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- Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
- Kategorie: Ratgeber
- Sprache: Englisch
Accessibility is the aim of this book, matching a clear layout with amusing cartoon illustrations and a reader-friendly tone. But, as well as being fun, it offers a serious message and comes with the weighty assurance of the author's twenty-five years experience in helping people handle anxiety and manage stress
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Seitenzahl: 72
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2008
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To my friend Phyllis, who travels through life gently.
Contents
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all those who have contributed to my learnings over the years, and a special thanks to my husband, Iain, whose help and support made this book possible. A thank you also to my friend and colleague Dr Geoff Ibbotson, whose help and advice have proved invaluable.
Finally, last but by no means least, a very special thank you to Martin Hughes who is responsible for the cartoons in this book.
Are you a born worrier?
Chapter 1
Are You A Born Worrier?
Everyone feels anxious and stressed at some time in their lives. This book will show you ways to help yourself with these feelings and not enter the vicious cycle that may end in panic and burnout.
“I’m a born worrier,” some of my patients tell me. They are wrong. You may have personality traits that make it more likely for you to become anxious, but you are not born anxious. Young toddlers do not know fear or anxiety and will run into danger until they learn. If I had no anxiety I would not bother to look both ways before crossing the road, and I would not bother to check that I’ve locked the front door when I go out.
So fear and anxiety have a protective value – but some people have just learnt anxiety too well.
If something has been learnt – it can be unlearnt!
We all need some anxiety to protect ourselves from danger. Anxiety only becomes a problem when, rather than feeling sensible concern, we find ourselves edging along the continuum towards panic.
Stress – Friend or Foe?
We all need some challenge in our lives or we would not be motivated to do anything. Problems arise when the demands made upon us outstrip our coping abilities. Ideally we should live our lives with a little slack in the system so that we have enough reserve to deal with emergencies or the unexpected. We may find that we are working at our peak, but then extra demands mean that we start to feel over stressed. We need to be able to detect for ourselves when this starts to happen.
Often we manage to cope during times of upheaval and crisis and then, as events settle and we expect to be able to relax and enjoy life, we begin to feel worse. Sometimes it is as though we have a delayed reaction to stressful events. This probably has survival value in that it enables us to deal with the crisis instinctively, without thinking about it. Then we allow the emotional reaction to surface when it is safe to do so.
When our stress levels are getting too high, even something very minor can tip the balance. When the jug is full, it only takes a drop or two to make it overflow. Events that we would normally take in our stride assume mountainous proportions. When our stress levels are consistently too high we tend to lose our sense of perspective and operate with much less tolerance than usual.
Our Survival Reflex
Our caveman ancestors had to contend with many dangers that threatened their very existence. Their bodies became geared up to give them what they needed for short, sharp bursts of physical activity. This meant that when threatened, they released adrenalin and other similar chemicals into their bloodstream, which helped them to fight their way out of danger or flee the scene. Adrenalin quickens the rate at which your heart beats. It makes you breathe more rapidly, thus giving you a greater supply of oxygen, and it increases your blood supply to the muscles so you can run faster. We still have this survival reflex. Adrenalin is automatically produced whenever we encounter anything our minds perceive as a threat.
Modern Stress
Unfortunately our minds perceive not only dangerous situations as threatening, but also situations in which we get frustrated and annoyed. Anxious thoughts, as well as external events, cause a release of adrenalin.
The ‘What if’ scenarios we often run through in our minds also generate anxiety, and therefore adrenalin. Our unconscious mind cannot distinguish between the feeling generated by an actual event and that of its anticipation.
Fight or flight are often not appropriate ways to deal with modern stress and our adrenalin levels stay high. Often the physical feelings that then ensue – such as a rapid heartbeat, palpitations, shakiness or sweating – make us feel that there is something seriously wrong with us, which leads to even more anxiety! The physical effects of adrenalin pass off within twenty minutes, but often we manage to keep producing anxiety-provoking thoughts. These keep producing more and more adrenalin, thereby prolonging the effects. No wonder people feel tired all the time when they are continually anxious! All that adrenalin makes everything work that much faster. Prolonged high levels of circulating adrenalin give rise to a whole range of physical, emotional and behavioural symptoms.
Physical Effects Of Stress
People experience the physical effects of stress in different ways. Some find it gives them feelings of nausea, and they have to keep going to the lavatory. Others feel that they can’t breathe properly – they feel a tightness in their chest or a choking sensation in their throat. Still others feel shaky, or faint and sweaty. These are all effects of the adrenalin.
Other physical symptoms include headaches and migraine, sweating, palpitations, indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome. Most people, when anxious, will hold various muscles tense without being aware of it, and this can give rise to muscular aches and pains.
Eczema, psoriasis and skin irritations are commonly aggravated by stressful events. (Interestingly, both the skin and the nervous system develop from the same part of the embryo.)
Prolonged stress also reduces the efficacy of the immune system so constant minor illnesses can occur.
An almost universal symptom is feeling tired all the time. One good way of distinguishing between tiredness generated by stress and that of physical illness is how you feel when you have pushed yourself to go out – e.g. for a swim, a walk or to be with friends. If these activities make you feel a bit better, you can be fairly certain that stress is causing your tiredness. (A word of caution here: most, if not all, of these physical symptoms can have causes other than anxiety. For example, an overactive thyroid can sometimes cause sweating and shakiness. If you are at all unsure, check with your doctor. After asking you a few questions, he or she will probably be able to be fairly certain about the cause of your symptoms.)
Emotional Effects Of Stress
When people feel overstressed they often complain of poor concentration, forgetfulness, and difficulty in making decisions. You may find it hard to relax, and feel you have to be on the move all the time. Often you lose your sense of humour and feel increasing irritability and mood swings.
A stress response
Behavioural Effects Of Stress
When people have overly high levels of stress they tend to make more mistakes, are more clumsy than usual and have more accidents. You may find it more difficult to get around to doing things. You may find yourself showing more nervous habits such as nail biting and fidgeting. You may become more insistent that things should be done the way you want. Being overstressed often leads to a lack of flexibility in our approach to things.
You may notice you interrupt conversations more, or you may become more withdrawn and go out less. You may find your consumption of tobacco, alcohol and food increases – although some people lose their appetite rather than comfort-eat.
Often one of the earliest signs of becoming overstressed is an alteration in sleep patterns – having trouble falling asleep, or waking early in the morning.
Smoke Alarms
Often our nearest and dearest notice before we do that we’re starting to get overstressed and irritable. It is useful to be aware of how you feel when things are beginning to get on top of you. What do you experience when things do not seem to be going the way you want them to? If you can listen to your own messages before events escalate, you can begin to put into practice some safety precautions that may allow you to deal with things without getting overdrawn at the stress bank!
