Feeling anxious before a test or an event is helpful and can be constructive as it can enhance performance. Anxiety can be helpful as in a response to something that may be dangerous. It’s normal to feel anxious when you are stressed about something in particular. But when everything becomes dangerous and the anxiety response can’t or isn’t turned off it can cause problems in your life. Anxiety can interfere with normal life and cause avoidance of important activities and people in your life. Anxiety is considered a disorder when it begins to interfere with your normal activities, you avoid important events because of the anxiety you feel and the anxiety doesn’t stop.
What are the symptoms of anxiety disorder?
You may experience feelings of restlessness, nervousness, fatigue, headaches, trouble concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, sleep problems, feelings of impending doom or danger. You may have an increased heart rate and respiratory rate when feeling anxious. You may feel hyper-vigilant, seeing and hearing everything that is going on around you, looking for the threat that you feel.
Hyper-vigilance can make it difficult to concentrate on anything else as you are trying to protect yourself from a perceived threat. Sleep is a big issue. You may have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep once you finally do sleep.
Generalized anxiety disorder can include or lead to panic attacks. A panic attack may occur when intense, sudden feelings of strong anxiety and fear occur and reach a peak within minutes. The symptoms of a panic attack are basically the same but intensified, including increased heart rate, hyperventilating, sweating, trembling, feeling weak or tired. You may develop chest discomfort because you are so tense and you’re hyperventilating. You may experience nausea and gastrointestinal problems.
What causes Generalized Anxiety Disorder?
There is no one cause of anxiety disorder, some people tend to be at greater risk for developing it than others. Children and adolescents tend to be at a higher risk. Sometimes this behaviour and way of thinking is learned from a parent or other caregiver. In children and adolescents their brains are still developing and the haven’t yet learned to discern fear tactics often used especially in the news on TV and in the papers. Women tend to develop anxiety disorders more often than men, although it could be under reported in men. Younger adults tend to report more anxiety than older adults. Anxiety also tends to be reported more often in lower income communities.
Alcohol or drugs use or misuse can cause or worsen anxiety. As can withdrawal from alcohol or drugs.
Stress can also trigger anxiety, ongoing worry about job or finances, a death or divorce in the family can cause worry about coping without that person. Family disagreement or health problems in a family member can cause anxiety disorder if the worry tends to be long term.
What to do if you have overwhelming anxiety?
Go see your health care professional if you have what you think is excessive anxiety and worry. You worry and get anxious about a number of different things, not just one or 2 events or activities. Your anxiety and worry is difficult to control, and you have more than a few of the symptoms listed above. For a diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder there criteria must be present for at least 6 months; The anxiety, worry and symptoms you experience must cause impairment in you life, that is, they interfere in important aspects of your life; and the anxiety is not better explained by a medical condition, other psychiatric condition or by drug or alcohol abuse or misuse.
Anxiety may be caused by other illness or as a side effect of certain medications. It is very important to be assessed by a competent medical practitioner who is familiar with the condition.
What can Ido to help my anxiety?
There are many medications on the market that can help with anxiety. They mostly all have benefit, they all have side effects. You and your Doctor have to decide what are the risks versus the benefits of any medication you take.
There are also many alternative routes you can take.
The first one on my list is Exercise. Any form of movement done on a regular basis, preferably one that raises your heart rate and your respiratory rate for more than 15 minutes daily. Regular exercise can actually change your brain chemicals that in turn changes how you think. It makes your thinking more clear and naturally reduces any anxiety or worry and turns down the stress hormones. Start where you are. If you can only take a slow 10 minute walk, start there and increase as you are able. Aim for 20 to 30 minutes of exercise everyday. Change it up to keep it interesting and more enjoyable. Choose activities you enjoy, playing frisbee in the park, jogging with a buddy, bike riding with the children, even walking the dog at a brisk pace.
Number 2 Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can help you become aware of your thoughts before they become upsetting and start you on the anxiety pathway. By becoming aware of your thoughts you can change them and thus change the anxiety provoking thoughts to more positive thoughts. If you can change the way you see your life and the world around you then your life and the world around you changes. Change your inside then your outside begins to change. This takes practice and assistance. See a professional who has knowledge and competency in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. What is your self talk? What words do you say to yourself in your own mind when you start feeling worry or anxiety? Do you compare yourself to others?
Number 3 Volunteer your services to a charity, community, church or homeless shelter. Often, helping others in need and seeing others in differing situations than yours can help get your mind off your own thoughts and stop the anxiety pathway before it starts. Helping others in need lifts you up and gives you a larger perspective on life. You can begin to realize you have less to worry about, to get anxious about than you thought when you give of yourself to others who can have great need. You don’t need to have any special skills or knowledge to help others. You just need to be willing and able.
Number 4 Meditation can help you quiet your mind. When you can slow down the negative thoughts that keep coming to your mind it’s easier to see them objectively. All those “what if” thoughts that keep coming and the “Oh My God!” feelings start to slow and it’s easier to see them for what they are. They really are just thoughts. Beliefs are just thoughts you keep thinking. Change the thinking and you change your beliefs. Meditation also changes the brain chemistry. After about 6 weeks of regular meditation your serotonin - melatonin balances, your stress hormones dissipate. Dopamine becomes more balanced. You begin to see yourself in a better light, your self esteem rises, your sense of self becomes stronger. Meditation helps you become better at life.
There are several ways to help yourself if you think you have Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The first thing is to see your health care practitioner and get assessed. Don’t let your Doctor just give you a prescription for pills. Make sure you have a conversation about other ways to treat anxiety as well as the risks and benefits of medication. Medication should be a last resort for anxiety disorders unless you have a more complex problem than generalized anxiety.
