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Stress and Anxiety
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What
is anxiety?
All people feel anxious from time to time, for example
when sitting an exam, starting a new school or going out
on a date. For most people however the anxiety is not
too bad and they still manage and the anxiety goes away
once the exam, first day at school or date is over. For
some people anxiety symptoms are extreme, last a long
time and are very disruptive to their life. They may feel
like they are out of control and sometimes like they may
die from the symptoms. We would call this having an anxiety
disorder and the main symptoms would be:
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Physical symptoms like shaky hands, sweating
excessively, trembling, feeling like you cannot
breath or may be choking, feeling sick, stomach-aches,
tense muscles and dizziness. |
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Emotional symptoms such as worrying what others
may think about you and the anxiety never stopping.
Also some young people say that the fear is about
losing control or feeling like things are not real
or they are going crazy. |
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Symptoms that stop people doing things they normally
do. This might include avoiding things which may
make you anxious like not going to the exam or date.
It might also include doing specific things to control
the anxiety, for example some people start to try
and control anxiety about germs by washing their
hands lots of times in a day. More likely these
symptoms will be about feeling twitchy and nervous
and not wanting to be with your mates and do usual
things because of it. Sometimes being anxious can
make young people so edgy and wound up that they
might get aggressive. |
What do you call these anxiety
disorders?
There are different types that you may hear people talk
about and which one people are said to have really depends
on which symptoms they have most of. Some simple explanations
are below:
Panic Disorder
Intense periods of anxiety, which occur seemingly
"out of the blue" without an obvious cause. So not just
when you are about to go on the date, or sit the exam.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
(OCD)
This is when you get thoughts which sort of "jump" into
your head that you can not control and start doing things
to try and control them or reduce them. For example someone
may get thoughts jumping in their head that they may get
disease from germs off door handles, so start not touching
door handles at all and washing their hands every 5 minutes
to keep them clean. To find out more about this particular
disorder go to www.ocfoundation.org/ocf1010a.htm.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder
This is when you get lots of worries lots of the time
about things which other people aren't worried about.
Phobias
These are when someone has a specific worry about one
thing or one situation, for example a fear of being in
a crowd of people.
What causes anxiety?
Anxiety can be caused by lots of things. It may be that
a chemical imbalance in the brain means that some people
find it more difficult to deal with stress than others.
We do know that you are more likely to have an anxiety
disorder if a member of your family has experienced similar
symptoms. Sometimes anxiety can be triggered by horrible
and stressful experiences in people's lives, like a death
or someone hurting you in some way. For other people anxiety
can build up over a number of months or years and they
can develop negative unhelpful ways of thinking. This
may make the problem stay or even get worse.
The important thing to remember is that it is not your
fault and you can do something about it. Anxiety is one
of the most common mental health problems and about 2
out of every hundred people will experience an anxiety
disorder.
So, what can someone do if they
have an anxiety disorder?
There are a number of simple things which may help, like:
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Learn what anxiety disorder may mean |
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Talk to someone you trust who can support you
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Learn some simple stress management like relaxation
and breathing exercises |
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Make sure you have some time each day to relax
and enjoy yourself |
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Get some exercise |
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Try to get good nights sleep and eat healthily |
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Have some achievable goals and be realistic about
the tasks you set yourself, for example if you are
scared of heights then climbing the Skytower straight
away is probably too much. Set small goals and work
on them and then move up. |
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Allow yourself to feel anxious from time to time
to try and work out what makes you anxious. This
way you can learn more about your own anxiety and
how to beat it. |
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Challenge your negative thoughts, as these may
be your mind tricking you into thinking you can
not do something so you avoid any anxiety. You need
to examine evidence of your fears or beliefs like
a detective, and then work out what is real and
what is mind tricks. |
These things may help but also it may be a good idea to
get extra help from someone who is trained in treating
anxiety. This may mean going to your GP or School Counsellor
or even sometimes getting help from a mental health professional
like a psychologist, psychiatrist or other sort of therapist.
This website has details of lots of people to contact
if you live in the Auckland area in Auckland
Survival Kit page.
You may also want to see what the following websites have
to say about anxiety for more information:
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