The first thing to say about Anxiety is that if you are experiencing it, please know that you are not broken and you don’t need fixing.
Although it may not feel like it, Anxiety is a normal and often healthy emotion. It can help us stay focused, motivated, and alert.
However, when Anxiety becomes excessive or persistent, it can interfere with our daily lives.
Anxiety is a common mental health condition that affects people of all ages. According to the Mental Health Foundation, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the UK.
More than 8 million adults in the UK have an anxiety disorder, and anxiety disorders affect nearly one in three adults at some point in their lives.
There are many different types of anxiety disorders, including:
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): GAD is a chronic anxiety disorder that is characterized by excessive worry and fear about a variety of things. People with GAD may worry about their health, their finances, their relationships, or their work.
- Social anxiety disorder (social phobia): Social anxiety disorder is a fear of social situations. People with social anxiety disorder may feel anxious about being judged by others or about embarrassing themselves.
- Panic disorder: Panic disorder is characterized by recurrent, unexpected panic attacks. Panic attacks are episodes of intense fear that come on suddenly and reach their peak within a few minutes.
- Specific phobias: Specific phobias are intense fears of specific objects or situations. Common phobias include fear of spiders, fear of heights, and fear of public speaking.
What causes Anxiety?
Anxiety disorders can be caused by a variety of factors, including Abuse, loss, rejection or abandonment. Also anything throughout your childhood that meant you had to mature too quickly.
How do we experience Anxiety?
Both in our heads, and in our bodies.
In our heads: – The catastrophic thinking, the what ifs (What if this goes wrong), and what could have been (What if I’d done that differently). Those thoughts generate the feelings of nervousness and fear.
In our bodies: Everyone experiences bodily sensations differently, but these can include a racing heart, sweaty palms, a wavering voice, butterflies in the stomach and many more.
The thoughts and the feelings perpetuate each other. In other words, the thoughts make the feelings stronger and vice versa.
Anxiety treatment
There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to anxiety treatment and anxiety management because everyone is different and experiences anxiety uniquely to them.
What is essential to be truly free of your anxiety for good is to get to the route cause. And in doing that, awareness is a key element to treatment that will help you to be able to make changes in the way you are affected by your Anxiety:
Awareness of past events and the significance we give them can help us get to the route cause of our Anxiety by
- Helping us to understand the underlying beliefs and emotions that contribute to our Anxiety. These beliefs and emotions may be rooted in past experiences, and by understanding them, we can start to challenge them and change our perspective.
- Giving us a sense of control over our Anxiety. When we understand the root cause of our Anxiety, we feel more empowered to manage it.
Therapy can help you understand your Anxiety and develop coping mechanisms.
If you are experiencing Anxiety and you would like to have a free conversation about how I can help you, you can book some time here: https://www.jimmyhuttontherapy.co.uk/contact-jimmy/
Here are some additional facts about Anxiety in the UK:
- Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the UK, affecting more than 8 million adults.
- Anxiety disorders cost the UK economy an estimated £26 billion each year.
- One in three adults in the UK will experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives.
- Women are more likely than men to experience anxiety disorders.
- Young people are more likely than older people to experience anxiety disorders.
