Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Anxiety and How to Survive it

As a trainee dramatherapist doing my practical training in a mental hospital in London, one of the clients I had worked with is an elderly client man who used to be a pilot at the RMAF and was based in India. It was interesting to think about how courageous he must have been to be in such a position and decades later was diagnosed as having anxiety disorder. (I do not believe in labeling my clients for various reasons which I will discuss in my future blog entries ). He was afraid to even step out of his own home to take a bus to come to the hospital psychiatric day care a couple of times a week.

Although he had initially agreed to attend the group dramatherapy sessions, I always had to convince him to come for the session for at least 10 minutes before the sessions began. At the end of the sessions he always informed the group about how glad he attended the session that day and the benefits that he had gained. But before the session every week, he always needed to be persuaded to attend the session.

As the therapist of the group, I always began with a two minute breathing meditation. Mainly because of this particular client, and then went on with the rest of the group session. The meditation at the beginning of the session always helped him calm down before the sessions. He usually is able to participate in the session without feeling anxious after the meditation.

Symptoms of anxiety

Some of the physical symptoms include: pounding heart, dizziness, stomach upset, shortness of breath, headaches, muscle tension, insomnia, frequent urination or diarrhea.
The emotional symptoms of anxiety include: feeling tense and jumpy, feelings of apprehension or dread, irritability, trouble concentrating, expecting the worst situations, restlessness, always looking out for signs of danger.

What is the cause of anxiety?

There may be several causes to anxiety. It may be a symptom of other mental health issues such as substance dependency, depression and withdrawal of long term substance abuse.
It can also be a symptom of a physical disorder or changes in hormonal levels. This is why it is always important to have a physical check up with your physician before reaching any other conclusions.
It also may be caused by the repression of traumatic experience/s or grief from the past. Each individual has a different story.

What to do if you experience anxiety?

First consult your physician. If there is no physical illness that could be the cause of your anxiety, consult a counselor, therapist or psychologist.
These are some self help techniques you may try if the anxiety is perhaps due to a stressful event that had just occurred in your life and the feeling of anxiousness has not lasted more than a few days. I will still strongly suggest consulting your physician if there is any other physical illness that may be contributing to the feeling of anxiousness. It is important to always remember that the mind, body and emotions, all work as one.

Self-help options that may help reduce anxiety:

1. Meditation- breathing techniques, creative(positive) visualization techniques

2. Exercise - such as walking, swimming or yoga, which are low impact, calming exercises

3. Reduce caffeine intake. Caffeine is a stimulant and it for an individual experiencing anxiety, it may aggravate the situation.

4. Reduce or eliminate alcohol intake

5. Maintain a healthy diet. There is a certain truth about the adage of ‘ we are what we eat’.

6. Have sufficient sleep. Some individuals require more sleep than others.

7. Positive affirmations. Affirmations reinforces our believes. Positive affirmations help in redirecting ones fears into hopes.

8. Do not get attached to mental health labels such as ‘anxiety disorder’, ‘depression’, etc. I remember a client who had joined internet support groups to help him with his disorder. Although this can help initially, his strong identification the label and sense of belongingness with that group had contributed to the to delay the process of recovery.

9. Focus on the present – Anxiety is based on fear. Fear is mostly related to associations of negative past experiences or the imagined future negative experiences. The present is usually quite safe in most cases. This is why meditation helps. Its main focus is in the present.

10. Write a list of joyful thoughts. As human beings, it is often difficult not to focus on the past or the future. Especially since we have been trained since we were children to do so. Therefore focusing on joyful moments from the past and possible joyful events in the future is a better option than the negative thoughts. Like everything else, this comes with practice.

11. Keep a journal. Writing in a journal may help because it gives a space for the individual to express his/her fears , what he/she is anxious about. It gives the individual a space to express themselves. It is important to do that, as repression of ones fears only make them more anxious in the long run. This is useful especially if, for whatever reason/s, he/she does not have anyone he/she can speak to about this matter.

12. Be around nature- generally being around nature, whether is under a tree or sitting by the beach or looking at trees and flowers, or just looking up at the sky and noticing the formation of clouds has the calming effect to our general well being.

Each individual operate differently. Therefore some suggestions may work better than others for each person. I would propose to try them out and see what works best for you.
I would highly recommend therapy or counseling if the symptoms persists more than a few days, and if there is no physical reason for the anxiety.