Anxiety
While anxiety can be adaptive, allowing us to tune in with all of our senses or alerting us to pay attention to something in our environment, if it’s prolonged it can interfere with our ability to fully engage and enjoy life. Our mind and bodies are not separate and this disorder can impact our mental health as well as our physical health. Stressful or traumatic life experiences can increase your risk of developing a disorder after the event has passed. Chronic medical conditions and substance abuse can also lead to these disorders.
Anxiety is a symptom of something your body is trying to communicate to you. There is a wisdom in our symptoms if we slow down long enough to start paying attention to our experience in the here and now. Sometimes anxiety can be leftover remnants of unresolved traumatic memories from the past. Other times, it may be that we are taking on too much and aren’t listening to our overwhelmed mind and bodies. Whatever the reaons, we can use it to learn and understand more about ourselves.
There are many different types including generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and social anxiety disorder.
The most common symptoms of anxiety include:
- Restless or feeling keyed up or on edge
- Difficulty breathing
- Sensation of a lump in the throat or difficulty swallowing
- Nausea or abdominal distress
- Being easily fatigued
- Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
- Muscle tension
- Difficulty Sleeping
- Panic or fear
- Excessive worrying
- Sweaty, cold hands or feet
- Numbness or tingling sensations
- Feeling dizzy or light headed
- Irritability or anger
- Heart palpitations or racing heart
- Nightmares
- Feeling that objects are unreal (derealization) or that oneself is not really here (depersonalization)