What is anxiety?
Many people in recovery suffer strong reactions to anxiety especially alcoholics.
Anxiety can be described as a feeling of discomfort or unease.
Anxiety which continues for a long time can have a serious effect upon your ability to cope with everyday life. You may not be able to identify a specific cause of your anxiety, although feelings of anxiety are often associated with particular places or events.
How do you know if you are anxious? The easiest signs of anxiety to recognise are physical changes, such as sweating, a racing heart, palpitations, or rapid breathing. These changes are caused by an increase in adrenaline, the substance which is released by your body to help you get ready to deal with danger or escape from something. It is quite normal to feel anxious when you are facing something dangerous or difficult, but it is not usual to feel anxious all the time or to feel that anxiety is ruling your life.
What is severe anxiety?
Severe anxiety is a bit like a ‘false alarm’. It happens when our bodies over-react, and respond with anxiety to something which is not really dangerous. This is sometimes to do with the way we think about situations; for example we may exaggerate how difficult or dangerous something is going to be. It can also happen when we are under stress, or when we start thinking about past difficulties and experiences.
Why does severe anxiety persist?
Usually if we feel a little anxious we carry on with what we are doing and the anxiety gradually goes away. However, if you have severe anxiety you may find it so unpleasant that you begin to find ways of avoiding the situation or event that makes you feel so bad. Each time you succeed in avoiding something your anxiety level starts to drop and so in the short term you feel better. But by avoiding what you fear, two things happen:
- avoiding things becomes a habit, so you start to limit what you can do . For example you may decide that you cannot go to certain places or do things you previously enjoyed.
- you never have the chance to test out whether the situation was really frightening, and you never have the chance to realise that you can cope, and that anxiety will go away.
This means that the anxiety continues, and becomes a longlasting problem, because you have got into the habit of avoiding what you fear rather than facing up to it.
Are there different kinds of anxiety?
All forms of anxiety involve the sensations described earlier, and in almost all cases anxiety problems increase if you get into a pattern of avoiding things. But there are quite important differences in the way people think about their anxiety, and anxiety problems may arise from many different causes. Professionals treating anxiety problems therefore describe them using the following terms:
- Phobias
- Agoraphobia
- Social phobia
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Panic attacks / panic disorder
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Generalised anxiety disorder
We will discuss these over the next few days.
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Anxiety & Depression Workbook For Dummies (For Dummies (Psychology & Self Help)) by Charles H., PhD Elliott, Laura L., PhD Smith, Aaron T., MD Beck |
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