Archive for May, 2009

Fool-Proof Anxiety Relaxation Technique

Saturday, May 30th, 2009
Anxiety Relaxation

Anxiety Relaxation

Are relaxation and meditation the same thing?

They are strikingly similar. Some forms of meditation provide a person with a personal chant word called a mantra, but this is not necessary. A person can count backward or choose any meaningful word or phrase to say while relaxing, for concentration and focus.
Meditation can involve staring at an object, such as a lighted candle. This helps focus attention on the process. After a few minutes, some people like to close their eyes and just relax.

“I’ve tried relaxation, but i just can’t do it!”

Believe it or not, everyone can do it — it just takes the right preparation and attitude. Here are some hints:

  • Maintain a passive attitude. Stay open-minded. Discard thoughts such as, “this won’t work,” or “this is dumb.”
  • Set aside about 20 minutes at least once a day.
  • Get comfortable. Sit in a big easy chair with your clothes loosened and your feet up.

What are some specific benefits of anxiety relaxation techniques?

Relaxation has several benefits. They include: decrease in worry and sense of ‘nervousness’, deeper, more restful sleep, more energy/less fatigue, reduced anxiety and stress, looser muscles/less tension, reduction of pain.

Increase in self-esteem through positive suggestions, increase in coping abilities through positive suggestions.

How can this relaxation help my anxiety or depression?

Relaxation helps a person cope with anxiety, which is often a combination of experiences. Relaxation provides a person an opportunity to sit quietly, get in touch with the inner self, and gain more control over feelings, thoughts, and emotions.

A quiet time every day is important for everyone, whether or not he or she has anxiety. Relaxation just makes the quiet time more mean¬ingful and serene.

The Relaxation Technique

Progressive relaxation is a method of relaxing the mind and the body by consciously relaxing one major muscle group at a time. For instance, you might concentrate on feeling heavy, warm and/or tingly in the legs while breathing calmly with eyes closed, then go on to another body part.

Close your eyes. Breathe calmly, slowly and deeply, using your whole diaphragm. Practice at the beginning by gently pushing your stomach out as if you’re pregnant when you breathe in. Fill your lungs with air and keep breathing slowly in and out through your nose.

Slowly count backwards from five to one. This focuses your thoughts and gently relieves your mind of daily, busy thoughts. Once you reach the number one, start over again.

Concentrate on sensations of relaxation in your physical body. Allow your body to sink into the chair. Become limp, like a limp elastic band. Imagine your body feeling very, very heavy, warm and tingly. Challenge yourself to see how much heavier you can feel.

Keeping your jaw loose, even dropped open, allow your head to relax with the rest of your body. Relax your face and eyes.

Once you feel relaxed, visualize a wonderful, calming place where you would love to be. Keep counting or repeating a calm word if you think you’re becoming less relaxed. If you are concentrating on counting and visualizing a beautiful place, you will be too focused to think busy thoughts. If distracting thoughts do enter your mind, gently brush them aside, and continue with the process.

Give yourself a positive suggestion, slowly, several times. You can think of a suggestion to give to yourself before you begin your relaxation exercise. You can say something nice about yourself that will make you feel good.

What are some positive suggestions a person can say while in the relaxed state?

Suggestions can be personal and meaningful; short and positive. Some suggestions might be:

  • I feel calm and serene.
  • I am having a good day.
  • I am special and unique.
  • My attitude is pleasant and Positive.
  • I love my body.
  • I believe in myself.

Posted in Anxiety > Treatment | Comments Off

Anxiety Psychosis – There ARE Solution That Work

Saturday, May 30th, 2009
Anxiety Psychosis

Anxiety Psychosis

What is anxiety psychosis, and can depressed people be psychotic?

A person with anxiety psychosis loses contact with reality. He or she experiences delusions and/or hallucinations and lives mostly in a fantasy world. Depressed people can, unfortunately, experience psychosis if the depression becomes severe. Outward behavior reflects this condition, and the person may act very strange. Psychosis in chronic anxiety can be eliminated with the use of anti-psychotic medications and psychotherapy.

How many people suffer from psychosis?

In North America, anxiety psychosis disables as many people every year as heart disease and cancer combined.

How many Americans are hospitalized every year for psychosis?

About half the hospital patients with mental illness today occupy beds in the United States with mental illnesses. Almost all suffer from psychosis.

Interestingly, quite a few people define psychosis quite differently and tend to share vastly different symptoms and definitions. Some of the experiences are unshared, even not fitting the clinical definition of anxiety psychosis. In example, there are many people who have experienced some form of hallucinations in relation to religious, cultist or sects movements. Such experiences both can be classified as psychosis, and at the same time may not. So, it’s been agreed that psychosis is a completely extreme condition, a state when a person is beyond any kinds of societal norms and accepted behavior/experiences. Therefore, when a person is having some kind of extreme state of consciousness, he may not exactly be suffering from psychosis, even though he’s behaving outside societal norms, hemay simply be having an unusually extreme experience. For more information, search for schizotypy.

Most people refer to psychopathic or sociopathic behavior as if it was psychotic. It is mostly incorrect, because anxiety psychosis is not necessarily a tendency to engage in violent behavior, rather something that stems from within a person and is mostly characterized by internal signs.

Posted in Anxiety > Types | Comments Off

What To Do About Anxiety Rash?

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Having a rash is nothing unusual, and oftentimes it’s of no consequence… unless for someone who suffers with anxiety. When someone gets a rash as a symptom of anxiety, they will be most likely to get nervous about it. And doing so is a recipe for disaster.

If your rash is caused by anxiety and your start obsessing about it, it will likely get worse very quickly. Your nervousness will reinforce your anxiousness, which in turn will intensify the rash. It will break out, spread and become vivid red in color.

You will then experience uncontrollable itching throughout your arms, chest, neck and even your back. You will get caught up in paranoia and start feeling compelled to wear long sleeved clothes to cover your rash spots.

All kinds of scary and terrible sensations might unfold …

Unless you control your anxiety disorder.

How does an anxious rash manifest?

For the most part, anxiety seems to trigger rashes when the sufferer is caught up in a situation of nervousness and tension. Some examples include dating, talking with a person of higher authority or simply being the center of attentions.

People who have anxiety rashes usually avoid social situations because they are afraid they will get nervous and start itching uncontrollably.
If you have this problem then you should realize that the more you get rashes, the more intense they will get. That’s because you begin to expect and associate the rashes with normal social interactions. After a while, your anxiousness might start giving you rashes all the time, for no apparent reason.

How to control a rash that was caused by anxiety?

You need to confront your fears. Take small steps and start facing small challenges at first, and you’ll notice how you’ll become more and more accustomed to social challenges.

Some techniques you may want to try using to control your anxiety disorder include:

  • deep measured breathing
  • meditation
  • behavioral therapy
  • exposure therapy

Remember, your problem is being anxious – not having a rash. Treating the rash won’t make the anxiety go away (it will probably just manifest through other symptoms), but treating the anxiety will surely help control the rash.

As a first anxiety relief, most people tend to pick some general anxiety medication, which usually doesn’t help much. You would do better to learn some stress management techniques, since that will be more effective than any prescription drug you find on the market… and less harmful.

Posted in Anxiety > Symptoms | Comments Off

Best Anti Anxiety Medication Causes Harm?

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

Anxiety is classified as an unpleasant emotional condition wherein a person is in constant worry or fearsome of what is supposedly normal everyday events. The causes of anxiety may be excessive stress, abnormal brain activities or genetics. The person experiencing anxiety problems tend to immediately turn to anti-anxiety medications to relieve themselves of the symptoms of anxiety such as headaches, irritability, or nervousness. But these medications often come with adverse effects that could possibly worsen an already complicated condition such as drowsiness, nausea, stuttering and disorientation. One of the most popular types of this medication is benzodiazepines. But even the best medication for anxiety treatments still have some limitations and will still need a more thorough therapy.

Persons suffering from anxiety should try to look for alternatives to what they consider to be the best treatment for the ailment. There are other non-drug treatments that could help them in their quest for cure. Some suggested methods are cognitive-behavior therapy, exercise, proper diet, and of course, a drastic change of lifestyle. Cognitive-Behavior Therapy is meant to teach the person to recognize his condition and know the real causes of his anxiety, as well as to control and manage the stress-factors in his life. When other causes of anxiety have been diagnosed, it may need a more serious medical attention.

Taking the best medication for anxiety is not ruled out especially if it aids in the relief of debilitating symptoms and if anxiety renders the person unproductive. However, it has to be under strict guidance to avoid dependency. Still, alternative treatments have so far been proven to minimize the occurrence, if not totally eliminate, the causes of anxiety. They may not automatically resolve the problem. Patience is the key. But these treatments will be the safest, and the best, solution to anxiety.

Posted in Anxiety > Medications | Comments Off

Anxiety Chest Pain Is Not a Heart Attack!

Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Anxiety Chest Pain

Anxiety Chest Pain

Even though anxiety disorders are essentially psychological conditions, they can manifest through a wide range of symptoms, both physical and psychological.

Some physical discomforts that can be triggered by anxiety include:

  • chest pain
  • choking sensation
  • excessive sweating
  • nausea or abdominal distress
  • dizziness, lightheadedness, or fainting
  • unexplainable chills or hot flushes.

When chest pain is experienced as a symptom of anxiety, the degree of the disorder varies. In some people, chest pain induced by anxiety may last for a very short period of time (ten to fifteen seconds) while for others it may last longer; this symptom can even be cyclical and episodic, recurring from time to time in a person’s life.

Anxious chest pain vs. cardiac chest pain

Needless to say, a symptom such as chest pain can have serious physical causes, such as cardiac troubles. However, there’s a crucial distinction that you should look for:

If anxiety is the cause of your chest pain, the discomfort will tend to dissipate if you move around and somehow manage to distract your mind.

If there was an actual physical cause to your chest pain, trying to move will be almost impossible… and the discomfort would prevent you from thinking much at all.

You should make sure to consult with your medical doctor to rule out any scenarios of heart defects. In fact, once you’re certain there’s nothing wrong with your heart, it will be easier to face the reality that your anxiety disorder is the actual source of your physical and mental troubles.

Control your anxiety before your anxiety controls you

People who experience anxious chest pains oftentimes experience other physical abnormalities, such as irregular respiration and hyperventilation. Although these symptoms can be rather unnerving, you should do the best not to get caught up in the tides of anxiety:

Anxiety “feeds” from your reaction to its symptoms. If you get carried away in a stroke of panic, your symptoms will likely get stronger. This experience can be extremely distressing, but you need to keep in mind that you can’t suddenly die of anxiety.

However, prolonged anxiety (over the years) will cause real damage to your health.

You need to break free from the vicious cycles of anxiety before it takes a toll on your physical and mental health. The sooner you take action, the easier it will be reclaiming a happy and normal frame of mind.

Posted in Anxiety > Symptoms | Comments Off

Shocking and Scary Statistics on Depression

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

Major depression, or unipolar disorder, is the most commonly experi­enced form of depression, and the kind of depression this website refers to as “depression.” Major depression is a mood disorder and includes a combination of many symptoms.

This mental disorder is characterized by a persistent sad mood, changes in appetite, sleep problems, changes in activity (either apathy or agitation), sexual dysfunction and feelings of helplessness, hopeless­ness, anxiety, worthlessness, guilt and anger. Major depression is also the kind of depression that follows or precedes a manic episode.

What’s clinical depression?

Clinical depression, also known as major depression, is a syndrome – a collection of symptoms – rather than just one. The prevailing mood is the exact opposite of mania: a person is withdrawn, inhibited, sullen and slow moving. In some cases, the person is agitated and upset.

How else is it called?

These are also called mood disorders, or affective disorders. Statistics on depression is the most common psychiatric disorder treated today.

What is a mood disorder and how many are there?

Mood disorder is a broad term used to describe mental disturbances with symptoms that cause significant changes in emotions, behaviors, and physical condition. Mood disorders always involve a mood of depres­sion or elation, and are characterized by a decrease or an increase in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Physicians recognize four types by statistics on depression: major depression, or unipolar disor­der; manic-depression, called bipolar disorder; mild prolonged depres­sion, or dysthymic disorder; and mild manic periods with mild depressed periods, called cyclothymic disorder. These other types are discussed later in the chapter.

What does it mean to be clinically depressed?

When a person is clinically depressed, his or her depressed mood and accompanying symptoms have gone beyond normal human sadness: the condition has ceased to be normal, and needs medical treatment.

What are the statistics on depression?

Studies seem to indicate that it is. Also, increased knowledge is lifting the stigma of depressive disease, and people feel freer to admit their symptoms. Despite the large numbers of people that physicians do see, estimates are that they are only a small percentage of those actually suffering from the disease. Millions of people still suffer in silence and shame.

Statistics on depression say that it occurs in approximately three to four people out of every 1,000. Those figures may be low because depression can easily be misdiagnosed as another illness or because of people who do not seek medical help. About 20 million people in the United States, and 100 million worldwide, suffer from diagnosable depression at any one time.

Isn’t depression just a cop-out for living one’s life?

Depression is a biological brain disease and is no more a cop-out than cancer. A person suffering from depression can be just as incapacitated as someone who suffers from any another physical illness. Depression affects the whole body and mind. It can cause death by suicide or substance abuse. Physical symptoms such as anxiety headaches, backaches, stomach pain, heart palpitations, gas or constipation can be part of the disease.

Clinical depression is much more than a sad mood. From statistics on depression, we know that It is a treatable, physical disease and is recognized as such by the medical profession.

How widespread is depression?

As many as 25 percent of the American population will experience a major depressive episode over the course of his or her lifetime.

Is depression all in your head?

Not at all. From statistics on depression, it is a syndrome with both psychological and biological aspects. Some mild depressions may be a reaction to a loss or another kind of life stressor. They can often be treated with psycho­therapy alone, because the person learns new calming techniques and behavioral modifications that can ease the mind, and therefore help the body to re-establish normal biological rhythms. Major depression, however, the more serious form of depression, requires medication treatment to readjust the chemical imbalance in the brain.

Isn’t depression just self-pity?

Although by, statistics on depression, a depressed person can at times feel self-pity, the disease of depression is not a self-pitying disease any more than is diabetes or a heart condition.

The depressed person isn’t experiencing self-pity, but most often just feels blah and loses interest in himself or others. A self-pitying person may say, “Poor me, life has been so unfair, and people don’t like me.” A depressed person’s thoughts tend to lean toward,”I have messed up in my life and I have ruined all my relationships.”

This is not self-pity but self-blame.

Posted in Anxiety | Comments Off