With having this said, you might be among those who are interested in stumbling upon natural anxiety relief information that can guide you to the path of diminishing your anxious feeling in the most naturally approach without the aid of any kind of anxiety pill or injection. And you are lucky because there are indeed a number of possible ways to reduce those anxious feeling and bit by bit eradicate the episodes of encountering them.

If you are really determined to learn about natural anxiety relief, you have to first acknowledge that you know what you are going through and that you are really dedicated to spend enough time in finding relief for what you are experiencing. In saying this, it will then be easier for you to pinpoint what specific instances or objects are triggering you to feel anxious most of the time. After you have isolated the stressors, try to analyse if you can cope with reducing those stressors by eliminating them bit by bit. Now, do not be too aggressive on this part because if you think that your job is what causes you to be anxious all the time; this method is not dictating you to give it up but rather think of ways on how you can make dealing with your job a little less stressful in a gradual manner.

Another step in your task to work on soothing panic attacks is to learn the healthy way of distracting yourself. Consider this, each time you think of feel that bother is starting to creep in, force yourself to focus on something that you love doing for a short while. Each time you sense you are starting to think about useless things such as presuming what others would act or say that might make you upset, try to shift into something worthy enough like reading a good book or talking with someone about entertaining things and not about what you are thinking. By shifting your focus into another issue, you are actually practicing the power of healthy distraction. And without you knowing it, you are now spending time about another idea instead of worrying about things that you are not in control of.

Isn’t it pleasant to know that panic attack treatments are not hard to carry out as what you have thought long ago? All it takes is your good sense and proactive way of thinking. In no time, you will be able to free yourself from the low downs of anxiety and panic without even trying too much.

Technorati Tags: anxiety relief, health, natural anxiety cures, natural anxiety relief, panic attack treatment

While psychotherapy is quite expensive, why not try some valuable yet cost-effective anxiety treatments instead of relying on expensive medications. Another downside of taking these medications is with the knowledge that it brings negative side effects. It is then crucial to take into account the plenty of alternative treatments for anxiety.

You have to come to the certainty that anxiety is usually a result of severe stress. This is the reason why stress management is considered to be an effective option in dealing with anxiety disorder. Alternative programs have been developed and proven to be effective in gradually reducing the impact of anxiety. Breathing exercises have been regarded as efficient panic attack treatments. It helps relax some nerves and overall mental condition of an anxious person. The value of deep breathing in managing stress has been acknowledged by a lot of medical research.

Physical exercise is also counted as one of the most effective natural anxiety cures because of its ability to reduce stress. This is the reason why many turn to aerobics and other exercise programs during weekends. These individuals consider exercise as an effective relaxation technique for the stresses encountered at work the whole week. In addition to this, exercise improves the circulation of blood in the body as it promotes overall healthy condition of the body.

A balanced and healthy diet that is low on carbohydrates, sugar, and starch is another natural anxiety cure. Sugar has been regarded as the culprit for increasing blood sugar levels and carbohydrates is known to increase the level of insulin in the body. These two have the capability to change the mood of a person. Proper balance of these nutrients would have a great impact in preventing the occurrence of anxious moods.

Of course, it is undeniable that counselling and cognitive therapy treatment also plays an important role in relieving stress that leads to anxiety on the worse end. But if you are really interested with anxiety cures that are friendly on the pocket, you can turn to stress management, proper nutrition, and exercise as alternative ways of minimizing anxiety and attacks. These are just a few of the many tips for panic attacks you will find when searching for natural methods of dealing with panic.

Technorati Tags: anxiety, health, mental health, natural anxiety cures, panic attack, treatment for panic attacks

A psychologist or psychiatrist will decide which strategy is best for each patient in order to help the patient overcome their type of anxiety attacks. They first assess the severity of the symptoms that the patient is getting, the level of affect that anxiety attacks is having on the patient/patient’s life, and the ability of the patient to recover from their affliction.

Cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) is one of the first treatments that will be attempted to resolve anxiety attacks. It is a form of psychotherapy that has been in use for varied mental illnesses and disorders for many decades. It works by analyzing the roots of fears experienced by the person getting the attacks.

The first strategic step in CBT is to determine the negative fears that are causing the patient’s anxiety. These are then categorized and assist the therapist in teaching the patient ways of controlling these fears, correcting the patient’s perceptions which result in these fears and then help them to restructure their thought patterns to avoid these unreasonable thoughts.

The strategies for treating anxiety attacks with cognitive behavioral treatment involve varied methods such as attribution, teaching the patient the difference between irrational/rational thoughts, and helping the patient to overcome past experiences that may have contributed to their irrational thoughts/fears. When it comes to children, psychiatrists can get to the root cause or trauma and help them to understand the event, learn to deal with what happened and cope with moving forward in life with a new positive approach and attitude versus simply forgetting what happened.

Another strategy that medical practitioners find useful is CGBT (cognitive group behavioral therapy). It is similar to CBT in its strategy for dealing with anxiety attacks, but in a group setting with other people who are suffering the same disorder and one or more group therapists. The aim of this strategy is to not only overcome the negative thought/fear processes attributed to anxiety attacks, but allow the patients to realize that they are not alone in what they suffer and have support from people who understand what it really feels like.

There are other important strategies for overcoming anxiety attacks that group therapy undertakes. These include:

·Group discussions of each individuals symptoms, perceptions, experiences and traumas

·The use of the group to show their support for individual anxiety attacks by encouraging the changes in thought/fear patterns and perceptions.

·The use of the group on outings to overcome anxiety attacks with people that each member feels can be trusted to not judge them or ridicule them, helping each member to avoid perceived embarrassment and the need to become isolated.

·The use of the group on outings to overcome anxiety attacks with people that each member feels can be trusted to help individual sufferers realize that social interaction with new people does not have to be fearful or even judgmental or embarrassing.

·The use of the group in varied situations in helping each individual anxiety attacks sufferer to no longer having the need to put on appearances in how they look, behave, talk or in regards to their abilities to lessen the likelihood of misinterpreted judgments by others.

·The use of the group in varied situations to support individual sufferers in learning that they no longer need to feel embarrassment or guilt in social situations.

·Group discussions to help each individual sufferer in overcoming anger resulting from previous situations or traumas.

·Group discussions to assist each individual sufferer in overcoming the need to please everyone, be a perfectionist, procrastinate, avoid social interactions and in becoming a realistic individual with self-confidence and self-esteem.

·Group discussions to assist each individual sufferer in dealing with times when social interaction does result in judgment or embarrassment by others.

These strategies for overcoming anxiety attacks have proven to be very useful in helping patients deal with their suffering. Studies have shown that both forms of cognitive behavioral therapies, CBT and CGBT, do succeed and allow each patient to move forward and enjoy normal, productive, socially interactive and happy lives. Of course, there are a few cases were the affects of the anxiety attacks are so deep rooted that the individual needs to combine these therapies with medication. However, if you do sufferer anxiety attacks, getting guidance from your doctor is the first best step to curing your pains, fears and negative thoughts.

About The Author

Gary Miller was so scared that he actually passed out during a presentation and couldn’t talk after due to numerous social anxieties. To learn more about his journey to recovery and weekly FREE Social Anxiety coping techniques, you can visit his web site at: http://www.Social-Anxiety-Cure.com

Admin

———-

We will continually introduce material for you to better understand what is Anxiety. We will continue our research and bring you more information to cover as many aspects as possible of anxiety. Meanwhile you can check the list of materials and tools that we gathered for you to tackle and solve anxiety for yourself and others at our  Anxiety Centre.

People could have used the word “panic” to describe the situation that the person went through, but if the case persists people would become impatient and might even go as far as accusing the person as craving for attention.

Unfortunately the situation  today is not better than it was in that past, yet it is on the other extreme. If in the past people did not know that panic could be a persistent disorder causing severe attacks, today nearly everybody knows about panic disorder, and worse everybody has a way to overcome it.

Today everybody is an expert in panic and anxiety disorders, and they would go as far as suggesting a treatment or even a medication.

It is a fact that if we think that we know, while we don’t, is much worse than not knowing at all. A patient who suffers from panic disorder who would listen to people around him/her and actually tries their suggestions for panic disorder cures, only to find out that nothing that they said words, would eventually be discourage to take any action in the future, and would think that he/she would have to live with this disorder for ever.

Today as much as there is hype around this discipline but there are credible and effective panic disorder cures around. Some experts even went to the extreme as once a patient is properly diagnosed for panic disorder; the treatment is there and the way out is very possible.

In the above paragraph it is very important to notice the phrase “properly diagnosed.” This is a very essential step. Many of the people who think they know, when they observe certain symptoms that are familiar to them for a panic disorder case, they would right away give themselves the permission to give a diagnosis for panic disorder.

What these people don’t know is that panic disorder symptoms are shared with other medical conditions. So the first thing that we need to conduct is eliminate any other medical condition from the picture before diagnosing a panic disorder.

Guess how we do that. Yes, we go to the doctor. A doctor is the only person who is capable of giving a proper diagnosis. We cannot diagnose ourselves. Our friends and family, while they love us to bits, they still are not capable of giving a proper diagnosis.

Only when the diagnosis is confirms that the case at hand is a panic disorder, we go ahead with finding a treatment or looking for suitable panic disorder cures that can help us in overcoming anxiety.

There are different panic disorder cures with different results on different people. What worked for others does not necessarily mean that it will work for us. Still it is always a better bet to take a treatment path that proved to be effective for other people.

Finding credible and effective panic disorder cures is not an easy task. The discipline has attracted many frauds with their fraudulent treatment methods. For this reason we have conducted our own research to find such effective and credible anxiety natural cures.

Why natural? We are not very fond of medication. Saying that does not mean that we can deny the advantages of medication as a panic disorder cure for the short term. Yet since medication is not a long term anxiety solution we have concentrated our search on what solves the problem from the roots.

We have found two programs that fulfill the quality criteria that we were looking for. Those programs are:

1- Panic Away: This program depends on a technique called the “One Move Technique.” 

2- The Linden Method: This one depends on the theory that all panic and anxiety disorders have one source in the brain. This method attacks this source to find a solution to anxiety and panic.

We have found that both programs have received a very good amount of positive reviews from their users.

Technorati Tags: anxiety attacks treatment, anxiety natural cure, panic anxiety treatment, panic cure, panic disorder cures

Fathers' depression 'harms young'

Around 2% of men are affected by generalised anxiety disorder, and children whose parents have anxiety disorders have a two-fold increased risk of …  Read More…

Breastfeeding with Postpartum Depression

Although results have been contradictory, a few variables have been constant: Women with a history of major depression, anxiety disorders or both are at …  Read More…

Offra Gerstein, Relationship Matters, May 3, 2009: How to deal …

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists several conditions that may be associated with some of the above symptoms, …  Read More…
That’s all the news for today guys, so until next time, thanks for stopping by.

Admin

———-

We will continually introduce material for you to better understand what is Anxiety. We will continue our research and bring you more information to cover as many aspects as possible of anxiety. Meanwhile you can check the list of materials and tools that we gathered for you to tackle and solve anxiety for yourself and others at our  Anxiety Centre.

full question:
discuss a specific treatment technique for reducing anxiety used by professionals representing each of the 4 perspectives:
-behavioral
-psychoanalytic/psychodynamic
-biological
-cognitive

Admin

———-

We will continually introduce material for you to better understand what is Anxiety. We will continue our research and bring you more information to cover as many aspects as possible of anxiety. Meanwhile you can check the list of materials and tools that we gathered for you to tackle and solve anxiety for yourself and others at our  Anxiety Centre.

Understanding Signs of Teenage Depression – Dealing with Adolescent Depression

More than 60 percent of teens never get help with depression even though they can be assisted to overcome it successfully. Parenting depressed teens is one of the most trying tasks; at the same time parental therapy is also the best therapy to bring out the child out of the stressful situation. Know about teenage depression symptoms and ways to treat adolescent depression.

Teenage is the most vulnerable period when one would strike depression with an ongoing transitional phase from childhood to adulthood. This is the phase of turmoil when an adolescent has to address physical, emotional and social changes that cause anxiety as a reaction to stressors.

Mood swings are a part of teenage as long as they don’t affect their daily routines. Learn to differentiate between bad moods and chronic anxiety. Optimal worries help them to positively cope up with the changeover, but unusual panicking for small things should be considered as abnormal. Parents who fail to communicate to their teens in this crucial period tend to alienate their children who are afraid of expressing their fears. This causes them to grow up into depressed youth.

Parents who “consciously” invest time, energy and money for healthy adolescent development would be the ones helping their teen shape his future and in turn help him quickly get over the worries of teenage. The adventure of backing up your teenager through this journey would be more exciting than going through the pain of rescuing his mental health back.

Parental pressure to excel in studies versus a general disregard to other extracurricular activities can cause an unusual complex in the minds of teen. This leaves him frustrated between his basic choices and the ability to fulfill parents’ expectations.

Some teens get jammed into their overtly rigid schedules pressuring them to surpass in all aspects right from studies to music, painting and even games. With schools adding up to the academic tensions, teens under-perform causing low self-esteem and disrespect about self.

Teens should be encouraged to learn skills that interest and motivate them, and also be assured that it’s perfectly normal to fall short while learning and would need some time and practice.

Respect your children to help build up their self-pride. Appreciate their attributes, may it be an art, sports or studies. At the same time do not anticipate too much too early. Let them grow their natural pace without burdening them with your expectations or any other family responsibilities.

Communicate with them about issues like peer pressure, selecting a career, making friends, choices of smoking, drugs and sex with well defined boundaries which would help them grow into your coveted youth.

Healthy interpersonal relations in a family would help to diagnose signs of teen depression more quickly. Converse with your kids and allow this connection at any time they feel like even if you are tired. Don’t make them wait for weekends, but at the same time don’t be so much available so as to invade their space. Realize the value of sharing your time and concern when they need it with a healthy mindset rather than connecting with them later to help them revive out of depression.

Create a good example about the way you control your life and deal with stress factors positively. Convey any of the family problems or other issues in a way that would not affect them. At the same time, appreciate your child to share their feelings of sadness or any other worries in a way they wish to. Be a patient listener and a source of hope for your child because most of the time just listening to their emotions helps them beat depression. Don’t be affected by their depressing symptoms or worst is to react aggressively or make fun of them.

Generally, kids who are shy, sad and displaying signs of withdrawal are considered to be the depressed teens. However the difficult child who causes trouble at home and school could also be depressed and his behavior would be a reaction to stress. Some teens also present with school absenteeism with comparative lower grades than before.

Many of them would express uncontrollable anger and hatred towards the family in an attempt to reciprocate what they receive. The child might want to be aloof and away from parents, friends and people, he might think that no one really understands or cares for him. Express your love and show that you are really concerned rather than keep them confused or being amiss.

Depressed teens also express self-destructive behaviors and speak about death and suicide. Parents should discuss about their teens’ emotions of self-harm without the fear of inducing suicidal thoughts in their mind. Take up the issue seriously as a warning sign and get help immediately.

Unhealthy relationships at home and outside or loss of close person can further trigger adolescent depression. Do not comment negatively; avoid being sarcastic and critical because this may be perceived as rejection.

Many other psychological and physical symptoms come up which is a natural extension of untreated teenage depression. Feelings of worthlessness, difficulty indulging in activities of fun and recreation, total change of routine with carelessness about things that were once daily chores, disinterest in most of the activities and excessive worry that things happening to them are irreversible. This makes concentration and decision making all the more difficult leading embarrassment and the vicious cycle continues.

You need to know where it’s coming from to be able to treat it. Observe what would be causing depression to your child and what would be the things you can correct yourself. You would well realize early that it’s possible to prevent and eliminate most of the causes of adolescent depression at home before you approach a psychiatrist.

Psychotherapy and cognitive behavior therapy could be the next approach towards treating youth depression if parents find it very daunting. These help develop a positive approach towards behavior and developing better interpersonal relationships. Meditation and relaxation techniques can help complement the process of recovery. Life coach or a mentor where the teenager would find easy confiding with should be considered to vent out their suppressed feelings. Anti-depressants are an alternative to treat severe cases of depression.

Alert and smart parenting makes it possible to accompany your teen through their transitional years and help them transform into a matured and responsible adult. You need to be all care and very thoughtful in your reactions towards your teenager.

Know more about ways to prevent teenage suicide About Adolescent Depression and Suicide

Admin

———-

We will continually introduce material for you to better understand what is Anxiety. We will continue our research and bring you more information to cover as many aspects as possible of anxiety. Meanwhile you can check the list of materials and tools that we gathered for you to tackle and solve anxiety for yourself and others at our  Anxiety Centre.

Anxiety is a feeling of apprehension, fear, or worry. Most everyone experiences temporary anxiety, a feeling of nervousness or fear, as a normal reaction to a stressful situation at some point in life. While anxiety is a natural response to some situations, it can develop into a debilitating disorder in some people. It is estimated that about 13% of the United States population has anxiety. Most people suffering from anxiety do not consult a doctor as they believe only “mentally sick” people need to visit a psychiatrist.

The important thing is to understand that anxiety can be treated and that living with constant anxiety is not necessary. Untreated anxiety disorders can push people into avoiding situations that trigger or worsen their symptoms. People with anxiety disorders are likely to suffer from depression, and they also may abuse alcohol and other drugs in an effort to gain relief from their symptoms. Job performance, school work, and personal relationships can also suffer.

Types of anxiety disorders

There are several different anxiety disorders:

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder – an anxiety disorder characterized by chronic, exaggerated worry and tension that is unfounded or much more severe than the normal anxiety most people experience. Worrying is difficult to control. Symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder include muscle tension, trembling, shortness of breath, fast heartbeat, dry mouth, dizziness, nausea, irritability, loss of sleep and not being able to concentrate.
• Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder – an anxiety disorder characterized by unexpected and repeated panic attacks along with intense anxiety between attacks and possible avoidance of situations where attacks may occur. Panic attacks last about 5 to 30 minutes. Panic attacks can lead to phobias if they aren’t treated.
• Phobias. A phobia is an extreme, unreasonable fear in response to something specific. Examples include fear of crowds, bridges, snakes, spiders, heights, open places or social embarrassment. A phobia is only considered a problem when it keeps you from living a normal life.
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder – an anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) or rituals (compulsions), which feel uncontrollable to the sufferer.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – a debilitating anxiety disorder that may develop following a terrifying event. It is characterized by persistent frightening thoughts and memories of the ordeal.
• Social Anxiety Disorder or Social Phobia – an anxiety disorder characterized by a persistent, intense, and chronic fear of being watched and judged by others and of being embarrassed or humiliated by one’s actions.

Symptoms of anxiety disorders

Physical symptoms:

• rapid or irregular heartbeat, feeling as if you are having a heart attack
• stomach problems (gnawing feeling, nausea, diarrhea, irritated bowel syndrome)
• breathing heavily, shortness of breath
• difficulty in swallowing
• sweating, or feeling cold and clammy
• headaches, lightheadedness or dizziness
• muscle tension and pains
• chronic fatigue
• difficulty falling or staying asleep
• insomnia
• hot flashes or chills
• chest pain
• rubbery legs, tingling in fingers or toes
• frequent urination

Emotional and psychological symptoms:

• general sense of apprehension and dread
• nervousness
• jumpiness
• poor memory
• lack of concentration
• extreme exhaustion
• fearfulness or terror
• isolation from others
• strong desire to escape
• feeling incredibly self-conscious and insecure
• feeling of being overwhelmed
• fear that you are losing your mind
• fear of going crazy, of dying
• fear of losing control
• frequently feel like crying for no reason
• feeling angry and lack of patience
• fear of madness, impending death
• feelings of being outside yourself, being cut off from reality
• feeling worried all the time, tired, irritable

Treatment options

In general, anxiety disorders are treated with medication, psychotherapy, or both.

Medications for anxiety
Medications may be especially helpful for people whose anxiety is interfering with daily functioning. According to the National Institute for Mental Health, the types of medications often prescribed for anxiety disorders include:

• Antidepressants: SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), SNRIs (serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors), Tricyclic antidepressants.
  SSRIs are helpful in a variety of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, OCD, and social phobia.
  The FDA has granted specific indications to the following disorders and antidepressants: generalized anxiety disorder (venlafaxine, buspirone, escitalopram, paroxetine), social phobia (paroxetine, sertraline, venlafaxine), OCD (fluoxetine, sertraline, paroxetine, fluvoxamine), and PTSD (sertraline, paroxetine).
• Anti-Anxiety Medications: Benzodiazepines, Azipirones.
  Benzodiazepines are especially useful in the management of acute situational anxiety disorder and adjustment disorder where the duration of pharmacotherapy is anticipated to be 6 weeks or less and for the rapid control of panic attacks. If long-term use of benzodiazepines seems necessary, obtaining a confirmatory opinion from a second physician may be helpful because chronic benzodiazepine use may be associated with tolerance, withdrawal, and treatment-emergent anxiety.
  Benzodiazepines include clonazepam, which is used for social phobia and GAD; alprazolam, which is helpful for panic disorder and GAD; and lorazepam, which is also useful for panic disorder.
• Buspirone is a newer anti-anxiety medication that is used to treat GAD. Unlike the benzodiazepines, buspirone must be taken consistently for at least two weeks to achieve an anti-anxiety effect.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioral therapy, which is considered to be one of the most effective forms of psychotherapy for treatment of anxiety, is also the most studied psychotherapy. In this type of therapy people suffering from anxiety disorders learn to recognize and change thought patterns and behaviors that lead to troublesome feelings. This type of therapy helps limit distorted thinking by looking at worries more realistically.

Admin

———-

We will continually introduce material for you to better understand what is Anxiety. We will continue our research and bring you more information to cover as many aspects as possible of anxiety. Meanwhile you can check the list of materials and tools that we gathered for you to tackle and solve anxiety for yourself and others at our  Anxiety Centre.

Technorati Tags: anxiety types

Dealing with anxiety panic attack symptoms is no picnic. Aside from choking, trembling, sweating, hyperventilation, dizziness, chills, hot flashes, and a racing heartbeat, victims of panic attacks can also experience an eerie sense of detachment from reality and an intense fear of insanity or death.

Because of the traumatic nature of panic attacks, many of those who have suffered them fear experiencing them again. In some cases, this fear becomes so irrational and overwhelming that sufferers confine themselves to places where they feel free from anything that may trigger a panic attack, or at the very least, places where it is more convenient to have an attack (like at home with family or a hospital with doctors).

Such is the premise behind Agoraphobia; not the fear of open spaces as most believe, but the fear of something happening outside a “safe”, confined space. The irony is that this act of preservation only serves to endanger the quality of the victims’ lives; by fearing death, they fail to live.

As Agoraphobia is essentially an anxiety disorder, those who suffer from this phobia can benefit greatly from anxiety attack panic treatment.

As always with cases of anxiety, medication is an option. Though in the case of Agoraphobia, it’s not a very good one. Medication primarily serves to reduce the frequency of panic attacks and generally promotes relaxation. It doesn’t address the root of the problem, namely the distinction between a “safe” and “unsafe” place.

Even under medication, those who suffer from Agoraphobia will still maintain that distinction, though they might be more willing to step outside their safe zone. The key to effectively curing Agoraphobia and eliminating the fear of panic attacks is to let the victims understand that no such distinction exists; that no place is safer than another.

This can’t be accomplished without the proper anxiety attack panic treatment, or more specifically, natural cures for panic attacks. Using natural methods to cope with anxiety panic attack symptoms aid victims by making them capable of dealing with bouts of anxiety whenever and wherever they happen.

Simple techniques like breathing exercises, muscle relaxation, and visualization help sufferers cope and increase their confidence in dealing with anxiety panic attack symptoms. In gaining confidence and learning that panic attacks pose no threat, sufferers will eliminate their fear of these attacks. Only then will the flawed distinction disappear.

Natural cures for panic attacks don’t avoid the problem like medication does. They solve it by giving us perspective, by making us realize anxiety panic attack symptoms are nothing to fear.

If you or a loved one suffers from this dreaded condition, natural effective panic attack treatments are available. For information on the most up- to-date treatments visit http://www.panicattackreviewsite.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Barkow

Author: Mark Barkow

Admin

———-

We will continually introduce material for you to better understand what is Anxiety. We will continue our research and bring you more information to cover as many aspects as possible of anxiety. Meanwhile you can check the list of materials and tools that we gathered for you to tackle and solve anxiety for yourself and others at our  Anxiety Centre.

Some degree of anxiety is perfectly normal. We all experience situations where we may feel fear and apprehension. However, there are some people who feel anxious even when there is no discernible cause. In these cases, the anxiety usually becomes overwhelming and may interfere with the normal functioning of one’s life. People who suffer from a debilitating level of anxiety are suffering from an anxiety disorder. Negative emotional patterns, anger, fear, stress and anxiety all contribute to degenerative illness such as cancer, heart disease etc..

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a normal physical reaction to an internal or external demand that is placed on your system. The human body reacts to most stressful situations with the “fight or flight” response where it is flooded with stress hormones. These hormones make the heart pump faster, the breathing rate increase, and the muscles tense up. This is the body’s way of gearing up for imminent physical activity. However, a person who suffers from an anxiety disorder may experience chronic and recurrent episodes of anxiety that have no discernible cause. These episodes can last for days, weeks, or even months. Sometimes, an anxiety disorder may stem from a definite trigger such as childhood abuse or witnessing the event of war. But in other situations, hormonal or chemical changes in the brain or environmental factors cause an anxiety disorder to develop.

What Causes Anxiety?

There are several parts of the brain that are involved in the development of anxiety. Scientists have performed research using brain imaging technologies and neurochemical techniques to discover the network of interacting events that are responsible for anxiety. Most of the activity appears to be centered around the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure deep within the brain. Many researchers feel that the amygdala acts as a sort of central “hub” that processes and interprets different signals to and within the brain. The amygdala controls the storage of emotional memories, therefore, it may play a central role in the development of anxiety disorders such as phobias, and post traumatic stress disorder.

The hiccocampus is another area of the brain that is likely to be involved in anxiety disorders. This part of the brain is responsible for processing threatening or traumatic stimuli. It helps to encode information into memories. People who have undergone severe stress, such as military combat or childhood abuse, have a smaller hiccocampus than people who have not experienced such a traumatic event. The smaller size may explain the fragmented memory, flashbacks, and memory deficits of those who develop post traumatic stress disorder.

Scientists are using this information to understand more about anxiety disorders and how they develop. In studies of twins and family members, researchers have determined that genetics does play some role in the development of an anxiety disorder. But life experience is also certainly a factor. Researchers are hoping to discover how genetics and experience interact in each of the anxiety disorders. They can then use this information to develop appropriate methods of prevention and treatment.

The Costs of Anxiety

According to a recent study by the Anxiety Disorder Association of America, anxiety disorders cost the U.S. more than $42 billion a year. And more than $22.84 billion is associated with the repeated use of healthcare services, as those with anxiety disorders seek relief for symptoms that mimic physical illnesses.

Do I Have An Anxiety Disorder? The Anxiety Self-Test

Do you experience unexpected panic attacks, during which you are overcome with fear for no apparent reason?

Are you preoccupied with thoughts or images that you can’t get out of your mind (such as burning down the house, or being contaminated by germs)?

Do you become terrified in public settings and social settings involving unfamiliar people?

Do you experience shortness of breath or heart palpitations for no apparent physical reason?

Do you spend an excessive amount of time each day doing things over and over again (for example, hand washing, checking things, or counting)?

Are you terrified at an inappropriate level of a particular object or situation (such as spiders, heights, water, or dogs)?

Do you feel restless, easily distracted, tense, irritable, and exhausted?

Does your level of anxiety interfere with your daily life?

Are you plagued by the memory of a traumatic event such as a car accident, childhood abuse, or a natural disaster?

Have you experienced changes in sleeping or eating habits?

Getting Help For Anxiety

After reading this information, you may feel that you are suffering from an anxiety disorder. A visit to your natural health care professional is the best way to begin treating your anxiety. A physician can evaluate your medical history and your symptoms to determine whether the symptoms are due to an anxiety disorder, some other medical condition, or both.

About The Author

Dr. Group, the founder/CEO and clinical director for the Global Healing Center, heads a research and development team producing advanced, new, natural health protocols and products. To learn more visit http://www.ghchealth.com.

support@ghchealth.com

This article was posted on March 15, 2005

Admin

———-

We will continually introduce material for you to better understand what is Anxiety. We will continue our research and bring you more information to cover as many aspects as possible of anxiety. Meanwhile you can check the list of materials and tools that we gathered for you to tackle and solve anxiety for yourself and others at our  Anxiety Centre.