How can we help with Anxiety & Stress?

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is much more than the usual worries and concerns experienced by most people from time to time. It often manifests as a feeling of impending tragedy and excessive worry for the safety and health of loved ones and appears to have no apparent cause. In most cases, GAD is mild, with sufferers not too restricted in most social or work situations. However, in its severest form, GAD can interfere with an individual’s ability to lead their usual lifestyle; the thought of just getting through the day can cause major anxiety.

Social anxiety disorder (sometimes known as social phobia) is characterised by extreme fear and discomfort in, or with the thought of, social situations. Social anxiety can be extremely debilitating; social situations are avoided with sufferers fearing being around other people, feeling that they will be unable to interact and will be negatively judged. People with social anxiety can feel insecure and easily embarrassed, which can be misinterpreted as shy, rude or aloof. It can also involve a fear of eating in restaurants, speaking on the phone or using public toilets.

If you find you are preoccupied with worry about being ill or becoming ill, it can seriously affect the functioning of your life. As we are spending increasing amounts of time online with a wealth of information at our fingertips, health anxiety has become more common amongst all genders and all ages. Health anxiety can also affect our relationships if we are continually asking for reassurance and unable to focus on anything else.

Fear is a natural human response to actual or threatened danger. A phobia is very different, it is an irrational, intense fear of a situation or object that is likely to cause little or no danger. Adults often realise that their phobias are irrational but coming across or just thinking about it is enough to induce severe anxiety or a panic attack. If the object of the fear can be easily avoided, people often do not seek treatment, however, important decisions may be made based on avoiding the phobia. Some of the more common phobias are dogs, heights, flying, lifts, needles, bees & wasps, spiders, dentists and medical intervention.

Panic attacks are common and can occur as a symptom on their own or as part of other another condition such as panic disorder or specific phobia. Attacks can happen with little or no warning and often with no apparent cause. Symptoms of panic attacks include chest pain, nausea, sweating, rapid heartbeat, lightheadedness, numbness, tingling sensation in hands or feet and feelings of smothering or choking. Symptoms can be so severe that sufferers can believe that they are having a heart attack or stroke. Research suggests that attacks are triggered by our body’s ‘fight or flight’ response which reacts to perceived threat by releasing hormones (including adrenaline) which prepares us to defend ourselves. Some people may suffer a panic attack and never have another; however, it can develop into panic disorder, with sufferers experiencing a persistent feeling of terror that another will occur at any moment.

Most of us can identify with the idea of checking that we have locked the door or turned off the oven a few times before leaving the house. Sufferers of OCD experience anxious thoughts or rituals which they feel are completely beyond their control, the rituals are extremely distressing and interfere with daily life. The disorder can appear during childhood, adolescence or adulthood. People with OCD may be obsessed with germs and dirt, resulting in excessive hand washing or with counting, touching and maintaining order. The intrusive thoughts or images experienced by sufferers are the obsessions; the rituals which are performed to try to prevent or stop the thoughts are the compulsions. Most adults with the disorder recognise that what they are doing is irrational, but they are unable to stop. There is evidence to suggest that experiencing a stressful event may trigger the condition in some people.

Stress is something that we all experience from time to time and can have a positive as well as negative impact on us. It can help to motivate us to perform at our best and increase our energy levels. However, too much stress can be extremely detrimental to our physical and emotional health. Stress can derive from experiencing a prolonged period of too much pressure caused by our personal or work lives. Each of us copes differently with pressure; what motivates one person can be highly stressful for another. It only becomes a problem when we no longer feel able to cope with the levels of stress we face and feel that we can do nothing to relieve it. Stress can lead to physical symptoms of headaches, exhaustion, chest pains, dizziness, indigestion and upset stomach. It can also cause anger, anxiety, depression, forgetfulness, confusion and apathy. The most important thing to remember is that it is not the event or situation that causes stress, but our reaction to it. The brain does not differentiate between real and imagined stress; stress is often a result of our perception of what has happened or may happen rather than the reality. It is not possible or even desirable to cut out stress completely, but it is possible to find more effective ways of managing it.

For sufferers of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), the bowel is extra sensitive, with the nerves and muscle not working properly, causing repeating stomach pain and altered bowel movements. For many people suffering from IBS, their symptoms affect them occasionally, but for others, the condition is extremely debilitating, having a major impact on their daily life. IBS usually first occurs between adolescence and midlife, affecting as many as 20% of the population, with women more likely to suffer and have more severe symptoms. Some people experience diarrhoea, some have constipation and some suffer with both. IBS pain can range from mild to severe and is thought to be aggravated by stress.