Issues » Anxiety

Anxiety is the body’s natural response to danger, an automatic alarm that goes off when you feel threatened, under pressure, or are facing a stressful situation.

In moderation, anxiety isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, anxiety can help you stay alert and focused, spur you to action, and motivate you to solve problems. But when anxiety is constant or overwhelming, when it interferes with your relationships and activities, it stops being functional—that’s when you’ve crossed the line from normal, productive anxiety into the territory of anxiety disorders.

Physical symptoms of Anxiety

Anxiety is more than just a feeling. As a product of the body’s fight-or-flight response, anxiety involves a wide range of physical symptoms. Because of the numerous physical symptoms, anxiety sufferers often mistake your disorder for a medical illness. You may visit many doctors and make numerous trips to the hospital before your anxiety disorder is discovered.

Common physical symptoms of anxiety include:

Once you have been told that the symptoms you are experiencing are due to anxiety, there is good news, anxiety is highly treatable!  The recommended treatment for anxiety is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).  CBT is a short term model of therapy and addresses both the physical and psychological symptoms of anxiety.

CBT  for anxiety looks at your thought process and memories.  It looks at your behaviour.  Often we adapt our behaviour when we feel anxious, you may start to avoid certain things that you believe may make you feel more anxious.  You might start to develop what are called safety behaviours.  For example you may always carry water with you in case your mouth becomes dry.