Overcoming Anxiety For Dummies, UK Edition

Elaine Iljon Foreman, Charles H. Elliott, Laura L. Smith

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781119998273
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Persönliche Entwicklung
• Subtopic: Psychische Verfassung & Wohlbefinden

There are many forms of anxiety disorder, including General Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Attacks, Phobias (including social anxiety), Obsessive Compulsive Disorders, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Acute Stress Disorder. Even in their most mild forms, these disorders can be troubling and exhausting – at worst they can severely disable a person's ability to function in day-to-day life. Severe anxiety and phobic disorders affect 18% of the UK population. (nopanic.org.uk)

Symptoms of anxiety range from the mental and emotional – depression, having difficulty concentrating, losing patience easily – to the physical – excessive thirst, headaches, pins and needles, and more (www.bbc.co.uk) Often the problem is self-feeding – people try to keep things under control whilst simultaneously worrying about being anxious all the time, and the cycle goes on. Psychotherapy, medication and self help are the key treatments for anxiety – however, as many people either don't have access to, or choose not to take, professional treatment, self help is the key for a majority of sufferers. A Dummies book on the subject will present the facts without the jargon, and help people find the trustworthy guidance they need.

Part I

Detecting and Exposing Anxiety

In this part . . .

Exploring the ins and outs of anxiety, we discuss the anxiety epidemic and show how anxiety affects the entire body. In this part, you can find all the major categories of anxiety disorders, and get an overview of some things you can do to reduce anxiety. You’ll discover how you can easily get stuck tackling your anxiety, and we tell you how to prevent this from happening. Finally, we give you ways to chart your anxiety, so you can look forward to the progress that you’ll surely make towards reducing it.

Chapter 1

Analysing and Attacking Anxiety

In This Chapter

Anxiety: Growing by leaps and bounds

Paying the price for anxiety

Understanding anxiety symptoms

Getting help: Choosing the best option

Anxiety, stress, and worries. Everyone has these experiences. They are part of normal life – no way can we expect to go through life without experiencing them. But sometimes they get out of hand. Then anxiety causes pain, for a surprising number of people. Anxiety can create havoc in the home, destroy relationships, make employees lose time from work, and prevent people from living full, productive lives.

When people talk about their anxiety, you may hear any one or all of the following descriptions:

I just can’t find the right words to describe my feelings. It’s like dread and doom, but a thousand times worse. I want to scream, cry for help, but I’m paralysed. It’s the worst feeling in the world.

When my panic attacks begin, I feel tightness in my chest. It’s as though I’m drowning or suffocating, and I begin to sweat; the fear is overwhelming. I feel like I’m going to die, and I have to sit down because I’m convinced I’m going to faint.

I’m lonely. I’ve always been painfully shy. I want friends, but I’m too embarrassed to contact anyone. I guess I feel anyone I call will think that I’m not worth talking to.

I wake up worried every day, even on the weekends. I never feel I’ve caught up – there’s always a list and always responsibility. I worry all the time. Sometimes, when it’s really bad, I think about going to sleep and never waking up.

In this chapter, we talk about symptoms of anxiety. We clarify the costs of anxiety – both to you personally and to society. We briefly overview the treatments presented in greater detail in later chapters and give you a tool for choosing the one that may fit your personality best as a way to begin overcoming anxiety. You also get a glimpse of how you can help if someone you care about suffers with anxiety.

Anxiety: You Can’t Escape It

Anxiety is the most common of all the so-called mental disorders. Estimates suggest that around 6.5 million people in the UK suffer from an anxiety disorder in any given year, and some calculate that as many as 25 per cent may suffer from an anxiety disorder at one point or another over a lifetime. Statistics around the world vary somewhat from country to country, but anxiety is the most common mental disorder worldwide. And even if you don’t have an actual anxiety disorder, you may experience more anxiety than you want. In other words, you definitely aren’t alone if you have unwanted anxiety.

And the number of people troubled by anxiety has grown over the years. Why?

Life has never been as complicated as it is today. The working week keeps getting longer rather than shorter, despite legislation. Divorce, separation, and combining families create increased stresses for you to manage. Television news blasts the latest horrors into your living room. Newspapers and magazines chronicle crime, war, and corruption. Terrorism has landed on our shores and escalated to new heights. The media’s portrayal of these modern plagues includes full-colour images with unprecedented, graphic detail.

Unfortunately, as stressful and anxiety-arousing as the world is today, only a minority of those suffering from anxiety seek treatment. That’s a problem because anxiety causes not only emotional pain and distress, but even death, given that anxiety sometimes contributes to suicide. Furthermore, anxiety costs society as a whole billions of pounds.

Calculating the Costs of Anxiety

Anxiety costs. It costs the sufferer in emotional, physical, and financial terms. But anxiety doesn’t stop there. Anxiety also incurs a financial burden for everyone. Stress, worry, and anxiety disrupt relationships, work, leisure, and family.

What does anxiety cost you?

Obviously, if you have a problem with anxiety, you experience the cost of distressed, anxious feelings. Anxiety feels dreadful. You don’t need to read a book to know that. But did you know that untreated anxiety takes its t...