Anxiety
If you feel like any of these issues effect you then you should contact your GP or an appropriate healthcare professional that specialises in the treatment of mental health conditions. This text is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to diagnose or outline a course of treatment for any particular individual or any particular condition. It is also not meant to contradict any existing diagnosis or treatment for any individual or condition.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear.
Anxiety is a perfectly normal emotion that pre-empts situations where we fear the worse may happen. Everyone will experience anxiety at some point in their life. People will commonly feel short-term anxiety when, for example, sitting an exam or having a medical test.
However, some people find it hard to control their worries and fears, and can experience anxiety more constantly to the point where it has a negative impact on their life.
Symptoms of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Anxiety disorders encompass a range of different disorders, such as Panic Disorder, phobias, Agoraphobia, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
The NHS list the symptoms of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) as:
Worry that is uncontrollable and causes distress.
Worry that affects your daily life.
Worries you can not let go of.
Worries that are widespread over many facets of your life.
Symptoms of restlessness or being on edge.
Irritability.
Fatigue.
Difficulty concentrating or your mind goes blank.
Difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep.
Tense muscles.
Panic attacks.
Here is a link to a NHS Depression and Anxiety self assessment quiz.
Treatment of Anxiety disorders
The NHS recommends:
Talking about how you’re feeling to a friend, family member, health professional or counsellor.
Using calm breathing exercises.
Exercise e.g. running (the NHS couch to 5K), walking, swimming and yoga.
Eat a healthy diet with regular meals.
Engage in Mindfulness practice.
Mindfulness practice involves paying more attention to the present moment to improve your mental well-being.
Paying more attention, and being more aware, of a particular moment in time can include:
An open-minded curiosity to explore and challenge how engrained thoughts, feelings and beliefs influence why you think, feel and act in a particular way.
Being aware of how your body is feeling e.g. doing a ‘body scan’ to see if you are holding tension anywhere. For instance are you, at this moment, holding tension in your shoulders or jaw? Is your breathing free flowing and easy?
Being aware of the world around you. For instance you might draw all your attention to the present moment by fully concentrating on the sound of the wind, or the birds, or the feel of the wind against your face.
By drawing all your attention to a particular thing in a moment in time it enables you to stand back from your thoughts and feelings. This helps you realise their patterns and the perspectives that led to them. It enables you to be open-minded and curios entertaining conflicting ideas and arguments that inspire you to explore new potentials and new possibilities.
This allows you to realise that thoughts do not have control over you; they are a ‘mental event’ that can be challenged by challenging your perceptions and redefining yourself.