North London Therapy Practice

Anxiety

What is Anxiety?

Stress not only brings about significant health problems, but can frequently manifest itself in a wide range of symptoms categorized under the general heading of Anxiety Disorders.

The following is a list of common Anxiety disorders:

Panic attacks
Panic disorder
Specific phobias
Social phobia
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Acute stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder
Substance-induced anxiety.

The following psychological symptoms are associated with anxiety disorders:

Irrational thoughts and feelings of fear and danger
Tension
Worry

Common physical reactions can include:

Agitation
Trembling
Nausea
Dizziness
Shortness of breath

Everyone will face stressful situations from time to time and so anybody may suffer from any of the above.

For example, many people have specific phobias, such as a fear of flying, spiders or snakes. A fear of flying might have an impact on a person’s ability to get a job promotion or even take a vacation. A fear of spiders or snakes will have less of an effect on a person’s life if they live in London.

The good news is that modern advancements in therapy have given us new techniques to help people overcome their anxiety issues.

Anxiety is very often an unrealistic overreaction to a stress-inducing situation that inappropriately triggers the fight-or-flight response. Therapy encompasses a variety of techniques which teach the patient how to deal with the perceived threat, placing it in proper perspective and therefore making it manageable.

In those cases where anxiety is triggered by actual physical or emotional trauma, such as rape, criminal assault, war, major life threatening accidents or medical events, there is a technique that enables the patient to move the incident from the sub-conscious part of the brain - where it will continuously trigger the anxiety response - to the part of the brain where the issue will no longer cause severe ramifications.

For patients suffering from severe trauma, this technique, “The Rewind Technique”, is a wonderful therapeutic method, as it is not necessary for the patient to reveal the disturbing issues to the therapist. The patient will be able to process the memories themselves, under the direction of the therapist, without having to verbalize them.

If you suffer from an anxiety disorder, you should know that you are not alone: up to 18% of the UK population is affected.

For more information about the fight-or-flight response, please see the section on Stress and Health on my Home Page.