All About Anxiety

Stress and anxiety are all around us and can affect us in so many areas of our lives. Stress can contribute to relationship breakdown, can affect you at work, can lead towards poor decision making and poor sleep just to give a few examples.

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Using counselling and/or hypnotherapy, we remove stress and anxiety including panic attacks and trauma.

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About Anxiety

Anxiety is a general term for several disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension and worrying. These disorders affect how we feel and behave, and they manifest real physical symptoms. Mild anxiety is vague and unsettling, while severe anxiety can be extremely debilitating, having a serious impact on daily life.

People often experience a general state of worry or fear before confronting something challenging such as a test, examination, recital or interview. These feelings are easily justified and are considered normal. Anxiety is considered a problem when symptoms interfere with a person's ability to sleep or otherwise function. Generally speaking, anxiety occurs when a reaction is out of proportion with what might be normally expected in a situation.

Anxiety disorders can be classified into several more specific types. The most common are briefly described below.

About Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a chronic disorder characterised by excessive, long lasting anxiety and worry about non specific life events, objects and situations. GAD sufferers often feel afraid and worry about health, money, family, work or school, but they have trouble both identifying the specific fear and controlling the worries. Their fear is usually unrealistic or out of proportion with what may be expected in their situation. Sufferers expect failure and disaster to the point that it interferes with daily functions like work, school, social activities and relationships.

About Panic Disorder

Panic Disorder is a type of anxiety that is characterised by brief or sudden attacks of intense terror and apprehension that leads to shaking, confusion, dizziness, nausea and difficulty breathing. Panic attacks tend to arise abruptly and peak after 10 minutes, but they then may last for hours. Panic disorders usually occur after frightening experiences or prolonged stress, but they can be spontaneous as well. A panic attack may lead an individual to be acutely aware of any change in normal body function, interpreting it as a life threatening illness - hypervigilance followed by hypochondriasis. In addition, panic attacks lead a sufferer to expect future attacks, which may cause drastic behavioural changes in order to avoid these attacks.

About Phobia

A Phobia is an irrational fear and avoidance of an object or situation. Phobias are different from generalised anxiety disorders because a phobia has a fear response identified with a specific cause. The fear may be acknowledged as irrational or unnecessary, but the person is still unable to control the anxiety that results. Stimuli for phobias may be as varied as situations, animals or everyday objects. For example, agoraphobia occurs when one avoids a place or situation to avoid an anxiety or panic attack. Agoraphobics will situate themselves so that escape will not be difficult or embarrassing, and they will change their behaviour to reduce their anxiety about being able to escape.

About Social Anxiety Disorder

Social Anxiety Disorder is a type of social phobia characterised by a fear of being negatively judged by others or a fear of public embarrassment due to impulsive actions. This includes feelings such as stage fright, a fear of intimacy and a fear of humiliation. This disorder can cause people to avoid public situations and human contact to the point that normal life is rendered impossible.

About Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterised by thoughts or actions that are repetitive, distressing and intrusive. OCD sufferers usually know that their compulsions are unreasonable or irrational, but they serve to alleviate their anxiety. Often, the logic of someone with OCD will appear superstitious, such as insistence in walking in a certain pattern. OCD sufferers may obsessively clean personal items or hands or constantly check locks, stoves or light switches.

About Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is anxiety that results from previous trauma such as military combat, rape, hostage situations or a serious accident. PTSD often leads to flashbacks and behavioural changes in order to avoid certain stimuli.

About Separation Anxiety Disorder

Separation Anxiety Disorder is characterised by high levels of anxiety when separated from a person or place that provides feelings of security or safety. Sometimes separation results in panic, and it is considered a disorder when the response is excessive or inappropriate.

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