Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself?

WORDS: Magnus Health PHOTOGRAPHY Alexandra Gorn @unsplash.com

Anxiety Symptoms can be Treated

One of the greatest survival strategies ever devised, the adrenalin-based fight-flight-freeze system has played a pivotal role in the ascendence of humanity.

However, the greater the complexity of any system, the easier it becomes for something to go wrong. As human beings developed the capacity for long-term memory and formed into communities of ever-increasing complexity and interdependency, in effect becoming a new self-aware and social animal, the rudimentary mechanism of fight-flight-freeze struggled to keep up.

Originally engineered to protect from physical risk, the emotional networks of the mid-brain now find themselves attempting to navigate a fluid social universe populated with new social risks. Status anxiety, personal politics, 24-hour news, smartphones; is it any wonder that our threat detection system can at times struggle to make sense of it all?

Like fear, there is nothing wrong with a bit of anxiety when the circumstances warrant it, the function of both emotions is to preserve and protect life. But we need to know what to do when these emotional systems become overactive or won’t switch off – otherwise the protective mechanism can become the threat itself.

What Does Anxiety Look Like?

Social beings such as ourselves are good at putting on a brave face for the group, so symptoms can be hard to detect, and anxiety will manifest differently in different people. Having said that, the presence of the following are clues that a person may be suffering from an anxiety condition:

• avoiding situations that provoke anxiety
• feelings of excessive fear, tension and being “on edge”
• restlessness
• difficulty concentrating
• worrying and obsessive thinking
• physical symptoms such as panic attacks, shortness of breath, racing heart rate, tightness in the chest, difficulty sleeping or headaches
• catastrophic thinking: imagining the worst-case scenario and assuming it will occur

 

It is important to note that the presence of the above does not necessarily indicate an anxiety condition. Many of these symptoms are experienced intermittently by people who are not anxious as a rule and will resolve without major disruption to their lives.

However, when symptoms of anxiety are ongoing and/or severe enough to disrupt a person’s study, work, relationships or other everyday activities, it is probably time to seek help.

Can Anxiety Be Treated?

In a word – yes.

The good news is that anxiety is one of the most treatable mental health conditions getting around. It is a very common problem to have, so the health profession has a lot of experience and data to tell us what to do about it. The following are some of the more effective methods of treatment:

• behavioural interventions – reducing anxiety by building the capacity to engage in more effective and non-avoidant behaviours (i.e. a shy person might practice social skills in therapy and then make an effort to attend a party).
• cognitive interventions – addressing distortions in thinking and reasoning that may be giving rise to anxious feelings, such as catastrophic thinking, mindreading, discounting the positive and jumping to conclusions among others.
• cognitive behavioural interventions – a treatment mode that combines elements of both of the above.
• dialectical behavioural therapy – DBT contains both cognitive and behavioural strategies to regulate emotions and manage episodes of acute distress but also includes mindfulness and interpersonal effectiveness as core areas of skill development.
• play therapy – an exciting and relatively new development, play therapy is highly effective in the treatment of anxiety in children. This mode of therapy is particularly useful for children under the age of about 8 or 9 years, who are yet to develop the language skills needed to fully utilise the more cognitive methods.

 

The Takeaway

You don’t have to deal with this on your own. Like any medical condition, early detection and skilful intervention are likely to result in better long-term outcomes. There are caring, switched-on people out there who have devoted their lives to figuring out how to help people just like you deal with things just like this. If you or someone you care about is suffering from a mental health condition, including anxiety, please reach out to our team today.

If you or someone you care about is suffering from Mental Health condition, including anxiety, please reach out to Magnus Health (see below)

Contact the team today; ph: 0479 070 608 e: [email protected]

Locates at 64/2 Arbour Avenue Robina and 3/94 York Street Beenleigh – www.magnushealth.com.au