Archive for March, 2009

How to Stop Severe Anxiety Disorder

Friday, March 27th, 2009
A severe anxiety disorder and deep depression most of the time walk hand in hand.

A severe anxiety disorder and deep depression most of the time walk hand in hand.

A severe anxiety disorder and deep depression most of the time walk hand in hand. It’s not unusual for a person who suffers from a severe anxiety attacks to start thinking about suicide and having other morbid thoughts.

When people hear that their friend is suffering from Severe Social Anxiety, they will sometimes try to push the person into confrontational situations. This kind of shock therapy is a big mistake, not unlike pushing someone in a lake to teach them how to swim.

I would strongly recommend keeping people that suffer from Severe Anxiety Disorder symptoms in minimum stress situations as possible. Do not try to be clever by making your friend face their source of anxiety, since that will be likely to cause more harm than good.

Medical treatments for anxiety

Though doctors most of the time will prescribe Benzodiazepines to their anxious patients, it is not proven to help people with severe anxiety disorders. This is why psychiatric help is always recommended for such people, whether it would be self-help or professional assistance. Prescription drugs should be regarded as last resort.

Prescription medicines will only hide the outside symptoms of Anxiety, but they really do not touch the core of the problem. By contrast, psychiatric help will attack problem at its root: the brain.

You see, it is natural to be afraid. It’s a basic human emotion that we are all familiar with. The problem with severe anxiety disorder sufferers is that their brain, because of some incident in their life, started to treat most of the regular day events as a threat.

Anxiety disorders are very much treatable, but a certain reconditioning of the brain is required. This is something that can be done with psychological counseling, not with drugs. If you are worried getting such counseling might be too costly, you will be happy to know there are other inexpensive treatments, and self-help is always an option.

How to Stop Anxiety Dizziness

Friday, March 27th, 2009
Anxiety Almost Always Causes Dizziness

Anxiety Almost Always Causes Dizziness

Dizziness, lightheadedness and fainting are very common symptoms of anxiety.

In some occasions, you might suddenly start feeling as though you’re just a little woozy… and sooner than you know it, you find yourself in a situation where you’re afraid to faint, and somehow you might even convince yourself you’re about to die.

If your dizziness is accompanied by uncontrollable obsessing over your health; if worrying that you might faint seems to actually make it harder for you to stand straight… quite probably, you’re just having an anxiety episode.

Fighting off regular episodes of dizziness

If you start feeling dizzy on a regular basis, you should consult with your doctor, to make sure there are no causes other than anxiety. Dizziness can be caused not only by anxiety but also by different viral infections and other inner ear problems.

Once you see your doctor, you’ll know for sure whether there’s a physical cause to your episodes of dizziness. If your dizziness is directly related with anxiousness, then you’ll know you have to focus on treating your anxiety disorder.

Once you are certain that your dizziness is caused by anxiety, you can start taking action to make it vanish permanently. There are certain anxiety relaxation techniques you might want to try, since they have proven highly effective in helping other sufferers of anxiety.

How to counter anxious dizziness

In people who suffer Anxiety Disorders, dizziness can get really intense. However, there’s something you can do to control this unpleasant feeling that you might fall down or even faint:

In such occasions, you should try doing what ballet-dancers do while spinning on one leg: keep your eyes open and focus on a spot that’s at least 10 feet in front of you. This little trick can be extremely effective in averting dizziness.

People usually get dizzy from temporary loss of blood pressure. When it comes to anxiety sufferers, dizziness can be triggered by all kinds of external stimulus.

Regardless of what made you feel dizzy in the first place, you can counter its effects by managing your anxiety.

General guidelines to reduce dizziness episodes

  • First of all, try eating at least six times per day with equal time intervals between each meal. This will prevent your blood sugar from dropping too low and since the first symptom of low blood sugar level is dizziness, you will be well off preventing future dizzy moments.
  • Also, you should try removing any kind of refined sugar and stimulants from your diet. Consume more apples, nuts, porridge and pears. Drinking 4-6 glasses of water is also necessary to slash your anxiety symptoms to a minimum.
  • Adding Vitamin B6 to your daily ration also helps in preventing dizziness since it is very good for your nervous system, which is responsible for supporting your balance.
  • As soon as you start feeling dizzy start breathing from your diaphragm (learn this kind of breathing especially if you tend to hyperventilate.)

You Can Stop Physical Anxiety Symptoms

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Most often anxious person will avoid communicating with other people.

Most often anxious person will avoid communicating with other people.

Many people still think of anxiety disorders as purely psychological conditions. This isn’t exactly true, in the same sense as we aren’t purely psychological beings. Our minds and bodies deeply and readily affect one another.

Someone who has serious problems with anxiety is quite likely to develop an assortment of strange (sometimes unexplainable) physical symptoms. If this is something you can relate with, you must remember:

You can’t treat the symptoms hoping that will make your anxiety go away; you need to focus on treating your anxiety disorder, and that will make all symptoms subside.

Most physical symptoms of anxiety are just an indicator of your inner turmoil, and that is your real problem – not the symptoms, regardless of how troubling they seem.

Common physical symptoms of anxiety

  • Heart Palpitations / Pounding heart
  • Excessive Sweating / Perspiration
  • Uncontrollable Trembling / Shaking
  • Shortness of breath / Hyperventilation
  • Choking sensations / Difficulty swallowing
  • Nausea / Vomiting
  • Dizziness / Lightheadedness
  • Hot or Cold Flashes

All of these symptoms can have other causes besides anxiety. However, there’s a common pattern that you should look for in all anxiety symptoms: they clearly get worse when you worry about them.

If your physical symptoms have an actual physical cause, worrying about them will be of little effect, both in aggravating or relieving the symptoms.

If your physical symptoms are caused by anxiety, they might disappear just as soon as you can take your mind off them.

Warding off physical symptoms of anxiety

If you have been troubled with anxiety and you’re looking for a way to control its physical symptoms, you should know there are several tricks that might work for you. Different things work better with different people, so you should try some of these ideas:

  • Get more physical exercise
  • Practice yoga and/or meditation
  • Try deep breathing exercises
  • Try doing relaxing arts and crafts

Ideally, you want to focus on doing activities that keep your mind and body occupied. While you’re distracted, your anxiousness won’t build up as much; that’s something you need to learn to use to your advantage.

By doing so, you’ll find it easier controlling your anxiety. As you manage to put a hold on your anxiousness, you will be surprised with how quickly your anxious symptoms will tend to disappear.

The Best 7 Anti Anxiety Foods

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Many people are looking for ways to reduce their anxiety and feel better. However, the next time you are feeling anxious or in a slump don’t reach for the medicine cabinet –- reach for super foods! Super foods can leave you looking good and feeling great.

Banning fried foods

There are foods you should eat and shouldn't when suffering from anxiety or you are just in a slump

There are foods you should eat and shouldn't when suffering from anxiety or you are just in a slump

When many people are in a slump they reach for comfort foods. Sadly, these comfort foods are often not the healthiest for you, since high fat foods, fried foods, and other high calorie snacks often top the list. However, if you substitute just a few super foods into your diet in place of these less nutritious ones you could start feeling the improvement right away. Remember that those higher fat and higher calories foods are often harder for your body to digest, not to mention low in any real nutritional content. Once your body starts getting the nutrition it needs, it feels better and runs more smoothly. And that means that emotionally you will feel better too.

Understanding super foods

So just what are these super foods? Super foods are natural foods that give the body a boost. Besides having a better ratio of nutrition per calorie, many of these super foods also have additional phytonutrients that keep the body running at its best. However, you should keep in mind that these foods offer the maximum benefits when they are left as natural as possible – over processing is one of the biggest nutrition-killers of natural food. For instance, choose fresh fruits over canned, stay away from pre-cooked and boxed dinners, and cook meals for yourself whenever possible.

Peaches

peachesIf you stop into your grocery store, particularly in the summer, there is a good chance that you can buy fresh peaches. These fruits are one of the best super foods for you. The peach includes phytonutrients that can give you healthier skin and fight cancer. It also has a natural sedative that can help reduce stress and anxiety. Plus since peaches are sweet they make a great healthy alternative to sugary treats.

Acacia berries

Acacia BerriesThis super food is a relative newcomer to many people, and is not as easily recognizable as peaches to the average consumer. However, this super food should not be ignored. The acacia berry has phytonutrients that are able to lift your mood, allowing you to feel better.

It also offers other health benefits, such as leveling out your blood sugar levels. This has caused some to advertise it as a magic weight loss berry as well. While leveling out your blood sugar can help reduce food cravings, it is also important to remember that real weight loss will occur only with a change in diet and exercise routine.

Blueberries

blueberriesThis relatively simple food has found its way into muffins, breakfast cereals, pies, and other dishes for years, so it may surprise you that this purplish little fruit is actually a super food. Blueberries can help to not only improve your mood, but there are also some studies looking at how it can combat Alzheimer’s disease. Blueberries can help restore brain function and shrink cancer cells. Plus the natural fruit sugars are a great source of energy. Blueberries make for a great snack and can be added to cereals, yogurts, or even eaten plain.

Almonds

nuts almonds rawIf you are looking for a super food that is not sweet, then almonds are a good choice. Almonds are rich in zinc and vitamin B12, making them real mood enhancers. They also contain monounsaturated fat, an essential ingredient for fighting heart disease. If you have trouble getting iron in your diet, almonds can help with this. And since low levels of iron often cause fatigue, a handful of almonds can give you that energy boost that you need to get through the day.

Chocolate

chocolateChocolate is another super food, though we are not talking about your average candy bar. Raw chocolate is rich in magnesium, an essential element that over half of adults are deficient in. A lack of magnesium can explain sluggishness and mood swings. Sadly, when most people think of chocolate they reach for the sugar and fat-laden processed varieties. To get the true health benefits of chocolate, you want to look for options that are processed as little as possible and contain the highest cocoa percentages.

Maca root

maca rootMaca root is a powder made from a Peruvian root and can be found in certain supplements and drink mixes. Maca root contains a phytonutrient that can help ward off anxiety and depression, provided that you can find the unprocessed form. In its natural state, just one glass of tea containing maca root has more nutrients than a serving of most fruits and vegetables, including the nutrients calcium, iodine, iron, magnesium, and potassium. Some studies have found that maca root is just as useful at fighting depression as prescription antidepressants since it contains so many nutrients that are useful for improving mood. Plus since maca root is natural it does not have as many of the risks and side effects that are associated with prescription anxiety medication. Maca root powder can be made into a tea of sprinkled over other foods to give you the maximum health benefits.

Super foods are everywhere if you know where to look. And since many people are becoming more aware of their health and how what they eat affects it they are becoming easier to find. Many of them, like peaches and blueberries, have been found in your local produce section for as long as you can remember.

If you want to improve your mood and start feeling better then you should consider adding some of these super foods to your diet. Take the time to look for the most natural and unprocessed forms of these food as you can find for the best health benefits. And if you are truly looking to change how you feel, then you should use these super foods as alternatives for the more processed and less nutritious foods in your diet – particularly those high in fat, calories, and processed sugars.

Are Self-Help Anxiety Support Groups Helpful?

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Support groups are probably the easiest way to your success.

Support groups are probably the easiest way to your success.

Anxiety support groups is a great idea for those who are sick and tired of suffering alone. Sometimes it is really hard for anxiety sufferers to find a true understanding from people who never experienced an anxiety attack. That is where an anxiety support group will help you out.

If fact, a shared support and sharing newest information about causes and anxiety treatment will help people to recover faster and easier than if done by one.

But what if there’s no anxiety support groups in your area? Well, you might think about starting one yourself. And that would be a smart move! After all, a lot of people just talk about doing something or just complain that no one is actually doing anything.

That’s why I want to congratulate you. You are one of hundred who not only is talking but is taking action. You will become a true hero in your and other people’s lives, since you are about to change them with your anxiety support group.

But before patting on your back, let’s consider few major things before getting started.

First of all, anxiety support groups require time and energy. Do you have enough of both of them? Will you be able to maintain your anxiety support group running smoothly?

And second of all, do you have the right skills to run one?

Even though it will take a lot of your time and effort, anxiety support group will be rewarding experience in your life and will return the investment of your time and energy in spades.

As a anxiety relief leader you will have to be assertive. You must understand that sometimes there will be few individuals who will not abide anxiety support group’s meeting rules. The most common problem is when one person dominates the whole conversation and you, as a leader of a group will have to steer the whole conversation back on the track. If you think you can do that – your anxiety support group will be a place where everyone is happy and improving.

Also, running an anxiety support group will drain you emotionally. You will probably be the most distressed member of the group, just because you will be the one who is the most occupied in aiding the sharing of their experiences. Ask yourself if you are strong enough to do this, are you a good listener and do you express sympathy and support for your loved ones?

From my experience these are the two most essential characteristics of a group leader and if you meet the above criteria you will be well off to start your own anxiety support group.

How to Stop Anxiety Headaches

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

Anxiety headache is becoming more and more common problem these days. A lot of people are living in a constant stress and anxiety which is the main reason for having this kind of headache. Reducing tension in your life is the most important step you could take in eliminating anxiety headaches from your life, but that is not always possible.

97% of all headaches are anxiety or stress related.

97% of all headaches are anxiety or stress related.

In such situation I would suggest you following the next steps, which will help you to reduce and eliminate headaches from your life.

First, try giving yourself a small self-massage. Massaging your scalp and neck with the tips of your fingers will relax the tension in your neck muscles. It is scientifically proven that more than usual the source of anxiety and other kind of headaches is tension in your neck, so spend a little more time massaging this area.

If first anxiety relaxation technique doesn’t help try reducing anxiety and tension in your body by taking a hot bath or shower. This will relax your muscles and relax your mind. Adding a few drops of lavender or peppermint oil into your hot bath will only make things better. Also try rubbing few drops of mentioned oils onto your scalp, neck and temples. Lavender is known to have calming and relaxing effect, so it will only serve you in eliminating your anxiety headache.

However, if your headaches are becoming more and more frequent be sure to overview your diet. Adding a little bit of calcium and magnesium will help you to strengthen and make your organism more resistant in stressful situations.

A lot of our clients report that daily meditation and visualization-relaxation sessions help in reducing anxiety headaches to a minimum. And the best thing you do not have to go to yoga classes to learn how to meditate. It is enough to turn off television, create safe and calm environment, sit in a chair with your eyes closed and just focus on your breathing.

Pay attention how you inhale and how you exhale. If some kind of a thought runs through your head don’t try to resist it. Just let it flow. Remember, what you resist – persists, so let it be and let it flow.

Do this kind of relaxation exercise at least for 5 minutes a day and in a week you will notice that your anxiety headaches, that were constant, suddenly disappeared. Plus, you will feel better and more relaxed in every daily situations.

Magic Anxiety Cures – Myths And Reality

Saturday, March 14th, 2009
Is there a "magic-pill" for treating anxiety disorders?

Is there a "magic-pill" for treating anxiety disorders?

A lot of people ask me if there is an anxiety cure that will make them stop having anxiety attacks. After this question I usually follow with,

“Do you really want to be completely anxiety-free?”

Anxiety and fear are universal emotions that evolved through thousand years to serve us. Fear and anxiety prevent us from doing something stupid or something that might put our lives at risk. In fact there is a part inside our brain that is called “Amygdala.”

Among other functions Amygdala is responsible for emotions and anxiety levels. So now let’s imagine that by some kind of a miracle we remove this part of our brain; surely, we’d go on about our lives without the least trace of fear or anxiousness:

Playing with knifes and running with scissors would be a normal thing, all of the sudden. Walking into a pit-bull-guarded territory would appear of no consequence. Swimming into the open sea without a life-jacket would seem like a brilliant idea.

Can you see where I’m going with this?

Anxiety and fear are a part of who we are. And they are an important part, because they support our survival mechanisms. However, in some people, these survival mechanisms can go awry, and that’s normally referred to as an anxiety disorder.

So the trick is not eliminating fear and anxiety from your life completely, but learning how to control it and not to become anxious all the time. Learning how to react only to real threats, just like you used to before your Amygdala went out of control.

How to keep anxiety in check

Drugs will usually slow down your anxiety responses, which might be disastrous. Slowing your anxiety reaction at least by split of a second might mean that your body won’t be prepared to deal with urgent situations.

Your heart won’t pump enough of blood into your muscles and your muscles won’t respond as needed. So anxiety drugs and pills are out of the question. How about desensitization as a cure for anxiety and panic attacks?

Desensitization is a process when we face some kind of a fear so often that we become immune to it – desensitized. Seems like a good plan, doesn’t it?

Well, at least on the paper. Imagine if I said to you, “Start jumping off of the roof of your house until you are not afraid to do so?” Might sound a little bit crazy, but that’s exactly the case when you ask anxious person to face his or her fear. It takes a lot of nerve, a lot of commitment and a lot of stress.

I certainly do not recommend that. Not when there are simpler and healthier options.

Unusual Ways That Anxiety Affects Your Behavior

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
Anxiety will influence the way a person act and behave.

Anxiety will influence the way a person act and behave.

Anxiety is a universal emotion. We constantly feel anxious when we are threatened or frighten. Though it may vary by its level (from slight to total panic) everyone experiences this emotion from time to time. In fact anxiety is a useful emotion that helps us do things better, like performing better at your exams or when you answer questions in a job interview.

Anxiety does become a problem when it gets way out of the levels of “normal.” When you start to feel anxious so frequently and levels of such anxiety are getting more and more intense it might be hard to get on with your daily tasks. Something that you thought to be normal some time ago all of the sudden becomes a major hurdle in day-to-day life.

Anxiety affects the way people think, the things they do (behavior) and the way they feel.

Common physical symptoms of anxiety sufferers are chest paints, increased heartbeat, short breaths, nausea, hyperventilation, butterflies in a stomach. Dizziness, sweating, tingling, trembling and restlessness are also often signs of anxiety. Although it might seem as these symptoms are a normal functions of your body when it feels anxious, but during anxiety attack these physical symptoms are very frightening.

As mentioned above, anxiety will also influence a person’s behavior. Most of the time anxiety sufferer will try to avoid all the situations that make him anxious or afraid. A sufferer will often become snappy, irritable, start drinking and smoking more, the speech will be like a rapid-fire. It is not uncommon that people experiencing anxiety will sleep worse and less. Such people will become pessimists and always think about the worst outcome possible, thought like “I’ll make a fool out of myself” constantly runs through their head, making any social gatherings uncomfortable.

A very intense levels of anxiety are called panic. When a person experiences a panic attack he is overwhelmed by intense feelings of terror. It is not uncommon for anxiety attacks to happen all of the sudden, yet most of the time they build up gradually.

Anxiety & Panic Disorders Diagnosis

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
It's the wise decision to leave mental health diagnosis for professionals.

It's the wise decision to leave mental health diagnosis for professionals.

Like with any other illness Anxiety and Panic Disorders diagnosis starts at your doctor’s office. To find out if you have any metal health problems your doctor will start asking different questions to get the right idea about your symptoms and if they can be related to Anxiety or Panic disorders.

Be ready to answer different questions from your medical history and maybe even perform some physical anxiety symptom checks, since this will give your doctor a clear picture what might be wrong with you (given there is something wrong.)

Not many people know this, but there are no laboratory tests to diagnose anxiety disorders and panic disorders, thus your doctor will use different tests. And it is more than likely that you will have to perform not one, and not two different tests, but a series of those. Some of people are surprised by that, but like mentioned above, it is impossible to predict if you have any mental health issues with laboratory tests, the only way to do this is by asking questions and performing different tests.

Furthermore, by giving you a number of tests your doctor is making sure that there is nothing else that might be causing a problem, and that the reason for your problems is Anxiety or Panic disorder.

Depending on which one you will choose, psychiatrists and psychologists will use tests that were specially designed to assess your mental illness. These include different Question and Answer sessions, observing your anxiety behavior and hearing your story how a certain symptom is causing you trouble in your social life. Only then, after conducting a series of tests and hours of questioning, your doctor will compare your symptoms with the ones that are associated with Anxiety and Panic disorder.

Even though a lot of people are looking for some kind of a “Home-Kit” that will help them to predict if they are suffering from anxiety and/or panic disorder I would not recommend that.

Why? Well, mostly because it takes more than just few answers to few questions to accurately diagnose your mental health issue. It is very easy to make a mistake and start thinking that you actually have a mental health problem which you actually do not. But like with so many things in life, only thinking that you are anxiety and panic disorder sufferer will become a self fulfilling prophecy.

So once again, leave mental health diagnosis for professionals.

Anxiety & Our Brain – What Happens In There?

Monday, March 9th, 2009
Amygdala - a brain part where anxiety, fear and panic originate from. It's sometimes called Anxiety Brain.

Amygdala – a brain part where anxiety, fear and panic originate from. It’s sometimes called Anxiety Brain.

It does not really matter what the real cause of you fear and anxiety is. The fact is that it all the time expresses itself throughout your whole body. There is no chance that we could get intellectually afraid. Fear and anxiety always connects with our bodies.

So how is this feeling of fear, anxiety and panic created? What happens inside of our brain, what happens inside of what I like to call our anxiety brain?

The scientists have moved very far in the area of neurophysiology of anxiety and fear in the last few decades. Just imagine for one second that you get back home from work, it’s late, you open your house’s door and suddenly you see a moving shadow inside one of your rooms. In a split of a second the whole chemistry in your body changes. It could be a threat to your life, so your neural circuits, which evolved during thousands and thousands of years, start their job. And usually it happens much faster than you can rationally think about what really is happening.

So the signal goes from your eyes and your ears to the brain stem and from there it travels to the thalamus. At this place the traveling impulse branches. One part of the signal moves to the part of the brain where it will be interpreted and the other part of the signal moves to you anxiety brain – amygdala – and hippocampus. Although amygdale is a small part of your brain, kind of reminding a shape of almond it is really important for your everyday life. Hippocampus is a part of your brain that is responsible for remembering things and your memories. Also, when nerve signal reaches hippocampus this part of your brain will analyze it with the memories it has already stored to find out if this is a threatening situation.

The signal journey will stop right there, if you are sure that stimulus means nothing. However, if you are not really sure about it, you brain will go into “warning” mode. Then that impulse will be sent forth and back between hippocampus, you temporal lobe and amygdala (the anxiety brain); your whole body becomes alert and you are prepared for the worst.

Like I already mentioned your emotional brain (amygdale) plays a major role in this whole process. This is a place where anxiety, fear and panic originate from. If there was a way to physically remove amygdala out of your brain, you wouldn’t feel fear, anxiety or panic at all. Furthermore you wouldn’t be able to tell if people around you are scared or not.

Your anxiety brain is always on alert, sorting every signal received to see if you are facing anything threatening so it can prepare your body to survive. But if some signal will be recognized as a threatening, this little almond-shaped anxiety brain will signal other parts of your brain to put those scary expressions on your face and stop everything what you were doing in order to fully concentrate on the possible danger.