Understanding Anxiety |
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Anxiety often starts with stress (see The Cycle of Anxiety). If you have prolonged stress over time, it builds up and eventually it'll reach a point where it boils over. Your body has slowly become sensitised - your nerves feel on edge, senses become heightened, noises appear really loud, your heart pounds, appetite decreases or increases, you rush about, you get angry easier, become emotional. Your nerves are screaming out they need a rest - that's just your body saying it can't cope with any more stress and it needs a break. When you reach that stage you can start to feel panic / anxiety, and some people will experience a panic attack. If your body had been 'normal' and not sensitised, then it wouldn't have had that reaction.
Panic and anxiety feel alarming and can frighten you. You then become afraid of that feeling of anxiety, and the anxiety then makes you more frightened ....... so you get stuck in the cycle of anxiety / fear / anxiety. If you've been in a particular place when you've had these feelings, you can then associate the fear with that place and start to fear it, and can escalate so you fear going out.
Whilst in this sensitised state your mind goes into overdrive. It thinks anxiously .... and why not ..... your body is already anxious so it stands to reason your thoughts will too. Thoughts constantly start to flick in and out of your mind, you search for answers, on and on ...... so your mind becomes tired. Weird thoughts begin to enter your head ........ and with it comes anxiety ...... lots of anxiety. You begin to frighten yourself, and obsessions can start to form.
Now, because your mind is already tired, those thoughts / obsessions will stick. Thoughts stick to a tired mind and bounce around all day causing more anxiety. You think negatively. Weird thoughts can begin to grow - sometimes you'll lose one intrusive thought only to find another to replace it - each one feeling worse than the previous one.
'Normal' people (sorry to use that expression) also have weird thoughts that flick in occasionally ....... but .... because their bodies aren't sensitised, their minds aren't tired, and because those thoughts aren't accompanied by anxiety, they don't stick, and are simply not paid any attention to, are quickly forgotten about and put to the back of their minds. So thoughts and obsessions are nothing more than sticky thoughts in a tired mind.
So, intrusive thoughts are a side effect of anxiety, so quite normal with this condition, but its our constant head chatter, reassurance, sayings, over analysis etc that keeps those thoughts circling round and round in our heads all day.
Prescribed medication will help to calm the body, breaks the cycle (by hangs onto your serotonin in the brain) making you feel happier. This takes time. See the page on SSRI's.
As well as taking medicine, you can recover without too - but I still urge you to equip yourself with the knowledge of anxiety and its recovery, because this is something that will always stand beside you. Both medicine AND having the knowledge are excellent. I urge you to get the books by Paul David and Will Beswick (see Resources).
Please note that the information in these books (and briefly below) is not intended for you to lose the anxiety feeling immediately, but what it does do is to give your mind and body the space it needs so your body can heal itself.
Anxiety produces symptoms of sweating, dry mouth, racing heart, chest pain, inability to sleep, restlessness, restless legs, aches and pains and a whole host of others. Don't try analysing each and every one of these symptoms. They're all caused by anxiety. Worrying and trying to find an answer for each one will just lead to more anxiety. They're all under one umbrella. Once the anxiety starts to ease, these symptoms will ease too - even the scary thoughts and impulses.
Break that cycle of anxiety - fear - anxiety and all symptoms will ease in time too.
Firstly - lack of understanding and confusion makes this condition worse and keeps you ill - so understanding how anxiety comes about and why it stays is the first part of recovering. This is the answer - there is no outside force doing this to you - it is purely your reaction to anxiety that is keeping you ill.
Secondly - accept that this comes from inside you and recovery is achievable. Accept that you will feel like for some time to come as this is no overnight fix, but you can recover from this.
Thirdly - STOP trawling the internet searching for answers, over and over, because this only adds to your confusion. Yes there are helpful websites, articles, hints, tips, tricks etc but do you know you've got the right one? As Paul David says (I like this) is that you wear an invisible backpack and you'll gather all this information up and keep it in the backpack, adding it in daily, weekly, monthly, weighing it down, and its all this useless information that is making you tired. Your constant desire for answers drives you on - but I'm giving you the answers - here. There is no magic button to switch off your anxiety condition, but there is a button if you'll take the time to read Paul David's and Will Beswick's books. This is the answer.
Lastly - have patience. Its taken a long time for you to become ill with anxiety and so it will take some time to reverse this. Yes you will feel frustrated many times over, you're only human, you will have good and bad days, but remember ... tomorrow is always another day.
See The Cycle of Anxiety
Panic and anxiety feel alarming and can frighten you. You then become afraid of that feeling of anxiety, and the anxiety then makes you more frightened ....... so you get stuck in the cycle of anxiety / fear / anxiety. If you've been in a particular place when you've had these feelings, you can then associate the fear with that place and start to fear it, and can escalate so you fear going out.
Whilst in this sensitised state your mind goes into overdrive. It thinks anxiously .... and why not ..... your body is already anxious so it stands to reason your thoughts will too. Thoughts constantly start to flick in and out of your mind, you search for answers, on and on ...... so your mind becomes tired. Weird thoughts begin to enter your head ........ and with it comes anxiety ...... lots of anxiety. You begin to frighten yourself, and obsessions can start to form.
Now, because your mind is already tired, those thoughts / obsessions will stick. Thoughts stick to a tired mind and bounce around all day causing more anxiety. You think negatively. Weird thoughts can begin to grow - sometimes you'll lose one intrusive thought only to find another to replace it - each one feeling worse than the previous one.
'Normal' people (sorry to use that expression) also have weird thoughts that flick in occasionally ....... but .... because their bodies aren't sensitised, their minds aren't tired, and because those thoughts aren't accompanied by anxiety, they don't stick, and are simply not paid any attention to, are quickly forgotten about and put to the back of their minds. So thoughts and obsessions are nothing more than sticky thoughts in a tired mind.
So, intrusive thoughts are a side effect of anxiety, so quite normal with this condition, but its our constant head chatter, reassurance, sayings, over analysis etc that keeps those thoughts circling round and round in our heads all day.
Prescribed medication will help to calm the body, breaks the cycle (by hangs onto your serotonin in the brain) making you feel happier. This takes time. See the page on SSRI's.
As well as taking medicine, you can recover without too - but I still urge you to equip yourself with the knowledge of anxiety and its recovery, because this is something that will always stand beside you. Both medicine AND having the knowledge are excellent. I urge you to get the books by Paul David and Will Beswick (see Resources).
Please note that the information in these books (and briefly below) is not intended for you to lose the anxiety feeling immediately, but what it does do is to give your mind and body the space it needs so your body can heal itself.
Anxiety produces symptoms of sweating, dry mouth, racing heart, chest pain, inability to sleep, restlessness, restless legs, aches and pains and a whole host of others. Don't try analysing each and every one of these symptoms. They're all caused by anxiety. Worrying and trying to find an answer for each one will just lead to more anxiety. They're all under one umbrella. Once the anxiety starts to ease, these symptoms will ease too - even the scary thoughts and impulses.
Break that cycle of anxiety - fear - anxiety and all symptoms will ease in time too.
Firstly - lack of understanding and confusion makes this condition worse and keeps you ill - so understanding how anxiety comes about and why it stays is the first part of recovering. This is the answer - there is no outside force doing this to you - it is purely your reaction to anxiety that is keeping you ill.
Secondly - accept that this comes from inside you and recovery is achievable. Accept that you will feel like for some time to come as this is no overnight fix, but you can recover from this.
Thirdly - STOP trawling the internet searching for answers, over and over, because this only adds to your confusion. Yes there are helpful websites, articles, hints, tips, tricks etc but do you know you've got the right one? As Paul David says (I like this) is that you wear an invisible backpack and you'll gather all this information up and keep it in the backpack, adding it in daily, weekly, monthly, weighing it down, and its all this useless information that is making you tired. Your constant desire for answers drives you on - but I'm giving you the answers - here. There is no magic button to switch off your anxiety condition, but there is a button if you'll take the time to read Paul David's and Will Beswick's books. This is the answer.
Lastly - have patience. Its taken a long time for you to become ill with anxiety and so it will take some time to reverse this. Yes you will feel frustrated many times over, you're only human, you will have good and bad days, but remember ... tomorrow is always another day.
See The Cycle of Anxiety