Often, when you hear about anxiety, it is associated with a negative point of view. In reality, anxiety isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, it can be a normal and healthy response in many situations. For example, it can give us the extra push we need to study for an exam or to make it to our appointments on time, or it can help us not stand too close to a cliffs edge and fall off! Anxiety is our body’s way of helping us plan and prepare for the future. On the other hand, too much anxiety can bring us significant harm or distress.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a natural emotion that we as humans experience. We feel this in response to something we’re anticipating. Something that is not currently in the present moment but causes worries and fears about the future. Unfortunately, our brain is not developed to be able to distinguish between real or imagined threats. Therefore, when we think, worry, dread, and fear about future imagined events in excess, our bodies believe that there is a real threat in front of us that it must address. For example, our body could respond similarly to excessive worry about potential future work projects as it might to encountering a bear in nature.
Anxiety symptoms
Symptoms of anxiety have a wide range and can often look different based on the person experiencing them. Here are a few ways anxiety can present itself physically and mentally:
- Increased heart rate
- Difficulty breathing or short shallow breathing
- Sweating
- Upset stomach
- Trouble sleeping (falling asleep or staying asleep)
- Irritable, restless, or tense
- Avoidance of certain people, places, or things
- Constant and uncontrollable worry
- Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
Types of anxiety
Anxiety disorders develop when the presence of those anxious feelings become persistent or of a certain intensity over a period of time.
- Generalized anxiety: feelings of constant and excessive worry about daily life and events.
- Panic disorder: experiences of panic attacks and fear of further panic attacks.
- Agoraphobia: fear, worry and avoidance of situations or places that cause feelings of helplessness, embarrassment or being trapped. Often leading to individuals avoiding leaving their home.
- Social anxiety: heightened experiences of worry and fear about social situations that could cause feelings of humiliation, rejection or embarrassment.
- Phobias: fears of specific objects or situations that cause distress and thus, avoidance.
This is not an exhaustive list. However, if you’re interested in receiving an assessment to know whether you meet diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder, in Ontario you can meet with a psychologist, your family physician or ask for a referral to see a psychiatrist. Registered Psychotherapists are not legally allowed to provide diagnoses in Ontario.
What causes anxiety?
As previously mentioned, the feeling of anxiety is normal and can naturally occur in everyday life to help us prepare or to keep us safe. However, anxiety disorders can arise from a single or a multitude of complex social, psychological or biological contributing factors. Firstly, those who have lived through events such as abuse, severe loss, adverse life experiences or trauma can be at an increased risk of developing an anxiety disorder. Secondly, other risk factors can include genetics, substance use or co-morbid medical health conditions. Lastly, various life circumstances may also contribute or increase your anxiety experiences such as chronic stress, caffeine intake, diet, sleep, or big life changes such as starting a new job, divorce, having a baby, grief, etc. The exact reason for your anxiety is not always easily recognizable but the good news is that there are many avenues you can explore to treat and decrease your anxiety.
Treatments for anxiety
- Psychotherapy. Talk therapy is one of the most common forms of treatment for anxiety. In Ontario, psychotherapy can be provided by a trained professional who can be a physician, nurse, psychologist, social worker, psychotherapist or occupational therapist. Psychotherapy can help you learn new perspectives, coping or ways to engage with the anxiety in addition to the people, places, or situations that provoke it. Your therapist may even guide you through various psychotherapeutic approaches that have been shown to help reduce anxiety such as cognitive behavioural therapy, EMDR, somatic experiencing, emotion focused therapy, and more.
- Medication. Antidepressant medications can also be useful in treating anxiety and can be prescribed by your family physician or a psychiatrist. However, it is important to keep in mind that adverse effects are possible with medication. Sometimes it takes various rounds of collaboration with your physician to determine the right brand and dosage of medication that is right for you. In addition, medication may take up to 6-8 weeks before desired change is observed.
Coping with Anxiety
Learning stress management and coping tools is an important part of helping reduce symptoms of anxiety. If engaging in psychotherapy, your therapist may go over several of these with you in session. Alternatively, there are many things you can do on your own to help reduce your anxiety:
- Sleep: engaging in enough restful sleep. While sleep needs can vary from person to person, the average adult aged 18-64 usually needs anywhere between 7-9 hours/night. Making a routine or schedule, if possible, can help you stay on track in getting the hours you need.
- Exercise: moving your body, even if just for a short walk, can help your body expend built up anxiety stored in the body and release feel good hormones.
- Diet: alcohol has been seen to make anxiety worse so cutting down or avoiding alcohol and other substance use can have a positive impact. Second, eating a healthy diet to provide your body with the nutrients needed to function optimally. E.g., foods high in added sugars, caffeine, and processed ingredients can raise cortisol levels (cortisol is one of the primary stress hormones), which can worsen stress and increase anxiety symptoms.
- Play: Making time throughout the week to engage in activities that help our body and mind relax can help us quiet our worry thoughts. Such things can include sports, reading, crafts, social time with friends or family, taking a hot bath, dancing, listening to music, and so much more.
- Tools: Additional tools that may help ease some anxiety include meditation, deep breathing, yoga, engaging with nature, talking with a trusted support person or therapist about your concerns, and even taking a break from your phone or social media as they often perpetuate and heighten feelings of anxiety.
- Boundaries: Stay tuned for an upcoming blog post on boundaries.
