Feeling anxiety is what we feel when we are worried, nervous, on edge, or afraid about things that may happen now or in the future. People usually experience feelings of worry or fear before confronting challenging situations such as sitting an exam or interview, and these feelings are perfectly normal. It can be experienced through your feelings, in your thoughts or physically. Research shows that anxiety is the root cause of fear. The causes of anxiety can range from environmental factors,...
Most people have felt anxious at some point during their lifetime. For some, anxiety can be a new feeling, and for others it is something they have experienced since they were very young. Occasionally, anxiety can become acute and debilitating, impacting how a person functions in their everyday life. Some people find that the best treatment for anxiety is medication, and this is something that can be discussed further with a medical professional. However, there are some things that you can do...
It's normal to feel anxious sometimes, but if you are having a panic attack, you will experience severe levels of anxiety. You may think this means you are having a heart attack, are about to collapse or even die, or think that you’re going mad or completely losing control. During a panic attack, you may feel shortness of breath, tingling sensations, stomach discomfort, a sense of impending doom, trembling, light-headedness, choking sensations, chest tightness pressure or even pain and...
As an analytical psychotherapist, I encounter quite a few people who struggle with panic attacks. What becomes clear pretty quickly is that some of these individuals tend to be very, very angry. However, they are not aware of their anger, and what transpires later is that they are also very frightened by their anger. It seems that they have not been able to differentiate their own angry thoughts from actions, so they are afraid that if they allow themselves to become aware of their anger, and...
Grounding techniques Practising regular grounding exercises can help you feel more secure, stable and connected to yourself, especially after a period of anxiety or dissociation. These exercises can also be used to overcome panic attacks and feelings of detachment in depression. They include learning to keep your feet anchored to the floor, finding your centre of gravity, adopting an upright posture and standing still with your legs apart. As well as practising how to move with a fluid, steady...
We can all experience anxiety at work or in social situations; but for some, this can become debilitating. Having (or even thinking you may be having) a panic attack at work can be really difficult. The fear of other people noticing what is happening to you can make the symptoms even worse. On top of this, not knowing or understanding what to do increases the fear response circle, so the fear of the fear can become the issue.If you find yourself in this situation, grounding techniques can be...
Changing anxious habits or behaviours can be very challenging. While many of us would prefer to seek instant solutions to break old habits, this can often lead to frustration and disappointment. For one reason or another most of us have felt trapped in a pattern of anxious thinking and behaving that disrupts our progress. We may feel caught by our own impulses and defensive reactions to situations, or imprisoned by anxious thoughts and preoccupations. We are often our own worst enemies: making...
We are all wired for anxiety as part of a primitive survival mechanism inherited from our evolutionary past. The fear response is deeply embedded in our neural networks, alerting the body and brain to danger. The animal in us is alive and kicking. Anxiety triggers our “fight, flight and freeze response” when we feel threatened, firing off a cascade of neurochemical transmitters in our nervous system whenever we detect danger or get into conflict. Even low-level threats such as...
Anxiety is much more than what goes on in your head. You may find this difficult to believe. You may not always be aware of it, but the symptoms of anxiety are much more than racing thoughts, endless screenplays or excessive worrying. They are more than obsessive thoughts or a preoccupation with worst-case-scenarios. You may convince yourself something terrible is about to happen and magnify the sense of drama, but distressing thoughts are not always the source of your problem. Nor are...
I am a therapist and on occasions I have panic attacks. In fact, I had one yesterday. There. I've said it. There seems to be some illogical assumption 'out there' that counsellors, psychotherapists and psychologists are somehow immune to the stuff of life because we've read some books, taken some exams and probed deeply into the understanding of what makes us humans tick. But we are still human and as such vulnerable to stress, pain, fear, rejection and even the common cold. We are not...
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