There's hope! Learn how to stop panic attacks and anxiety attacks.
Archive for February, 2012
When Anxiety Becomes A Disorder
02 months ago
It is absolutely normal to be anxious. When faced with a problem or a situation, we experience anxiety. We tend to worry when we are trying to finish a deadline that seems impossible to beat. We cram during final exams.
Just like other emotions, such as fear, anger, sadness or happiness, anxiety is a normal reaction that helps a person cope and deal with present situation. It is common and plays a significant role in relation to a person’s ability to adapt and survive.
However, when anxiety gets out of hand and leads to an unreasonable fear or worry of daily activities, it has become a disorder.
There are several types of emotional and psychological problems, as shown below:
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is characterized by a person’s exaggerated view of a certain situation that elicits irrational anxiety or unnecessary worry which becomes alarmingly habitual. A mother who overly anticipates financial and health problems of the family may become a nervous wreck. Or an employee who is extremely concerned about difficulties at work.
Panic Disorder is describe as a sudden strike of terror associated with rapid heart beats, sweating, weakening, fainting, or dizziness. A person with panic attack experience a feeling of impending disaster and loss of control. Panic attacks may occur at any given time, even while asleep. It usually lasts for ten minutes, though there are some cases that it takes longer before a person comes back to reality. Not everyone who experience panic attacks may develop panic disorder.
Social Anxiety Disorder, also called social phobia, is a condition when people become overly self-conscious in everyday social situations that leads to intense anxiety. There is an unreal fear of being watched and judged by others and of doing things that will embarrass them. It becomes chronic and persistent, lasting for days or weeks before a dreaded situation. This fear may become so severe that it interferes with work, school, and other ordinary activities, and can make it hard to make and keep friends.
According to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America , “Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), or social phobia, is characterized by an intense fear of being scrutinized and negatively evaluated by others in social or performance situations. Some people with SAD literally feel ‘sick from fear’ in seemingly non-threatening situations, such as ordering food in a restaurant, signing one’s name in public or making a phone call. Though they recognize that the fear is excessive and unreasonable, people with SAD feel powerless against their anxiety. They are terrified they will act in a way that will be embarrassing or humiliating. The anxiety can interfere significantly with daily routines, occupational performance or social life. It can make it difficult to complete school, interview and obtain jobs and create and maintain friendships and romantic partnerships.”
In some situations, a person’s Social Anxiety Disorder may be evident only in a particular social activity like making a phone call, talking to clients or giving a speech, but the person can be totally at ease in other social events. In these cases, SAD is selective. On the other hand, a more generalized form of SAD is experiencing anxiety attacks in a variety of routine activities where one’s actions or behavior may be scrutinized such as business meetings, class activities, talking to strangers or attending parties.
Phobia is an unreasonable and intense fear of something that brings about little or no real threat and danger. Most common specific phobias are focused on the fear of high places, closed-in spaces, water, flying, dogs, snakes and injuries involving blood. These are not just excessive fear but extremely irrational fear of a particular thing. Most adult patients realize that these fears are unreasonable but discovers that dealing with feared object or situation brings on a dreaded anxiety attack.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is unrelenting and is characteized by disquieting thoughts (obsessions) and the of use rituals (compulsions). People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have persistent, upsetting thoughts (obsessions) and use rituals (compulsions) to control the anxiety these thoughts produce. Most of the time, the rituals end up controlling them.
Normal healthy people also have rituals, such as checking to see if the stove is off several times before leaving the house. The only difference is that people with OCD tend to overdo their rituals to the point that it obstructs with their daily life and they find the routine agonizing. Some would recognize that what they are doing is senseless, but most people, especially kids, may not realize that their behavior is out of the ordinary.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs when a tragic event happens involving physical harm or the threat of physical harm. The harm could have happened to the person PTSD or to a loved one, or the person is a witness to a tragic scene that happened to loved ones or strangers.
PTSD was first brought to public attention in relation to war veterans, but it can result from a variety of traumatic incidents, such as mugging, rape, torture, being kidnapped or held captive, child abuse, car accidents, train wrecks, plane crashes, bombings, or natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes.
Treatment of Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders are generally treated with medication or specific types of psychotherapy, or both. Treatment depends on the severity of the case and the person’s preference. Be sure that a doctor is consulted to evaluate the cause of anxiety disorder before treatment begins. Sometimes alcoholism, depression, or other coexisting conditions have such a strong effect on the individual that treating the anxiety disorder must wait until the coexisting conditions are brought under control.
SWEATING OUT STRESS & RUBBING AWAY ANXIETY
02 months ago
Stress and anxiety are among the two most common sources of work-weariness and complaint among urbanites, corporate executives, and other people who go each day to “fight” in the concrete jungles. Endless streams of tasks and unbeatable deadlines seem to push people near to the brink of resignation, if not from the job itself, but from the ability to meet the various expectations heaped upon them in the office. Aside from having the beat the early morning traffic and going off to work sans breakfast, the sheer competition in climbing up the corporate ladder have gotten into the minds of not a few “men in ties” and “women in heels.” No wonder, the 21st Century rat rate itself has spawned a new and thriving industries — the spa and the anti-anxiety medication businesses.
Having anxiety panic attacks will not exactly boost the corporate image of an up-and-coming, hardworking junior executive. Those who can hardly survive “in the kitchen” due to the intense office “heat” may opt to go to a doctor to get a prescription. But what they need to take every morning may not be the all-too-common multivitamin and minerals in capsule form. The visit to the doctor was prompted by the need to take specially made drugs to calm the nerves. The use of anti-anxiety drugs is now fast becoming a common procedure among busy executives who want to remain in control of their emotions as well as their careers.
Another hip and trendy way to beat corporate pressure is by going to a spa. For an hour or two, a hassled “business warrior” can go in to have spend time to break a sweat inside a sauna. Inside the wooden room with just enough heat to cause you to sweat out your body’s toxins, a tired executive can sit there for up to 45 minutes wearing nothing but a fresh towel. In between, sips of water needed to avoid dehydration, a spa enthusiast can take comfort that he is sweating away all the unhealthy elements of what he ate during that “power lunch” with the department head or the unwanted calories consumed during the company sales victory party. After perspiring away and feeling a bit lighter, the executive can then proceed to a discreet, aromatic room where his very own masseur waits with skillful hands. The all-too-willing subject of the massage can choose from a variety of techniques: Thai, Japanese, Swedish, Acupressure, Reflexology and even Shiamen-Style Foot Massage. All these massage styles offer soothing pleasures to the mind and body. Each therapuetic rub and stroke is made to specifically un-tie the “knots” and “bumps” from head to toe.
Indeed, stress and anxiety are looked at by career-driven individuals not only as mere emotional and physical distress. These are now the “enemies” and “obstacles” that could make or break a person’s climb to the top. The climb, or more appropriately, the race up the career highway has left many otherwise talented and skilled professionals lost, burned out, and out of the game.
Much like financial capital, equipment, technology and facilities — people are now also looked at as highly valuable factors of production. In fact, it is the troop of professionals and workers who actually make a business run, and not just the CEO or company president. For this reason, many corporations are now investing more and more in the health and well-being of their people. By pouring in more dollars to take care of their most valuable assets, companies are able to minimize employee burnout, sick leaves, and executive turnovers.
A major intervention or program that is present in almost every company is called stress management, technique or series of activities designed to help a person cope with the daily struggles and pressures of work. Specifically, stress management may involve one or all of the following scientifically-based procedures and techniques:
? Autogenic Therapy
? Cognitive Therapy
? Exercise
? Meditation
? Progressive Relaxation
? Use of Stress Balls
In fact, even engaging in sexual activities is considered a stress buster — a procedure that certainly beats going to a psychiatrist or stress therapist.
Regardless of the technique or method, beating stress will continue to be an additional survival skill that every executive or worker must learn in order to continue and succeed at work. It is not just a matter of “getting rid of the blues” or releasing tension and anger. Dealing with work-related anxieties is necessary to maintain one’s health as well to keep one competent and calm in facing the daily battles in the workplace.
The Many Faces of Anxiety
03 months ago
The condition known as anxiety can illicit a number of reactions from people. Many view it as a sign of weakness, treating the person experiencing it as a fear-controlled weakling, incapable of properly dealing with the world around him. Others view it as a character flaw that can be overcome, usually by having them continually face situations which cause them anxiety. Others still find that it is a mental problem, one that is easily confused with any number of similar, but not quite the same, psychological conditions. However, outside of the medical profession, most people don’t recognize that anxiety can be likened to an umbrella term, with a few other conditions falling under its jurisdiction.
Panic disorder, which the general public may or may not view as a more extreme form of anxiety, actually falls under the jurisdiction of the latter term’s definition. The two are characterized by the same general set of symptoms. These include extreme dread and fear, though no truly discernible, specific cause can be found. Both conditions have also been known to cause a number of physical side effects, usually the same ones associated with the body’s natural fear response mechanism. The primary difference between the two often lies solely on the intensity of the symptoms, with panic typically causing more noticeable problems than anxiety.
Interestingly, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) has also sometimes been categorized as being a sub-form of anxiety. OCD is a psychological conditions that makes a person put an undue level of focus on a given activity or thing, then compels them to perform actions related to said activity or thing. Jack Nicholson is known for having portrayed a character with OCD, with the focus being on cleanliness, in the film “As Good As It Gets.” The anxiety in this situation stems from instances where the patient fights the “compulsive” part of the disorder. Not doing what the mind believes should be done has been known to cause great discomfort to moments of fear and anxiety.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has also been cited as being linked to anxiety. This is particularly true of the PTSD patient who recalls traumatic experiences that are triggered by specific objects, sounds, or locations. This can include anything from being placed in or near the location where the trauma originally occurred. Exposure, or the mere threat of exposure can cause extreme anxiety and reactions in a person, with the effect noticeably becoming more intense as the prospect becomes more real. The anxiety can also reach the point where the patient will actively attempt to avoid being exposed to anything that might trigger a relapse of the traumatic memories.
Phobias are often considered to be specialized forms of the general anxiety problem. Unlike panic and the regular form of the condition, a person with a phobia associated feelings of fear and dread with a specific trigger. While PTSD may be associated with a phobia, the two do not always intermingle. In many cases, the fear is completely unfounded, but may be rooted deep in childhood experiences or specific situations.
Status Anxiety
03 months ago
The world as we know it is divided into two-rich and poor. Most of us would equate success on how people view us, how much material goods we have accumulated, or just how much people accept us. We also want to have influence and control over others, which is one of the strongest reasons why we try so hard to reach the top of the ladder, so to speak. But the pursuit of trying to be on “top” tends to backfire as we become more absorbed on achieving a high social or career status. This preoccupation with success, for some, leads down to the road of anxiety.
Status Anxiety, according author Alain de Botton, is all about the desire to “climb the social ladder” and the hunger for adulation and public approval. This quest for acclaim and material prosperity has been struggle for those the “have’s” and “have nots”. This competition for status and wealth has also elicited negative reactions and behavior such as snobbery, self-importance or conceit, flattery, and indifference.
This desire to be recognized, to “keep up with the Jones’” have given us too much worry; and little by little, the desire takes its toll. Before you know it, it affects the stability of your relationships. But status anxiety does not only emanate from pressures in the workplace. It can also take root inside our very own homes and family relationships. If left unattended, it leaves us frustrated and dissatisfied.
Indeed, society plays a big part since we now live in a very materialistic and status-conscious world. It is a society where money is power, where money is king, where money guarantees the ultimate status symbol of all. Our values are now easily being replaced with the craving for externalities and instant gratification, dictated upon by the fancy and confusing standards of 21st century living.
To stop ourselves from becoming part of the downward spiral, we should really stop the obsession over high social standing and material gain. Excessive materialism affects our emotional and psychological well-being. People should start to focus on what really matters in life — relationships, meaning, and purpose in life.
To do so otherwise would only result in more anxiety or panic attacks. When this condition persists, we suffer mentally, emotionally and physically. In fact, extreme anxiety can even become a debilitating situation, preventing people from pursuing normal lives. People in this harrowing situation must consult a doctor or a psychiatrist who may, in turn, prescribe anti anxiety medication, if found to be necessary.
There other avenues to consider by taking the road less traveled. You must change the way you think and take action. By transforming our value systems and priorities, we also slowly change our attitudes and reactions to the different situations we encounter each day. Instead of being trapped by the excessive desire to compete and win, people must place proper importance on the need to create a “win-win” solution — where everybody comes out as a winner. By taking it easy and learning how to accept ourselves as who we are, we would be able to have the right perspective in life, in work, and in love — which is crucial to have a balanced, healthy life.
There are a variety of ways and means to address stress and anxiety. For some, it can be as easy as changing a mindset or one’s way of looking at things. For others, medical intervention is a must. But the bottom line is that people must learn how to take care of themselves, as much as they need to show that they care for others. How we live, and not just how much we have, is what truly determines the richness of our lives. Our status in life should be measured by the nobility of our purpose and quality of our actions. Dwelling over “what would others think and say” is simply not worth having even just one sleepless night or bouts of insecurity.
Indeed, living in the 21st century has its own unique challenges and uncertainties which are enough to distress even the most talented and accomplished individual. But surely, all of us would do well the know and believe that there is more to life than just being in first place. More often, it is more important to know why we run, where we are, and where we are going in the race of life.
