Keeping My Anxiety Alive

Did you know there’s something called “maintaining causes” for anxiety. In other words, you have an anxiety disorder and you keep the flames burning because of the way you think and feel. Anxiety is a normal reaction to something that causes fear or worry. When normal anxiety occurs, it’s temporary.

After a short while the anxiety dissipates and you stop worrying. But some people actually prolong their anxiety by talking themselves into worrying more and longer than necessary.

One of the most common ways people increase their anxiety is by convincing themselves they need to worry about all the “what-ifs”. If you’ve ever known anyone who always thinks about the worst that can happen, you’ll recognize what I’m talking about. When you maintain your anxiety this way, the anxiety usually gets worse.

It can even lead to outright panic attacks. It’s a vicious cycle too. The more you talk about all the bad things that could happen (but probably won’t), the worse your anxiety can get.

More Than One Cause

A lot of people don’t realize that there can be many causes of anxiety instead of just one. When you are a worrier, you can usually pinpoint a particular reason why you’re worrying at that moment. But anxiety can have many underlying causes meaning you have to dig deeper to understand the sources. The causes can run the whole gamut too –from physical to emotional.

When you talk about the causes of anxiety, you might be surprised at how many possibilities exist. For example, you might have a personality that lends itself to anxiety. It reminds me of a t-shirt they used to make that said, “Born to worry!” You can experience anxiety because of unrelenting stress in your life or constant negative thinking.

If you have low self-esteem you can also be prone to anxiety attacks. I guess though, the bottom line is no matter what causes may be creating anxiety, you won’t feel better until you begin a therapy program.

It’s Emotional and Not Mental

Anxiety is one of those things in life difficult to describe. When you’re anxious all the time it can actually make you feel as if you’re losing control emotionally and mentally. That really frightens some people and prevents them from seeking help.

But anxiety is not a mental illness. When you are anxious about life in general, or have a phobia about something in particular, you have an emotional disorder.

Fortunately, emotional disorders such as anxiety are very open to treatment. You can even help yourself in many cases through proven self-help methods. There are lots of programs, tapes, books and so on that show you how to stop needless worrying and start enjoying living. You can absolutely recover from anxiety.

Of course, there are subdivisions of general anxiety. They include classifications like panic disorder and agoraphobia. All forms of anxiety disorders are treatable.

There’s No Reason For My Anxiety

Most of the time, you probably think of anxiety as being related to something specific like a particular fear or event. But anxiety can be generalized too. In other words, there may not be a panic attack at the thought of leaving the house.

But there might be anxiety that persists through everything no matter what you do. That’s what the doctors call generalized anxiety disorder.

Diagnosing generalized anxiety can be difficult to diagnose. You can’t point to some act or thought in particular and say it makes you anxious. You probably can’t claim panic attacks or phobias either. That’s because there’s no one thing making you worry.

You worry about the finances and your kids and your health, but you worry about them all the same and at the same time. The result is you worry a lot and it drags you down mentally and physically. You want to identify generalized anxiety disorder as early as possible because it can lead to depression.

How Do I Know I Have An Anxiety Disorder?

Anxiety is a part of life for everyone. But how is anxiety disorder different from normal anxiety? That’s the question I had. I had to learn three important facts about anxiety. First, it’s only a disorder if the attacks last a long time – well past any event that could have triggered anxiety. Second, a disorder can lead to a phobia such as agoraphobia. Third, a disorder involves having intense attacks of anxiety.

Some anxiety is very normal. I used to get “test anxiety” in school. You may get anxious when you have to perform in public or are worried about something you have to do. The difference between this kind of anxiety and an anxiety disorder is that the anxiety in a disorder lasts long after any trigger event. The anxiety can even occur at just the thought of doing something such as riding an elevator or driving on the freeway. So if you are feeling anxious for no apparent reason, or feel anxious long before or after a particular event, you probably have a disorder.

Darn! I Feel Really Bleak

I know there are a lot of symptoms that indicate anxiety exists, but one of the worst is living in fear that a panic attack can hit at any time. It’s really difficult to not start worrying about the awful physical reactions that occur during an anxiety attack. I get very jittery and dizzy. I sometimes feel as if I’m choking or having a heart attack. My heart will race and I start sweating profusely.

For those of you who wonder if you have anxiety, there are certain signs you can look for on a daily basis. For example, I have learned that my pessimism can be a symptom. I look back on my life and instead of congratulating myself on successes, I dwell on my failures. The most difficult part of diagnosing anxiety is sorting through what are real symptoms and what are normal reactions to life events. Unfortunately, worrying about an anxiety attack can actually trigger one.