Anxiety
Do You Suffer From ?
Symptoms
What to look out for
Treatments
What can I do ?
SYMPTOMS OF ANXIETY
Feeling Nervous
Unable to relax, your mind is racing, you feel you are not in control of your surroundings.
Worry and Fear
Uncontrollable worries about situations in your life. Intrusive thoughts, not able to relax.
Panic Attacks
Increased heart rate, uncontrollable movements, feel light headed.
Insomnia
Difficulty getting to sleep or having enough rest to feel alert enough the next day.
MAIN TYPES OF ANXIETY
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
This is the most Common form of anxiety. Excessive worry about different activities and events. On Edge. Can't Work or Travel. Broken Sleep and Low Energy levels.
Social Anxiety Disorder
It is normal to worry about social situations, however especially since Covid-19 more people now suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder. It is when you will have an intense fear or dread of social situations.
Health Anxiety
A constant worry that you are ill. Obsessively looking at health information and symptoms online. The physical symptoms of anxiety may replicate symptoms of illness which can be mistaken for signs of serious illness by those who have health anxiety.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
An obsession is a repeated unwelcome thought or image. These can be difficult to ignore. These thoughts can be disturbing, which can make you feel distressed and anxious. You might believe that something bad will happen if you don’t do these things.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD is caused by a threatening situation, such as a car crash or abuse. You can feel anxious for months or years after the event, even if you weren’t physically harmed at the time.
Methods to tackle Anxiety ?
These are some simple methods to help relieve some of the symptoms of your anxiety. For the more serious cases you would need to make a GP's appointment and look at referrals to professionals that specialise in Anxiety management.
FRIENDS
Opening up to someone you trust can be a relief and help you better understand your worries and anxiety. If that special friend is not in your life there is plenty of online forums or your GP can recommend some methods of treatment.
HEALTH
Try to get enough sleep and follow a balanced diet that can stabilise your mood and energy levels. Sleep will help heal your anxiety's symptoms and provide an alert mind to help plan your days.
Exercise
Regular exercise will help you battle stress & release tension, your brain releases endorphins which will help improve your mood. Breathing exercises, mindfulness and relaxation techniques will help calm your mind.
LIFESTYLE
Keep a diary of the situations that make you feel anxious and note how you’ve reacted in each situation. This will help you identify potential triggers for your anxiety.
Avoid triggers that escalate your anxiety, these could be things like smoking, caffeine intake and alcohol.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave.
CBT is based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can trap you in a vicious cycle.
CBT aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems in a more positive way by breaking them down into smaller parts.
You're shown how to change these negative patterns to improve the way you feel.
It looks for practical ways to improve your state of mind on a daily basis.
What is working ?
Keep a planner or diary of what you feel works for your symptoms. You can use the Notes App on your phone or a Calendar App to record your feelings for that day and what you did to relieve any Anxiety.
​
There are specific Apps for your phone or tablet that help with Anxiety symptoms.
Search YouTube for Anxiety relief and watch some videos to gather ideas.
​
Remember what works for one person may not work for another. This also depends on your type of Anxiety that you suffer with.
Test Yourself
Set yourself some tests to complete. An example for someone suffering with Social Anxiety would be to plan a trip to a public place, maybe a coffee shop or shopping centre. List down tasks that you must try and complete. For example, have a conversation with someone. Try to plan every step of the journey and task. Make sure you know what to do if your anxiety becomes too much. Have an exit strategy. Have a friend on standby.
Over time these test will help relieve some of your symptoms and bring back some self confidence to be able to handle life.
Review and Revise
Like with any treatment of an illness you need to take time out to review if is is working. For those suffering with Anxiety a recommendation is to change your surroundings and take a period of time to analyse how you feel and reflect on the treatments you have been using or receiving.
​
Look over your daily notes and review a period of time, say a month, how were you at the start of this period and how are you at the end. What worked during this period of time. How did you do with your tests.
​
What else can I do to take my treatment further ?
Make some changes. If you are doing well then challenge yourself further and in different ways. Never be afraid to ask for help.
