What is Anxiety?
You may often hear Anixety being used in many situations, someone is feeling anxious perhaps before an exam, or may experience anxiety symptoms without realising what it is, this can be pretty scary to say the least.
So, What is anxiety? Anxiety to one person can be completely different to another!
- Anxiety is a feeling of worry or dread, for example if you were in a difficult situation with an aggressive person, a normal reaction is to experience anxiety. When anxiety becomes ‘anxiety’ as we refer to, is when the feeling of dread or fear is present without the actual impending danger present.
- Anxiety is a fear, a worry. Mild anxiety can be uncomfortable and unsettling, severe anxiety can be debilatating. Anxiety is what can keep us alive in difficult situations, but anxiety is what can overwhelm us in everday lives.
- Anxiety is something that can feel very individual ‘what is happening to me’, ‘am i cracking up?’ are very often statements people suffering with anxiety make.
Anxiety can be broken down into general categories, learning what category and understanding your own anxiety is very necessary in learning to manage anxiety correctly
Anxiety has both psychological and physical symptoms
Psychological symptoms of anxiety can include
Intense sense of worry or fear
Irritibility
Poor sleeping pattern
Feeling ‘detached’ from people and places around you
Feelings of nervousness or apprehension
Physical symptoms of anxiety can include
Trembling
Heart Palpitations
Lethargy
Sweating
Hot flushes
Nausea
When anxiety kicks in it can basically send all manners of signals to parts of your body resulting in Anxiety Symptoms described above.
Common Types of anxiety are
- Generalised Anxiety Disorder
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Stress Disorder
- Phobias
- OCD
- PTSD
- Seperation Anxiety Disorder
Axiety can be broken down into these ‘types’ of anxiety due to common traits or symptoms, please click through the individual Types of Anxiety to read further.
Treatments come in many forms, medication, talk therapies or Self Help all with their avantages and disadvantages. Regardless of the treatment, as anxiety can be so individual (person-to-person), the first steps to recovery are understanding what Anxiety is, and more specifically your OWN ANXIETY.From there it is finding out what works for you