Chances are we have all felt stressed, anxious, or nervous from time to time in our life. These emotional feelings result from feeling pressured and/or fearful. As an example, giving a speech, sitting an exam, hearing strange noises whilst home alone. Often this is a transitory happening, resolving when the stressful event has gone or lessened. For many people though, these feelings linger without a reason. They often feel anxious more than feeling calm/composed. It’s estimated that about 14% of us will experience an anxiety disorder at some stage in our life.
Typical signs of anxiety are palpitations (a racing heartbeat), sweating, over thinking – not being able to shut off thoughts – negative, irrational thoughts. Also, hot or cold flushes, and a feeling of tightness in the chest. Other symptoms are – feeling edgy, a bundle of nerves, irritable, weary, fuzzy/hazy in the head. Muscle aches and pains are also common due to continual tenseness.
Individuals with PTSD have flashbacks – very upsetting mental re-enactments or memories of the event(s). Most PTSD victims report feeling emotionally numb, and are extremely guarded as well as being “wired”, i.e, easily startled. They also avoid situations that remind them of the traumatic event and have a negative rather than positive focus on life, particularly the future.
Social phobia is where the person feels severe anxiety in social situations – social interactions like having a meal or going to a party, and performance based ones, namely at work. They feel very self- conscious, and will do anything to avoid the settings they find confronting. When “confronted” with these social situations, they “freak out” – nausea, diarrhoea, sweating, and trembling feature prominently with this type of anxiety. Specific phobias involve an irrational fear of a particular object or activity. For example, syringe needles, snakes, spiders, dogs, being in a crowd, standing on the balcony of a tall building, seeing blood. Sometimes they have had a bad experience with the feared thing in the past, but most of the time they haven’t. Their perception of the feared thing, therefore, is unrealistic – they blow the potential threat totally out of proportion. Moreover, phobic people go overboard to the point of trying to avoid the phobic event at all costs.
Examples include: “What if I left the iron on/forgot to lock the door”, resulting in going back to check the iron is off or the door is locked numerous times in case something terrible happens. “I don’t want to get sick”, “I can’t get sick”, “What if I got really sick”, leading to incessant hand washing to the point of dermatitis, and excessive housecleaning, just in case illness or injury befalls them or a loved one. “It’s not right”, “It has to be right”, “Everything is wrong”, thereby, putting objects, like personal belongings, into perfect alignment – not being able to stop ordering them until they are right. Another sort of OCD is an uncontrollable need to collect things, which is called hoarding – clothes, newspapers, and objects of desire are common. Finally, the ritual of counting is a classic form of OCD. This is when the individual feels they have to count objects over and over again, often to the point of mental exhaustion. OCD can be crippling, both emotionally and practicably, often dictating how the person lives their life.
There are a number of types of anxiety, and people who experience them can report symptoms characteristic of each type:
Several explanations as to why some people are so affected by anxiety have been suggested. It’s usually the case though that a combination of factors trigger the onset of an anxiety disorder. Causes include: ongoing stressful situations either in the home (separation, new baby, new home, or a death) and/or at work (workplace stress like bullying, shift work, or being too busy). Also, a personal crisis, e.g, having to make a life-changing decision; emotional, physical or sexual abuse, or a personal attack can contribute to anxiety.
An individual’s personal disposition can also contribute to an anxiety disorder. If a person is a profound worrier – always thinking something bad will happen – they are more prone to develop anxiety. Also, those of us with very high expectations of ourselves &/or others are at risk. Another factor is our self-esteem – how we feel about ourselves, judge our abilities, and perceive our likeability. Shyness and a lack of assertiveness also appear to be important causes for anxiety.
A family history of anxiety can also play an important role. It appears to be quite common that people who suffer from anxiety have a parent or other family member with an anxiety disorder. Among other causes are health concerns such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and hormonal problems. Substance abuse, namely, alcohol, cannabis, and amphetamines can be a significant factor also.
If you think you, or someone you know may be experiencing anxiety, here’s a very useful, and confidential test from the Beyond Blue website that may provide some answers. It’s important to say that any diagnosis of one of the types of anxiety can only be made by a health professional.
Several options are available for the treatment of the anxiety disorders. Maybe the first thing to try is to talk to a friend or loved one about how you’re feeling. Sometimes this can really help, and provide a renewed sense of calm, personal control and composure, as well as a positive perspective and outlook on life.
There are several Health Professionals who can really help you work towards recovery. A G.P. would be a good person to see early on. They can suggest appointments with a Clinical Psychologist, Psychologist, or Social Worker. These can prove very useful as they offer therapy/counselling techniques which both address the reasons the anxiety developed in the first place, as well as provide strategies to moderate the symptoms and experience of anxiety.
These techniques include:
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness Therapy.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.
The G.P. may also suggest a course of medication, which can be effective in treating the symptoms of anxiety disorders. These medications are often prescribed for those people whose anxiety disorder seems to be related to altered levels of brain chemicals.
So, for those of us experiencing an anxiety disorder, there is hope.
Mindfulness Practice for Group Participants of the Mindfulness Group for Anxiety.
This is a 17 minute mindfulness practice I’ve prepared for you, and is the same practice we did during week 4 of our programme. It guides you through being mindful of the experience of unpleasant sensations in your body.
You’ll hear some useful ways of managing these sensations, allowing you to change the relationship with them in a helpful way.