General Anxiety , Irrational Fears

 

General Anxiety: The Irrational Fears

 

Anxiety refers to an unpleasant feeling of fear and apprehension. General Anxiety involves persistent anxiety and chronic (uncontrollable) worry more day’s .Anxiety and worry accompanied by restlessness, fatigue irritability, muscle tension, sleep disturbance and impairment in functioning or severe distress.

 

It must be indicated that these fears can be heightened, irrational, and persistent and avoidance that focus on specific objects or activities or situations, hence many call them phobias. One may note that people with phobias realize that their fears are unreasonable and excessive but they cannot control them

Name	Object or Situation feared
Astraphobia	Lightning and Thunder
Algophobia	Pain
Claustrophobia	Enclosed spaces
Monophobia	Being alone
Pathophobia	Diseases
Pyrophobia	Fire
Triskaisekaphobia	Thirteen

 

There are other scenarios that these fears can interfere with people’s lives, for instance the social phobias, which are very common and often involve   fear of embarrassment or humiliation in front of others, Avoidance of situations of possible exposure to scrutiny, avoidance of public; performance for fear of failure or even restaurants for fear of chocking on food.

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Although everyday experiences of fear and anxiety are not pleasant, they often have an adaptive function: they prepare us for action-for "fight or flight"-when danger threatens. They may lead us to drive more cautiously in a storm, keep up with our reading assignments, treat our dates more sensitively, and work harder at our jobs. Unfortunately, some people suffer such disabling fear and anxiety that they cannot lead normal lives (Koury & Rapaport, 2007). Their discomfort is too severe or too frequent, lasts too long, or is triggered too easily. These people are said to have an anxiety disorder or a related kind of disorder.

 

Anxiety is a common symptom of many mental health conditions, like depression and various phobias. GAD is different from these conditions in several ways.

People with depression may occasionally feel anxious, and people who have a phobia worry about one particular thing. But people with GAD worry about a number of different topics over a long period of time (six months or more), or they may not be able to identify the source of their worry.

Causes of General Anxiety

Causes of and risk factors for GAD may include:

• a family history of anxiety
• recent or prolonged exposure to stressful situations, including personal or family illnesses
• excessive use of caffeine or tobacco, which can make existing anxiety worse
• childhood abuse

 

Copping With General Anxiety

 

Tip 1 – Understand that anxiety is not your fault

Why are we collectively dealing with so much anxiety?

Understanding the roots of your anxiety is essential and also realizing that it is not your fault is the first step to moving away from its crippling effects on your life. Quite simply, you are programmed to survive and you, like us all, have a negative bias that keeps us alive and protects us from danger. This negative bias is, therefore, strong and for good reason; it is a fundamental part of our survival and must be maintained so that if we are confronted with a threat or trauma we have a strong resource of this energy to help us cope in times of genuine need.

Think of this as similar to having savings in the bank which can be used in the case of an emergency. However, this out of date system is constantly being triggered due to the pressures of modern life. Cortisol (the stress hormone) is persistently triggered and released leaving many of us living in a constant state of fight or flight. This has developed into a pattern of automatic response; we have developed the habit of anxiety.

TIP 2 – Understand your subconscious power

Your subconscious mind is very open and suggestible and you have a lot more control over it than you may imagine, in fact, you have complete authority over soothing anxiety and focusing on being calm and confident.  Due to the highly impressionable nature of your subconscious, it is important to learn how to communicate with it.  If you think your subconscious mind is like a small child and your conscious mind is the parent, everything that you say conditions a response of either fear or love depending on your thoughts, wouldn’t you choose to be kinder and calmer to the child? Becoming more positive is not about changing who you are, it is about accessing a part of you that is already there. It is about tapping into your higher self, best self or executive self – the part of you that is free and lives moment to moment. This is the power of programming your subconscious to focus on love rather than fear which is what drives anxiety.

Natural healing /hiking , mountain climbing and sunset watching

TIP 3 – Discover a positive self-concept

 

The way you speak about your life (in your own mind and out loud to others) is essentially a way of creating your own story, both to yourself and to other people. The words that you use to describe yourself, your family, where you live and the work that you do are important. These words form the framework of how you feel about yourself and the life that you have created. How you describe yourself, how you describe your family, your home and your work. This is the story you tell yourself and has a huge impact on your daily life. YOU are telling the story to yourself. Make it a good one

How to apply a positive self-concept in everyday life –

 First thing in the morning and last thing at night visualise yourself going through each day the way you wish to think, feel and behave. As humans, we are unique in our ability to imagine. When you close your eyes and imagine something, your body will respond to the images in your mind as if the event were really happening. Each day acknowledge what was good about the day and make a point of telling your family and friends about the good or funny things that happened. The mind forms memories through experiences so it is useful to acknowledge positive events and to build on these.

TIP 4 – Learn to love and parent yourself

Becoming an adult is essentially about shifting the power and responsibility from your parents to yourself. It is about letting go of any real or perceived hurt and pain from the past and realising that to feel safe, secure and loved you must cultivate these feelings from within. The full realisation that you are responsible for yourself is a fundamental step for mental well-being. You have everything you need within yourself, you are complete and whole. Feeling you are worthy of care and love and providing that for yourself is liberation. The most important relationship that you will ever have is the one you have with yourself.

Stop the habit of negative thinking –

 Negative thinking is a habit and habits must be broken when dealing with anxiety. Negative self-talk (the inner critic) is often a habit of which we are not even aware. By watching your thoughts you can begin to learn a lot about how your mind operates and the effect your thoughts have on your feelings and ultimately how you behave. When you tell yourself that you have no energy, or that you are fed up, stressed and frustrated then that is what you will feel. Does this sound familiar?

Top love tip – 

Have a photograph of yourself as a child somewhere you can see it every day. Each time you see it remember that your inner child is still within you. Always choose to speak to yourself with compassion and understanding, as you would speak to a child that needed your help.

TIP 5 – Start caring for yourself

The habit of practical self-care is essential to implement when dealing with anxiety. Your body responds well to having its needs met and soon recognises the rewards of a healthy self-care habit. After a period the body craves what the body gets. For example, if your body is regularly exercised it will begin to automatically expect this and feels deprived if it doesn’t get it.

If you have ever had a pet, let alone a child, then you will know how much care and attention is needed to look after them. There is an episode of The Simpsons where Homer is surprised his dog is so angry. ‘Hey, why is the dog so angry?’ Homer asks, and Bart replies, ‘You never feed him, take him for a walk, or let him go out to pee.’ We wouldn‘t expect our children to wake after a restless four or five hours sleep, forget to feed them breakfast and send them off to school in the morning in the hope that they have time to grab a quick snack at lunch if they have time to stop their school work. Yet many of us treat ourselves in this manner and wonder why we feel worn out, exhausted and struggle to think clearly.

It is important to emphasise the necessity of choosing and establishing a self-care programme that works for you. The words to note here are ‘self’ and ‘care’. When you care for yourself you love yourself and have a healthy respect for serving your own needs. With this comes a deep sense of love and compassion.

Top care tip – 

Your body always knows what it needs and when you slow down the mind we can hear the message it is giving you. Listen actively to the signals from your body each day and develop an open relationship between your body and mind, so that both may flourish.

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