you probably have Generalized Anxiety and I have super great news for you, therapy can help conquer the root cause of excessive worry /anxiety and therapy can help in the reduction and relief from the symptoms and you dont even need to take medication.
Often most people will initially seek treatment for the symptoms. Some of the tools and techniques that you will learn will focus on immediate symptom reduction.
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Can Anxiety Go Away On It’s Own
I finally had the courage to go to see my doctor today…until I got outside the building. I sat outside for half an hour before giving up and walking away.
I see now that I am not going to be able to do it, I have tried.
How am I supposed to get the help that I need if I can’t even force myself through the door?
I’m too scared to sit there in front of my GP. And to anyone thinking that I am just being negative..yes, I am. That’s the problem I guess.
I have spent the rest of the day either crying, or staring blankly at nothing. I feel like I am just going to have to deal with it and be like this forever.
My partner tells me that going to the doctors is stupid anyway, because I am just very shy. I am pretty sure that it’s more than that, but if he’s not concerned then should I be??
Can anxiety go away on it’s own? Because the thought of feeling like this forever is just too much.
6 likes, 58 replies
What Are The Different Types Of Anxiety Disorder
This section provides an overview of the most common types of anxiety disorders.
- Generalised anxiety disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
Generalised anxiety disorder
GAD is common. The main symptom of GAD is over worrying about different activities and events. This may feel out of your control. You feel anxious a lot of the time if you have GAD. You might feel on edge and alert to your surroundings.
This can affect your day-to-day life. You might find that it affects your ability to work, travel places or leave the house. You might also get tired easily or have trouble sleeping or concentrating. You might have physical symptoms, such as muscle tension and sweating.
It is common to have other conditions such as depression or other anxiety disorders if you have GAD.
GAD can be difficult to diagnose because it does not have some of the unique symptoms of other anxiety disorders. Your doctor is likely to say you have GAD if you have felt anxious for most days over six months and it has had a bad impact on areas of your life.
Panic disorder
You will have regular panic attacks with no particular trigger if you have panic disorder. They can happen suddenly and feel intense and frightening. You may also worry about having another panic attack.
Panic disorder symptoms can include the following.
You may also dissociate during a panic attack. Such as feeling detached from yourself.
Social anxiety disorder
Some common situations where you may experience anxiety are the following.
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What Gets Rid Of Anxiety
Some are lifestyle changes that can help lessen anxiety over time, such as a regular meditation practice, physical activity, spending time outdoors, or making a few food swaps. Others, like deep breathing and distraction techniques, can provide natural anxiety relief the moment the mind sends an SOS.
Information For Carers Friends And Relatives
If you are a carer, friend or relative of someone who hears voices, you can get support.
How can I get support?
You can do the following.
- Speak to your GP about medication and talking therapies for yourself.
- Speak to your relatives care team about a carers assessment.
- Ask for a carers assessment from your local social services.
- Join a carers service. They are free and available in most areas.
- Join a carers support group for emotional and practical support. Or set up your own.
What is a carers assessment?A carers assessment is an assessment of the support that you need so that you can continue in your caring role. To get a carers assessment you need to contact your local authority.
How do I get support from my peers?You can get peer support through carer support services or carers groups. You can search for local groups in your area by using a search engine such as Google. Or you can contact the Rethink Mental Illness Advice Service and we will search for you.
How can I support the person I care for?
You can do the following.
- Read information about anxiety disorders.
- Ask the person you support to tell you what their symptoms are and if they have any self-management techniques that you could help them with.
- Encourage them to see a GP if you are worried about their mental health.
- Ask to see a copy of their care plan, if they have one. They should have a care plan if they are supported by a care coordinator.
- Help them to manage their finances.
You can find out more about:
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If You Struggle With Persistent Anxiousness You May Wish For Your Anxiety To Go Away Forever While Anxiety Does Not Have A Definitive End Point You Can Manage It
There isnt a definitive amount of time that an anxiety disorder lasts. Anxiety is a feeling of fear or worry that comes and goes depending on the situation or experiences someone has. Each occurrence of anxiety could vary in length for different people depending on their unique, individual circumstance. Some may have anxious episodes that last hours while others may only experience the effects of the disorder for a few minutes.
Each persons anxiety is also spurred on by different causes. One person might have social anxiety and experience extreme distress while in social settings or afterward for hours or days. Another person who has post-traumatic stress disorder, which is another type of anxiety disorder, could feel anxious for anywhere between a few hours or a day after recounting a traumatic memory.
Does Anxiety Last Forever
First off, if you want to make your life a lot easier, you need to change the way youre looking at anxiety.
Anxiety in and of itself is not unhealthy, atypical, or bad.
In fact, if you had absolutely NO anxiety, ever, this would likely constitute a far more serious mental health problem.
Anxiety is an emotion, like any other: Sadness, Anger, Happiness, etc. So, learn to think of it this way.
Nobody likes feeling sad, angry, or jealous. If we could choose to never feel these emotions again, many of us would jump at the chance. But we all accept that these emotions are just an inevitable part of life.
Anxiety works in exactly the same way. It is just like any other emotion.
Some days well feel sadder. Other days well feel less sad. Some days well feel more anxious. Other days well feel less anxious.Sometimes well go many days without feeling sad at all.Sometimes well go many days without feeling anxious at all.
Yet, on the days we feel less sad, we understand that we will occasionally have some sad days in our future.
This is how you need to view anxiety.
Understand the reality that some days will be worse than others. Dont expect a good day to mean that you are now immune to ever feeling a negative emotion again. And, more importantly, dont view a bad day as a sign that youre going to feel this way forever.
Anxiety is a passing state that we should naturally expect to feel from time to time throughout the course of our lives.
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How Can I Best Cope With An Anxiety Disorder
There are several steps you can take to cope with anxiety disorder symptoms. These strategies can also make your treatment more effective:
- Explore stress management: Learn ways to manage stress, such as through meditation.
- Join support groups: These groups are available in-person and online. They encourage people with anxiety disorders to share their experiences and coping strategies.
- Get educated: Learn about the specific type of anxiety disorder you have so you feel more in control. Help friends and loved ones understand the disorder as well so they can support you.
- Limit or avoid caffeine: Many people with anxiety disorder find that caffeine can worsen their symptoms.
- Talk to your healthcare provider: Your provider is your partner in your care. If you feel like treatment isnt working or have questions about your medication, contact your provider. Together, you can figure out how to best move forward.
Supporting Someone With Anxiety Or Depression
There are ways that you can help someone with anxiety or depression. It may be helpful to:
- let them know if youve noticed a change in their behaviour
- spend time talking about their experiences and let them know youre there to listen without being judgmental
- help them to get information from a website, library or community health centre
- suggest they go to a doctor or health professional, and help them to make an appointment
- offer to go with them to their appointment and follow up with them afterwards
- encourage them to get enough sleep, to exercise and to eat well
- encourage family and friends to invite them out and keep in touch, but dont pressure them to participate in activities
- contact a doctor or hospital if they become a threat to themselves or others.
It is unhelpful to:
- put pressure on them by telling them to snap out of it or get their act together
- stay away or avoid them
- tell them they just need to stay busy or get out more
- pressure them to party more or wipe out how theyre feeling with drugs and alcohol
- assume the problem will just go away.
If you or someone you know needs support, talk to a doctor or other health professional about getting appropriate treatment.
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