Anxiety

The creeping problem of agoraphobia

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Agoraphobia

What is agoraphobia? The term means a fear of public spaces. However, the disorder is more complex than that. Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder in which individuals are driven by the fear of being trapped and overwhelmed in large, crowded buildings, or public gatherings. In order to circumvent the anxiety they use control strategies as such … Read more

Insomnia: causes and effective solutions

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Insomnia

What exactly is insomnia? Insomnia is a recurring condition in which the person has difficulty getting off to sleep, staying asleep, or achieving enough sleep. Typically this pattern repeats several nights each week. However, ‘insomnia’ is a relative term. While some people believe 8 hours sleep is too little, others find that 6 hours is … Read more

1 simple way to overcome a panic attack

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Panic attack

What is a panic attack?

A panic attack, so called, is an episode of acute anxiety. In it the nervous system goes into fight-flight mode, in which the nervous system displays extreme arousal. It is similar to an anxiety attack, with the difference that a panic attack comes on suddenly, rather than in gradual stages.

Signs and symptoms of panic attacks

Signs may include any of the following in combination:

  • Struggling to breathe
  • Feeling faint or light-headed
  • Racing/pounding heart
  • Shaking/trembling
  • Nausea
  • Dizziness
  • Sweating
  • Chest pains
  • ‘Jelly legs’

After the panic attack the person may experience dissociation from the body. Leading to experiences of derealisation.

How long do panic attacks last?

In most cases panic attacks last between 5 and 20 minutes, with symptoms of panic peaking after 5 minutes. Panic attacks lasting more than 10 minutes are usually the result of the individual having panicky thoughts about the panic attack itself, thus prolonging the issue.

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Beyond worry

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beyond worry

Going beyond worry

In this article I explain one simple way to reduce the power any single worry might have over you. The technique involves defusing from the worry and focusing on the underlying concern instead.

What is a worry?

A worry is a catastrophic judgment about future events that creates anxiety. Most worries are simplistic, selective, exaggerated ideas that paralyse the listener from taking action.

The difference between a worry and a concern

A worry is something you can’t do anything about. For example: I worry that my children won’t be happy. A concern is something specific you can do now (or decide upon now) to influence the issue. For example: I can talk to my children about the things they want to do this summer.

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Defusing anxiety

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defusing anxiety

In my last article I wrote about defusing from Anxious thoughts. In this article I describe the art of defusing anxiety. For example, a panic attack.

What is defusion?

To remind you: defusion is the art of extracting yourself from an unwanted thought, a feeling, a memory, or a hallucination about some future event. Not resisting, resenting or running away from any of them. For if you do any of those things you give power to the gremlins. Instead, you acknowledge their presence, accept the gremlins are at work in your head, then smilingly turn your attention to a something worthwhile.

Distorted thoughts

Thought distortions trigger bad feelings. A worry triggers anxiety. A helpless thought triggers depression. A craven thought triggers an addictive urge. In our example, let us say that you have thoughts related to social anxiety. Your mind is telling you that the party you are about to join will be a disaster. That you will have nothing to say. That others will conclude you are pathetic. That you will break down and will have to leave. For some reason, you fail to defuse from these thoughts in time. A few seconds later you experience a panic attack.

At this point you will most likely have another bad thought: that the panic is so awful you cannot possibly enter the room. And that thought seems like the clincher: you really have no choice but to go home.

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7 Myths about Anxiety

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Anxiety

Myth 1. Anxiety is natural

Anxiety might be common but it isn’t natural. The fact that anxiety rates in present-day Africa and Asia are far lower than in the West points to this, as does the fact that it is rarely appears in very young children. It is arousal that is ‘natural’ and anxiety is an exaggerated, worrisome version of that. Anxiety disorders of the kind seen in psychotherapy are created when the person fuses with worry, perfectionism, self-judgment, guilt and other wrong thinking habits.

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8 ways to eliminate worry

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Eliminate worry

Understanding worry Worry is the prime cause of anxiety for most, and can be hard to pin down as it can appear innocuous. To eliminate worry you have to understand how it works, and how it differs from concerns and fears. Fear is an emotion, while anxiety is a state of distress created in thought. … Read more