What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a response in the mind to a fear of something negative happening. It is a very common mental health issue, don’t worry if you are one among the many who are going through this, because you can manage it and take control of it.

I know it may seem as though how can this be, but with the help of CBT whereby with you I will look at your thoughts and behaviours that reinforce your anxiety, we together can get you back on track with your emotional health for the better.

Majority of the time anxiety does not come out of know where, it has its origins in the thoughts you may have about experiences in your life that you have gone through, that lead to fear in the here and now, such as witnessing domestic violence at a young age or as a victim, resulting in you  worrying it may happen again, or bullying for your looks or your intellect and as a result you fear you are weak or will be judged negatively by people so it can lead to anxieties such a social phobia, or being in a traumatic incident like a car accident and worrying you may be involved in another one.

This anxiety that gets created exists in the mind as though you think it is still going to happen now, therefore you end up feeling anxious a lot or may get triggered by thoughts of what if?

With these racing anxiety thoughts, they can be with you all the time or sometimes when you get a trigger of what you were anxious about such as if you were anxious about being attacked again after one being attacked, you may get anxious when you see a man or woman who looks similar to who you got attacked by or if you are fearful of needles, you may get anxious when someone is talking about having  a needle or you see it on TV.

Once these thoughts get triggered you can then get anxiety symptoms such as:

• Breathlessness
• Heart palpitations
• Feeling hot or cold suddenly
• Nausea
• Muscle tension
• Feeling tired
• Body shaking
• Feeling a sense of dread
• Feeling nervous, or on edge
• Sudden need to rush to the toilet
• Uncontrollable thinking
• Can’t sleep

When you get these symptoms you will want to control what you are feeling so then it will affect how you behave , this will mean that you may do such behaviours to ease the anxiety like:

• Avoid situations, people, triggers
• Ask for reassurance
• Looking for information online
• Only go out with someone or at quiet times, or go into shops and be quick in and out 
• Overthink the worry in aim to get a resolution to the situation so you can feel at ease
• Do repetitive behaviour to ease anxiety or ensure nothing bad will happen, like check doors, or recite prayers
• Stick to structure 
• Keep busy 
• Cannot put in time for self always doing things for others 
• Putting of dealing with situations
• Make excuses to not do something like go to a social event

These are just some among many behaviours that you may be doing that will reinforce the anxiety, it may ease the anxiety for the short term but for the long term it will reinforce that there is a threat that you cannot control and this will just either maintain the anxiety to heighten it.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is all about teaching with you collaboratively the skills and techniques to manage your anxiety and lessen not only your thoughts that trigger the feelings of anxiety but also challenge the behaviours you are doing that enhance your anxiety.

You can get better just take the first step, freedom from your racing negative thoughts and behaviours can be achieved .

Just call me on 07738444200 or email on rajnishvirk@yourmindtherapy.co.uk to book a appointment.