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Deal Effectively With Anxiety
Of course, you have met people who worry and are anxious. When the cause of anxiety ends, life returns to normal. Everyone across the globe experiences anxiety sometime during life; this is normal. Anxiety, like pain and anger, alerts us that something is wrong, and needs to change for our safety and self-preservation. Anxiety can signal a need for "fight or flight" from a potentially dangerous situation. Generally, anxiety is not a problem when it is short-term and situational. You Can Deal Effectively With Anxiety and enhance the quality of your life.
Anxiety has many causes. Social situations and places may cause anxiety. One cause of anxiety may be the place you live. Certain areas of the United States and of the world may be more stressful to live in due to overpopulation, war, threat of war, high crime rates, high poverty levels, gang activity, unavailability of proper food, water and clothing, and even severe environmental conditions (such as extreme heat or cold), isolation from others, disability, and socio-cultural/class issues (cultures define anxiety differently across cultural groups).
Would it surprise you to know that anxiety disorders are learned behaviors? That means that you can learn to make changes in your life to reduce anxiety. As a child, you may have learned to be overly cautious. If you were not able to bond or form positive attachments to people important to you in your life as a child, you learned emotional insecurity, producing anxiety. If your parents were demanding, strict, and controlling (as in some military families), you may have learned to become a perfectionist. You may have learned a lack of assertiveness in childhood, if you did not feel safe expressing your feelings and you actions. The good news is that You Can Deal Effectively With Anxiety as an adult.
Many anxiety disorders share common symptoms with panic attacks. Panic attacks can be unexpected, situational (have a trigger, something that sets them off), and are fear related (crowded elevator, crowd of people, feeling trapped, fear of an animal or object), or may occur some time after an event. During a panic attack, you may feel like they are dying. People who experience panic attacks tend to have a higher rate of suicide, report poor physical health, poor social skills, marital difficulties, mental health problems, and have difficulty managing their finances. There is hope. You Can Deal Effectively With Anxiety with the help of a well-qualified professional counselor.
Anxiety disorders often result from use/abuse and withdrawal from certain substances. Drugs and alcohol use may cause anxiety, compulsions, obsessions, and panic attacks. Laboratory tests, physical exams, and details given to your doctor (history) all help determine whether anxiety is substance-induced. Substance induced anxiety can cause a significant disruption with your work, social and personal life. People use alcohol and drugs to numb or relieve pain, deal with anger, end frustration, anxiety, and panic, and escape the unbearable. Without help, it will get worse. You may feel shame following alcohol/drug abuse, yet feel that you need to continue using. You Can Deal Effectively With Anxiety without using alcohol or drugs.
If you have a panic attack, it may feel like a sudden, severe fear that feels the worst in about ten minutes. Panic attack symptoms are: shortness of breath, heart symptoms (pounding, racing, or skipping a beat), chest pain or discomfort, dizziness, shortness of breath, feeling smothered, numbness or tingling, trembling, chills, hot flashes, sweating, choking sensation, nausea, fatigue, sleeplessness (from stress), irritability, agitation, fear of future events, and fear of dying. If you have chronic anxiety, you probably seek medical help more than other people and have difficulty remembering symptoms to report to your physician. If you experience a panic attack, you may feel unreal or detached from yourself, or fear that you will lose control or go insane.
Listen carefully to your body. Some medical conditions that produce anxiety and look like anxiety disorders may be: hypoglycemia (reaction to low blood sugar), mitral valve prolapse, thyroid imbalance, PMS, inner ear disturbances, respiratory distress, withdrawal from drugs, temporal lobe problems, traumatic brain injury, vitamin deficiencies, allergic reactions, and side effects of medication. When you experience anxiety, your body produces excess cortisol (adrenaline). Some medical studies show that a significant number of cardiac patients have anxiety disorders. Depression and substance abuse may occur with anxiety disorders. To treat some anxiety symptoms, physicians may recommend using biofeedback, or medication (psychopharmacology).
You are not alone. You can choose different ways to think about your anxiety, You Can Deal Effectively With Anxiety through counseling. Counselors use cognitive behavioral therapy to help you restructure the way you perceive things that produce anxiety, and learn ways to change your behavior in relation to anxiety. Counselors can teach you problem solving, coping, and social skills, encourage and support you as they educate you about anxiety. Journaling may help as you learn to cope with anxiety. Counselors use systematic desensitization (short exposure to anxiety triggers that increase in intensity and duration) to help you learn, step-by-step, to tolerate a situation without anxiety. Group therapy is a great way to help you understand that you are not alone. When your counselor recommends that you participate in longer groups, you may experience anxiety in a safe situation, and learn that you can cope with your anxious feelings.