Anxiety is a normal emotion, which is your bodies natural response to stress. Anxiety is a feeling of fear or apprehension about with can be based on rational fear or irrational fear, generally about future events or situations which are not within your control. its normal to feel anxious, situations that can trigger anxiety can be the exams, Dr appointments, starting a new job, or taking a test. For some people the physical symptoms experienced with anxiety will pass, however for other their anxiety levels can be extreme, consistent and difficult to control, causing a significant impact on your daily life and functioning.
Anxiety disorders
Ordinary anxiety comes and goes and does not interfere with your everyday life. Anxiety becomes a problem when it begins to have a noticeable effect on your daily life, developing into a long-lasting conditioning causing you to feel anxious about various situations and issues where you find yourself feeling unable to relax. Studies have shown that if your anxiety symptoms have lasted longer than 6 months, along with interfering with your lifestyle is has developed into a disorder. Anxiety disorders may result in you stopping to do things you once enjoyed.
Symptoms of Anxiety
Anxiety can feel different to everyone, although there are common symptoms that people experience;
- Feeling of unease or worry.
- A sense of dread of fear.
- Feeling like your thoughts are out of control.
- Sleep difficulties.
- Restlessness.
- Trouble concentrating.
- Rapid breathing
- Shaking
- Hot flushes
- Tight stomach / butterflies / feeling sick.
- Dizziness
Types of Anxiety
There are various different types of anxiety, which can affect how you think, feel and behave. Physical symptoms can be similar, however thoughts and behaviour characteristics can vary depending on what type of anxiety you are struggling with.Â
Generalised anxiety disorder – Worrying excessively and uncontrollably about daily life events and activities ranging from (work life, relationships, health, money, family problems, others). These types of worries are excessive, intrusive, persistent and disruptive causing an impact on your daily functioning and lifestyle.
Phobia – Excessive, irrational fear about a specific object or situation, most specific fears fall into 4 different categories, fear of natural environment, fears related to animals, fear related to medical treatments or issues or fears related to specific situations.Â
Panic Disorders – Intense fear or unease which peaks at unexpected times, causing you to feel physically and emotional weak, feeling a sense of no control over what is happening in the moment.
Social Anxiety – Fear or anxiety about one or more social situations and interactions where you maybe exposed to be negatively judged and evaluated by other people, for example (social interactions, being observed and performing in front of others).
Obsessive compulsive disorder – Excessive obsessive, unwanted, reoccurring thoughts which is followed by compulsive behaviours to help ease the feeling of anxiety, which the person feels compelled to do in order to help them feel safe.
Post-traumatic stress disorder – Persistent anxiety or stress related to a traumatic expeirence.
How therapy can help
Your therapist will help you identify underlying triggers which has lead you to your anxious feelings, throughout he trajectory of your treatment your therapist will also help you develop tools, strategies and techniques helping you cope with your thoughts, feelings and behaviours to function in a healthy way in you daily life.
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