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Loneliness

Understanding Anxiety

  • WHAT IS IT?

  • HOW DOES IT AFFECT YOU?

  • HOW TO COPE WITH SYMPTOMS?

  • HOW TO LIVE A LIFE FREE FROM ANXIETY.

  • MY PERSONAL STORY WITH ANXIETY AND WHY I’M GLAD I EXPERIENCED IT

YOU ARE NOT MAD!!!

Anxiety disorders are very common, they are the most common of mental disorders and effect nearly 30% of adults at some point in their lives.  The most important thing to understand here is that YOU are NOT going mad.  It may feel that you are losing your mind and that you are never going to be ‘back to normal’, but with the right treatment you can trust that you are going to live a normal productive life FREE FROM ANXIETY.

Image by Nik

SO, WHAT IS ANXIETY?

Anxiety is the activation of the fight or flight mechanism, usually resulting from a triggered thought or circumstance, or an unresolved trauma that has set of this alert.  Our fight or flight response is designed to keep us safe.

 

Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness and unease about something with an uncertain outcome.  Some people will find it hard to control their worries; their feelings of anxiety will remain as a constant presence, impacting their daily lives.

 

Difficult experiences in childhood, adolescence or adulthood are common triggers for anxiety problems.  Going through stress and trauma when you’re very young is likely to have a particularly big impact.

Anxiety is the main symptom of several conditions, including:
 

  • Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

  • Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)

  • Panic disorder (panic attacks)

  • Social anxiety disorder (social phobia)

  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

  • Health anxiety (hypochondria)

  • Phobias, such as agoraphobia or claustrophobia 

Typical symptoms of anxiety

  • Raised heart rate, chest pains, heavy weight on chest

  • Difficulty breathing, feeling like lungs crushing

  • During an attack – frozen, lack of reasoning

  • Nausea

  • Sweating

  • Mental fog, lack of concentration, can’t make decisions

  • Easily distracted (mentally)

  • Insomnia – trouble sleeping or staying asleep

  • Heightened alertness

  • Stomach issues – diarrhoea, IBS, a sense of ‘butterflies’ in the stomach

  • Shaky or trembling

  • Headaches

  • Dry mouth, changes in appetite

  • Fatigue

  • Muscle aches, pains, shoulder/neck pain

  • Raising thoughts, uncontrollable overthinking

  • Feelings of dread or impending doom

  • Irritability

  • Disassociation – feeling detached from self and emotions

 

Your thoughts might look like this

 

  • Overthinking – catastrophizing, thinking of all the scenarios that can go wrong

  • Worry and concern

  • Nervousness, lack of concentration, easily distracted

  • Heightened emotional state

  • Sense of dread and foreboding

  • Playing events over and over before they have happened: “What if… what if…”

  • Health anxiety – Dr Google, creating symptoms, worst-case

Image by Saad Chaudhry

How to FREE yourself from anxiety

Most people will concentrate on trying to change the behaviour (the symptoms of anxiety) although this may be helpful for a while, it won’t heal the real reason for the anxiety happening.  Anxiety happens because of a belief that is stored in the subconscious mind that has been developed from a past experience (usually in childhood) has been triggered by a present event or situation and has you believing that there is danger.  This belief is outdated and a new one needs to be replaced.  This will then lead you to a life FREE from anxiety.

My story (a very condensed version)

In 2014 I experienced an anxiety episode that lasted for around 3 weeks.  I had experienced a few episodes before in my life as a child and a teen but not as an adult.  I couldn’t understand why this was happening to me because I was so happy in life and I was also training to be a counsellor so surely this shouldn’t happen to me.  But that is the reality of this, ANXIETY CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE.  

 

I spent days at a time trying to hide from anyone around me, rocking back and forth at times, feeling so afraid of life and my future – I felt constant nervousness.  I couldn’t eat properly and I was weak and exhausted by the end of each day because I was trying so hard to fight it.  I was so suspicious of everyone and my thinking was completely irrational.  I felt completely disconnected from reality and even my own body.  

 

It felt like nothing could change how I was feeling until one night I drunk so much wine, put my coat on and went out in the dark and walked for miles not even knowing or caring where I was going.  I had family and friends trying to help but I was so disconnected from myself, I couldn’t even talk to them.  I couldn’t make sense of this experience and just didn’t know what to do. 

 

I ended up walking into a mental health hospital and asked to be assessed by a therapist.  Together we went back through my childhood journey and looked at events that could possibly relate to my present experience.  I began to make connections to an event that had happened when I was six years old and was able to see that I developed a belief that I was to hold on to throughout my whole life and would be triggered if I was to ever experience a similar event as an adult.  I was beginning to understand the root cause of my anxiety and with the help of my therapist I was able to heal myself and finally free myself from it.  I was able to change the meaning of the event and move forward with that new meaning.   I look back at that experience with complete gratitude because although it was a very tough experience, it gave me great insight as to how my future clients may feel and an understanding of the process that would free them from anxiety.  It also inspired me to keep going with my studying to find the best treatment I could find to learn and use with clients.  RTT has been this!!!  

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