Anxiety is extremely common and is the main reason many of my clients come for therapy.
Anxiety can be mild or severe and tends to be accompanied by a feeling of unease. Clients report feeling on edge, under threat or feeling vulnerable with worrying thoughts that something bad is going to happen.
It’s natural to have feelings of anxiety at different points in your life such as starting a new job, sitting an exam or experiencing a life transition such as becoming a parent or starting retirement. For many people anxiety can be very hard to control or manage and it really impacts on their quality of their daily life in a negative way and can lead to depression and panic disorder. Anxiety can also be the main symptom in other conditions such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sometimes your anxiety can be linked to a specific future event with a sense of you being unable to cope with it or falling short of what is required of you. Sometimes anxiety is linked to a past event which has impacted you greatly or has troubled you about your ability to cope in the future or changed your outlook on the stability of life or how safe you feel in the world.
What are the Symptoms of Anxiety?
Anxiety can cause both psychological (mental) and physical symptoms which vary from person to person.
Psychological symptoms can include:
- Feelings of dread
- Feeling tense with a sense that you must be alert to danger
- Feeling fearful
Physical symptoms can include:
- Racing heart beat
- Palpitations (thumping heart) in their chest or chest pain
- Feeling sick
- Headaches
- Feeling shaky
- Sweating
- Dry mouth
- Sleeping difficulties
- Aches around the body caused by finding it hard to relax
What causes Anxiety?
There are many triggers for anxiety which vary from person to person, in my experience the most common causes revolve around:
- relationships
- past or childhood experiences
- employment and workplace issues
- lacking a purpose in life
- your everyday life and habits
- physical wellbeing
Therapy can definitely help to reduce psychological and physical anxiety symptoms by helping you understand why you are suddenly (or have always been) anxious. An exploration of your life, relationships, life events and your past can uncover the main causes of your anxiety and provide you with the understanding and strategies you need to be able to better manage events, situations or people in your life who adversely impact your anxiety levels.