Mental Health 5: Anxiety

Hello my beautiful friends!

6 in 100 people are experiencing General Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

Today's post is going to be an anxiety factfile. I realise I have not posted a factual anxiety post on my blog as I have only written about my own experiences. Of course, different people experience anxiety disorder in different ways, so this post offers more generalised advice. I simply searched "anxiety disorder" on Google and used the top resources to compile my factfile. I will link all resources at the end of the post if you would like further advice; however, I would recommend speaking to your GP if you feel you have anxiety disorder because you will be able to access a wider variety of resources through this. The post will be split into 4 sections: a definition, symptoms, causes, treatment and self-help.

Definition
Wikipedia defines anxiety disorders as "a group of mental disorders characterized by significant feelings of anxiety and fear" (do not worry, this is my only use of Wikipedia in this post 😉).

Symptoms
Symptoms of anxiety can generally be categorised into two groups: mental and physical. The mental symptoms include

• Restlessness
• A sense of dread
• Feeling constantly "on edge"
• Difficulty concentrating
• Irritability

Physical symptoms can include

• Dizziness
• Tiredness
• Heart palpitations
• Muscle aches/tension
• Shivering
• Dry mouth
• Excessive sweating
• Shortness of breath
• Stomach ache
• Feeling/being sick
• Headache or backache
• Pins and needles
• Insomnia
• Grinding your teeth
• Needing the toilet more or less than usual
• Decreased sex drive
• Panic attacks

Causes

Causes of anxiety are individual; however, possible causes can include

• Past or childhood experiences (physical or emotional abuse, neglect, losing a parent, being bullied)
• Current life events (stress, work, unemployment, school, money problems, homelessness or housing problems, grief, loneliness, being bullied)
• Physical and mental health problems (living with a life-long physical illness, current mental health problems)
• Drugs and medication (some prescription drugs, recreational drugs and alcohol)

Treatment

There are three main ways of treating anxiety. The first method is psychological, which involves self-help resources. This involves working through a variety of resources such as a mood diary in your everyday life, which you will generally talk through with a therapist once a week.

Another common method for treating anxiety is through a therapy called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Essentially, this involves changing your way of thinking, so changing negative anxious thoughts into positive thoughts. This is achieved with the help of a therapist, who you will usually meet with once a week.

Applied relaxation is the final psychological treatment method. This involves learning how to relax your muscles to enable you to relax your muscles in anxious situations.

Medication is another treatment for anxiety; however, psychological treatments are often favoured more than medication and are usually tried first. There are various medications for anxiety, but often people must try a few different medications before finding the medication that works for them. Sometimes, people find that medication does not work at all. Like psychological treatments, the effect of medication differs from person to person and be sure to research the side effects of your medication as some can have nasty side effects.

If neither psychological treatments or medications seem effective, your GP may refer you to a psychiatrist for specialist support. The psychiatrist will aim to manage your symptoms through more personalised treatment methods.

Self-help

There are a variety of general self-help methods that can alleviate some anxiety. These include 

• Reading self-help books and listening to audio guides
• Regular aerobic exercise
• Relaxation (yoga, pilates, meditation)
• Avoiding caffeine
• Avoiding smoking and drinking
• Contacting support groups (Anxiety UK, Mind, Rethink Mental Illness)

Hopefully, this post has been informative. I am sending so much love and support to anyone who has found this post helpful. Whether this is recognising anxiety in yourself or someone else, identifying anxiety triggers, identifying possible treatment routes for existing anxiety... Below are the resources I have used, so I recommend visiting these websites if your require further information. I have also linked a page of useful contacts. 

Next week's post will be similar to this post, but on the topic of depression. I have decided to only write about anxiety and depression so far because I have experienced these myself, so I feel my experience will help me to write about them. I am open to researching and writing about more mental health problems in the future. Let's break the stigma and raise awareness. Did you find this post useful? Would you like more of these posts in the future? Let me know!

Please find useful contacts here.

Sources
NHS
Mind
Time to Change
Rethink Mental Illness
Anxiety UK