Anxiety – Causes, Symptoms and Approaches to Overcome it

If you have anxiety, especially chronic anxiety, you know how limiting it can be. People, things or situations that would be otherwise insignificant, turn into a threat and life becomes less joyful, burdensome and full of frustration.

The techniques to cure (or at least reduce) chronic anxiety are simple, but they require a lot of personal commitment and perseverance. For example, if you have a busy schedule, but are not willing to reduce the number of activities you have during the day, you are not totally committed to improve your anxiety.

Here we will see a summary of what causes anxiety, the symptoms and how to overcome it.
I will also discuss, in subsequent posts, some ways that I find very effective for reduction/elimination of anxiety.

CAUSES

Several factors (alone and in combination) cause anxiety.

There may be something that is temporarily causing you anxiety, such as a relationship, work, life changes or you may suffer from chronic anxiety.

The causes of chronic anxiety, such as social phobia, panic attacks, generalized anxiety disorder, etc, are various and include:
1-    Heredity.
2-    Physical problems such as a disease, physiological imbalance in the brain and/or body.
3-    Neglect, physical or emotional abuse during childhood.
4-    Internal cognition, i.e., things that we say to ourselves.
5-   Low self-esteem.
6-    Personal beliefs.

SYMPTOMS

Anxiety symptoms include: wet underarms and hands, cold hands, palpitation, fight or flight response, headache, stomach ache, heartburn, dizziness, shaking legs/arms, impatience, anger, fatigue, memory problems, etc

OVERCOMING ANXIETY

The best anxiety treatment should address the different causes of anxiety. Medication should not be the only treatment utilized. Usually medication along with counseling is recommended. While medication will help you to deal with the immediate symptoms, counseling will help you develop the skills to deal with and overcome anxiety in the long term.

Anxiety treatment should cover the following aspects:
1-    Physical
a.    Breathing (breath slower and deeper)
b.    Proper nutrition (avoid sugar and stimulants)
c.    Adequate amount and quality of sleep
d.    Exercises (cycling, running, walking, etc)
2-    Emotional
a.    Learn to identify and deal with feelings
3-    Behavioral
a.    Learning to face situations that cause fear or anxiety
4-    Mental
a.    Replace negative things you say to yourself with a more positive and resourceful self-talk
b.    Learn to replace self-defeating beliefs with more resourceful beliefs
c.    Visualization
5-    Learn to improve your self-esteem
6-    Learn to live to live a less stressful life
7-    Meditation

Keep trying different techniques to reduce your anxiety. If one doesn’t work, try another one. Look for another therapist. Don’t give up. Keep trying. Eventually you will find something that will work the best for you.

In the next posts, I will talk about some approaches that I find very effective for reduction of anxiety.