Anxiety Relief and Anxiety Management
Symptoms of Anxiety
It is sometimes said that anxiety involves a triggering of the body's natural Fight or Flight response. When you perceive something as a danger or a threat, your
body
responds in certain ways. For example, the following may be symptoms of anxiety:
- Breathing faster
- Sweating
- Shivering or shaking
- Speeded
up
heart rate
Muscle
If there is a realistic danger
or risk to you then these
reactions are a normal, healthy response and once the danger has passed
they
subside.
Difficulties arise when your
perception of the threat or
danger is distorted or mistaken. In these circumstances you may
experience the
physical signs of anxiety in a situation where a neutral observer might
say
that there is no need for you to fight or flee. If this is happening
frequently
or over a sustained period of time then you are likely to experience
significant levels of stress, with potential emotional and physical
consequences
such as difficulty sleeping, inability to relax, feeling constantly
under
pressure and feeling negative about yourself or your abilities.
Anxiety Disorders
Some of the main types of anxiety disorder are given below:
Anxiety Disorder caused by a Medical Condition
Sometimes a physical problem or condition such as a hormonal imbalance, breathing or heart problems can cause anxiety.
Social Anxiety and other Phobias
Having a phobia means that you experience fear in situations where there is actually little or no danger. You may for example have a specific fear of flying, or of spiders, or of closed spaces, or of bridges. One of the main types of phobia is social phobia (also known as social anxiety disorder), which involves a fear of embarrassing yourself in social situations or at particular kinds of event such as parties, presentations or meetings. Aspects of effective treatment for social anxiety include learning techniques for gaining control of the thinking patterns that generate the anxiety and developing relaxation techniques. Guidance from a specialist coach can support you in implementing the techniques learned and in sustaining motivation when difficulties occur.
Panic Disorder
As the name implies, involves having panic attacks unexpectedly or repeatedly for no apparent rational reason. Panic attacks are not life threatening but when they are experienced you may feel as if you are about to die or have a heart attack.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
if you have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a serious car accident, a bomb, a natural disaster or a personal trauma such as sexual or physical assault it can lead to symptoms such as recurring nightmares, irritability, concentration difficulties, severe anxiety or fear that the event might recur.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
If you have experienced 6 months or more of severe worry and tension which is either not warranted by your situation or is much more than the levels of anxiety which most people would feel in the situation, then you may be suffering from Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Most commonly the anxiety might be about health, work, financial or family issues.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
This involves experiencing unwanted thoughts or compulsive behaviours which seem impossible to control and which are either senseless, harmful or socially unacceptable.
Substance Induced Anxiety Disorder
Drugs such as alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines and sedatives can alter your mood and make you feel anxious or worried.
Managing Anxiety – The Twofold Approach
Managing anxiety successfully is likely to involve a twofold approach:
(1) Lifestyle Changes
To help cope and prevent inappropriate levels of anxiety you may find it helpful to change elements of your lifestyle which are contributing to a situation where you are more likely to experience high levels of stress.
The following may be relevant and useful:
- Introducing relaxation techniques as a regular part of your daily or weekly routine
- Reflecting on elements of your lifestyle which you feel are placing you under unnecessary stress and adjusting them if you are able, for example: If you are taking on more commitments than you need to, then cutting down on some of these, so as to give you more time to unwind and do what you like doing
- Assessing your priorities and focusing on these in your daily life rather than allowing your time to be taken up with unimportant matters
- Weighing up the Pros and Cons of a major change where there is a particular situation which you feel is responsible for the main pressures you are under and which seems unlikely to change unless you initiate a major change yourself, such as a change of career or in a relationship. In this case, I would usually recommend taking time to make a considered decision and obtaining appropriate support for the decision making process if you are unsure as to how to make the decision or as to whether you can make the right decision on your own.
- Following basic stress management principles in relation to diet and life balance – see the "Do’s and Don’ts of Stress" section on this website after reading this article.
(2) Changing
Perceptions and Actions
Anxiety and Perceptions
As indicated in the early
paragraphs of this webpage, an
inappropriate level of anxiety is likely to involve a mistaken or
distorted
perception of a situation. For example, if you suffer from social
anxiety then
you may have a perception that if you go to a social gathering everyone
will
look at you and will laugh at you if you say or do something
inappropriate.
The logical sequence of thoughts and actions can be expressed as below:
Situation – Perception – Anxiety – Action – Outcome
In other words you perceive
the
situation in a way
which leads you to become anxious and then to act in certain ways (for
example
by not going to the social gathering at all or by going and not saying
anything
because of your anxiety). Your actions then lead to outcomes
which
may
reinforce your negative feelings and create what is to some degree a
self
fulfilling prophecy – for example, after saying nothing at
the gathering you
feel inadequate and you may think that this proves that you are not
capable of
functioning appropriately in social situations.
Intervening in the Anxiety Sequence
The second aspect of the approach to anxiety that I recommend therefore involves intervening in the sequence set out above, in one or more of the following ways:
- Changing the situation so that it does not arise or arises in a less threatening way
- Changing your perception of the situation, i.e. using techniques and exercises to help you think about the situation in a less distorted, more accurate way
- Changing your actions when the situation arises
- Changing your response to the outcome, for example by recognising that your difficulties in coping with a particular situation do not mean that you are an inadequate person or a failure.
Which of the above ways you choose to focus on will depend on your individual circumstances and what you feel is most practical and best for you to choose: for example, in some cases you might not want to change the situation because you feel that the problem will just occur in other situations. In other cases, moving away from the situation may be a sensible option.
An analogy might be that for some people who are giving up
smoking it
makes sense to avoid situations where they will be tempted to smoke,
but for
others this may not be practical - or it may involve them in losing
out, say on
meeting friends, so they prefer to find a way of going to those
situations but
learning to be there without smoking.
Life Coaching for Anxiety
If you are considering additional support to help you address a specific anxiety issue such as social anxiety or panic attacks, you may be interested in the telephone life coaching service I offer.
I provide relatively
simple strategies which you can
learn, to help you break out of the difficulties or deal with them more effectively. The strategies I teach in life
coaching sessions are based on research into what is most effective and can help you to:
- Make Effective Changes
- Control Anxieties
- Improve Your Self Confidence and Self Image
- Relieve Stresses
Testimonials
The following are examples of feedback from clients about my telephone life coaching service (where requested pseudonyms have been used to protect confidentiality):
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How do Telephone Coaching Sessions Work?
Coaching sessions last for 1 hour and work by you calling me at an agreed time when I guarantee to be available - the call is to an ordinary UK landline. We will talk through your issues and at the end of the session we will agree specific actions for you to try out to help you resolve the issues you want support with. Where appropriate I may suggest additional coaching ideas or exercises for you to help you progress further or more effectively.
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Information about Coaching
If you are considering having coaching sessions and would like some further information about the telephone coaching service that I provide or fees, please
Contact me by email or Call 0117 904 2908.