What is anxiety?

Overcoming anxiety

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is when your body goes into a ”flight or flight” reaction to when a person is feeling stressed or that they may be in danger. When you experience anxiety your body will release adrenaline. This is created to help you manage this situation as you react to danger in your environment. What your body feels when you have anxiety is a heightened response to a normal threat.

What are the physical signs you could be experiencing anxiety?

1. Your heart will start beating really fast, your chest may feel tight
2. You will feel your breathing pattern changes
3. You may start to sweat and feel nauseous and light headed
4. Your mouth will become dry
5. You can also identify if you’re having anxiety with the following physical conditions:
6. When you feel detached from reality often not connected to your body
7. You may become fearful of your health and worry about health conditions. As anxiety may often feel like you could be getting a heart attack.
8. Your mood may change and you may feel things irritate you’re more than usual and are tense and you want to remain in control.

Is anxiety very common in the UK?

According to research by the Mental Health foundation it is, ”More than 1 in 10 people are likely to have a ‘disabling anxiety disorder’ at some stage in their life. An estimated 13% of the adult population will develop a specific form of anxiety”. Anxiety disorders were the most common mental disorders within the EU states in 2010 with 14% prevalence.

How does anxiety develop and what are the factors that cause anxiety?

If your going through a stressful time at work or home or in your personal life not coping well with added stress can cause anxiety. External factors as well as if you have had to deal with difficult situations in your youth.A few months ago a short Swedish documentary called the ‘ Ten Metres Tower’, portrayed people filmed jumping off a ten-meter high diving board jump. It shows how fear and doubt looks like. Also for things less clear frightening can feel your fear. If you would be afraid of could you imagine that you can end up in situations that are dangerous and life-threatening? On the other can do you also not that fear your life and make you impeded in making choices and entering into new adventures.

Genetics

You may inherit genetically from your family symptoms of anxiety. It is a common genetic predisposition. According to the NCBI,”There is considerable evidence that genetic determinants play a major role in the etiology of anxiety. Investigations into susceptibility genes for anxiety are well underway, particularly for panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder and more broadly defined anxiety-related traits, such as neuroticism and harm avoidance.”

Anxiety and your brain

It is possible to have chemical imbalances in your brain. Several parts of the brain are key actors in the production of fear and anxiety. Using brain imaging technology and neurochemical techniques, scientists have discovered that the amygdala and the hippocampus play significant roles in most anxiety disorders.

Vitamin deficiency

Anxiety can also be caused if you are not getting enough nutrients to your body. Vitamin D and B12 are helpful to maintain your mood. It is a good idea to check your blood as your doctor can help advise you if your body is low in some vitamins. If you feel you have any of the above symptoms it is best to speak to your GP.

Breathing

‘I would say to anyone suffering, really work on your breathing. When you’re anxious, you breathe into your upper chest. It’s learning to breathe properly into your stomach. Once you learn – maybe go to yoga – it’s amazing how your brain can’t throw a panic attack at you.’ Brian Coney. You can learn good breathing techniques from yoga and mindfulness.

What are the best cures for anxiety?

The most important thing to remember is that you can find a way to cope and an anxiety and panic attacks will not harm you. It will feel unpleasant but there is a lot of help for you to treat this. It is a good idea to work with your GP and create an action plan as they can carefully help and supervise you. They can also refer you to get additional assistance with a Mental Health specialist. Each person is different as a person may have multiple conditions with anxiety and some can treat this naturally or with specialist medication that is provided from a GP diagnosis.

Natural cures for anxiety

A good diet is a good start. Many people who have had long-term anxiety since youth have found adjusting the diet and eating ‘brain food’ helps. Many also use exercise to help and try to get enough sleep. According to the Mayo Clinic if you’re considering taking any herbal supplement as a treatment for anxiety, talk to your doctor first, especially if you take other medications. The interaction of some herbal supplements and certain medications can cause serious side effects. If your anxiety is interfering with daily activities, talk with your doctor. More serious forms of anxiety generally need medical treatment or psychological counselling (psychotherapy) for symptoms to improve.

What is fear?

Fear is an emotion that you experience when you find yourself in a threatening situation. Fear is one of the survival mechanisms we have, in response to a situation or experience, for example, if you have pain or are in danger. If you like super anxious are paralysis can occur: you are then literally paralysed by fear. If you fear hindered in the things you want to do, it’s time to seek help. So you can overcome fear so you do new things and changes.

How I overcome my fear?

To overcome your fear, it is important to understand what happened to you if you are experiencing feelings of fear. A good way to do that is to the 4 g itinerary. This diagram is taken from the rational-Emotive therapy (RET), is the basis of the idea that psychological symptoms do not arise from a situation or an event, but come from the way you interpret the situation or event. By thinking about the 4 g’s, event, thought, feeling and behaviour, you get insight into which you attach to the thoughts, in your eyes, fearful situation. So you can see the effects of your thoughts and you can try other (positive and helping) thoughts on the situation. I hereby give an example of the 4 g schedule, so you can see how you can use the schema when you want more insight into what happened if you fear are experiencing.

Event: You’re going to have a birthday where you no one knows.
Thought: Soon I stand there only in a corner and no one wants to talk to me.
Feeling: Anxious and uncertain.
Behaviour: You rely on your instincts to dodge.

If like in this example, have brought the situation you can try to adjust your mind, for example, it’s nice to get to know new people. Your sense can thereby change to, healthy excitement and curiosity and make other behavioural choices.

Tips for overcoming fear

Things you can do to overcome your fear.
· Try to relax, your thoughts and the fear sighs.
· Don’t give in to your fear, there the fear usually correct worse of.
· The longer the fear persists, the harder it is to come from there. Pay attention to your symptoms and take yourself seriously.
· Talk about your anxiety with your friends and family.
· Try to get a good picture of your fear and the influence this has on your life.
· Bring your anxiety in the map, for example, using the 4 G’s.
· Just remember that you fear eventually will decrease.

You can also make use of (homeopathic) remedies that can help you relax and gain control over your fear. I have had good experiences with Bach Rescue products. These products can help you in stressful situations and are available in various forms (drops, spray, cream), so you can choose the one you prefer (link to the product?). Don’t let fear hold you back!

Sources: Wikipedia.org, Mental Health Foundation, WHO, Office for Statistics