Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders range from conditions such as generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, OCD, social anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) to specific phobias. Even though anxiety is an emotion everyone can relate to, it
does classify as a disorder when we feel it excessively, for a prolonged period of time AND it starts to affect our daily functioning (eg. work, school, relationships).
Anxiety and stress are the normal states we experience when reacting to threat/s in our environment. This threat can be real (ie something can actually really harm you) or perceived (ie you are stressed about public speaking). It is good to have some stress in life, as it helps us prepare for the threat by employing body’s Fight-or-Flight Response (FOFR). By FOFR being triggered off, we either fight, flight (avoid) or freeze our threat – and this helps us function (eg prepare for an exam). When stress or anxiety are intense and prolonged, they can hae adverse effects on our functioning and overall wellbeing.
Symptoms of stress:
- Physical signs
– tension, shallow breathing or‘frozen breath’, tight chest, heart palpitations, increased blood pressure, changes in sleeping and appetite, headaches/ aches/ pains, upset stomach, fatigue, weakened immunity
- Emotional signs
– consistent sense of worry, overwhelm, nervousness, restlessness, doom, panic, feeling unable to cope/ wind down/ relax, feeling touchy and over-reacting
- Thinking signs
– unhelpful thinking patterns relate to stress and anxiety because they further perpetuate negative feelings. Types of thinking often related to stress include Jumping to Conclusions and Catastophising. To learn about Unhelpful Thinking Styles click here (coming soon).