? Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Do You Have It?
November 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Sadly, many people who are currently living with the unpleasant effects of are not even aware of the fact that they are dealing with a serious health problem. When people have this type of condition, they often become quite negative and begin to think of only the worse possible future events, some of which can be disturbingly morbid. The self defeating mentality that is a symptom of generalized anxiety disorder can rightly be called hopeless.
Insomnia, Fatigue, and Other Symptoms
When generalized anxiety disorder is ignored and untreated by people who suffer from this condition, the problem can deteriorate into something worse. Headaches, insomnia, fatigue, trembling, and irritability are all common symptoms. Depression is the worst state that a person with generalized anxiety disorder can experience.
Worries and anxieties are taken to an extreme level by people with generalized anxiety disorder. Even though it has been calculated that more than four million people in the United States alone suffer from this problem annually, the majority do not understand why they are dealing with the problem and thus have even more issues. No two individuals will experience the exact same symptoms from their generalized anxiety disorder and the causes of the disorder are distinct in each separate case.
Children are affected by generalized anxiety disorder more than any other group of people. That does not mean, however, that adults do not experience it. Women also tend to be more susceptible to the disorder than men are. Generalized anxiety disorder can be separated into six distinct types, some of which are generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, post traumatic anxiety disorder, and panic disorder.
When a doctor decides to diagnose an individual with generalized anxiety disorder, it is very important for that person to begin treatment as soon as they possibly can. Both behavioral and cognitive therapy can successfully assist individuals suffering from this disorder.
The illness can be corrected and sometimes cured by means of the two above mentioned forms of therapy. Ignoring this serious medical disorder would be a thoroughly foolish choice. Doing all you can as quickly as you can is the wisest course of action.
Investigating the disorder to get more information regarding how panic and anxiety attacks can be stopped will be of assistance. You may very well be pleasantly surprised by the many anxiety and panic relief techniques that you find which are simple to perform.
Take a New Look at Rhodiola.
November 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The newest anxiety and stress reliever on the market is Rhodiola Rosea which is a natural cure.
Golden Root, another name for Rhodiola Rosea, derives from a plant that is located in frigid Siberia. For many centuries it was used by eastern European and Asian cultures for physical strength, work productivity, longer life span, help for people would get sick from heights, to help with weakness, depression, anemia, impotence, gastrointestinal ailments, infections, and last but not least systme disorders.
These are the first recorded medical uses of rodia riza. (thereafter referred to as Rhodiola Rosea) In 77 C, it was the Greek Physician, Dioscorides, who was known to have made this.E. it is in the ‘De Materia Medica’. Since 1969 Rhodiola Rosea was added in the official Russian medicine.
In spite of a lengthy past, Western Civilization has just recently realized the medical advantages of Rhodiola Rosea. In these days it is hard not to have stress and anxiety in your life. What is amazing is that something natural like a herb can have such an effect
Considered to be an adaptogen, Rhodiola Rosea So it has stabilizing effects and will not disrupt other bodily functions. Once one is able to get the hormones to a normal level it may help with depression and anxiety.
Research conducted on Rhodiola Rosea demonstrates that it acts as a stimulus on neurotransmitters and has an enhancing effect on brain function. Among these are the capacity of the brain to utilize serotonin, an agent that assists in adapting to stress.
Adaptogen is able to help improve the entire body’s ability to deal with stress, it was studied to show what the effects are on the biological, chemical and physical stress.
In intense mental work, Rhodiola rosea was studied intensely to see if any side affects take place. (like, for instance, final exams). These studies determined that the use of Rhodiola Rosea had a positive effect on both the quantity and quality of tasks performed, improving mental acuity and lowering the effect of exhaustion.
Rhodiola Rosea’s effects on negative stress and feelings of anxiety with both physical and emotive etiologies have been tested as well. The American Botanical Council reports that the majority of those using it discover that it is beneficial for mood, amount of energy, and mental acuity. There have been studies that show that taking Rhodiola Rosea allows one to deal with stress easier and shelters the brain from negative effects of stress.
This study contained information on tests that accentuate the comprehensive health advantages of Rhodiola Rosea.
The general dosage, that should be taken, is 200 to 600 milligrams per day. Generally, those properties considered to be active should strive to be a minimum 0.consisting of salidroside in the amount of 8 percent and rosavin in the amount of 3 percent.
For consumers it is imperative that they know Rhodiola imitations might be sold at such a mild level they are not effective strength for treatment or using another species that does not share the same properties of Rhodiola Rosea. Prior to treating the symptoms of depression and anxiety naturally, one should always speak to their doctor first.
How to manage stress at work
November 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment
In order to understand stress and how to manage stress, you need to know how people respond. Specifically, people need to know how to overcome negative self talk. To make this practical, I will describe how Jane operates in the workplace.
Why is it that Jane, 42 years of age, suddenly has difficulty going out with her husband? When she goes to parties she hides away from everyone. This behaviour seems to stem from her workplace where she feels everyone is critical of her. She was stressed at work. She feels she doesn’t have her colleagues’ respect. She believes that her boss is overly critical.
Jane is suffering extreme work stress. She has reached the point in her work life where everything is weighing her down. Her physical responses include feeling being physically sick, and even nauseous. She says that she is depressed, reports that she is afraid of making mistakes at work and feels that she cannot cope with work demands.
There is no doubt that she is much less productive and accurate with her work. In sum, HER SYSTEM IS OVER-LOADED with worry, concern, anxiety, fears, and she has lost most of her self-confidence. Does this sound familiar to you? Can you put yourself is Jane’s place? Can you begin to understand how stressed she is? Do you feel that life’s events have over-run you and you can’t cope? Do you feel constantly under threat, tired and unresponsive? Are your friends and/or your partner asking you what is wrong with you? Are you dissatisfied with your life? Do you feel you can’t cope the way you used to? Is your work constantly suffering from your emotional state?
If the answer is YES!!! - you are suffering extreme stress. And this is a very common phenomenon in today’s high paced society. Some people think that stress is an acceptable bi-product of our busy lifestyle. Research on cardiac disease after the 9/11 attacks showed a significant increase in cardiac ailments. These included high blood pressure, strokes, and heart problems. People’s physical states were impacted by their emotional states. And when people are not well emotionally they have difficulty being highly productive at work.
What are these workplace stressors? That is, what are the events that elevate stress? They include a long list of things.
Some bosses expect far too much of their employees. Transfers, redundancy, poor communication will contribute to workplace stress. In some places interpersonal difficulties with colleagues at work and even partners at home can cause emotional overload.
How do we cope with all these stresses in the workplace? This depends on you. Job changing is one solution but not a good one. A devious strategy for a bad boss is to list the boss’ name with a headhunting agency in the hope that your boss will get a job elsewhere. Poor role specification in my view is a major problem for workplace stress. If you and your boss have different views of your job, stress and conflict will emerge. The first step in dealing with stress is to outline ways of controlling the situation.
But what does this mean? Here’s the first message - YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK. You are your own pilot navigating your way through your own life. YOU are responsible for yourself. YOU can make the changes in your life if you want. If you are in a stressful situation, you CAN deal with the stress and the situation. The first principle is to know yourself and the nature of your self-talk. Most of how we feel is determined by what we think. We spend a very large amount of our day filling our head with self-talk - little conversations we have with ourselves.
I know this sounds simple but it is true. We constantly run ourselves down and criticize ourselves. We have probably 10 times more negative and dysfunctional ’self-thoughts’ than we have positive self-thoughts. More than anything I can think of, this tendency to be continually self-critical causes the greatest tension. And guess what, if we have friends, family, loved ones who also criticize us unrelentingly, we are really in trouble. The challenge is simple - if we want to improve our lives we have to change our thinking.
Stress Triggers and Stress Relief
November 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment
For some people, acrophobia or fear of heights is a significant stress trigger. While my wife is blissfully relaxed in cable cars and driving on high mountains, I become a quivering mess. My first awareness of this was driving up to a British hill station in north-eastern India. The 6000 feet climb caused me huge stress and I had to figure how high and I could relieve the stress
Different experiences trigger different levels of stress for people. Some people get a rush out of extreme sports while others are terrified at the thought of doing such dangerous things. For me, it is heights like to think of a way of reducing the stress. My best stress relief strategy is to make sure that I don’t engage in these experiences.
What makes you stressed and worried? Spiders, snakes, people, tests, and public speaking are very common stressors. Look at what I’m going to say and work out which ones are problems for you.
In the workplace we have these triggers: organizational changes, unfair or excessive workloads, too much unpaid overtime, stressful demands and expectations, duties that do not match individual’s job specification, work that is boring and is not motivating, no (or limited) autonomy over the work situation, job insecurity and threatened redundancy, inadequate training for the demands of the position, inadequate, inappropriate or excessive supervision, a work environment that does not meet occupational health and safety standards, inadequate resources to do the job. Others include inappropriate social culture in the workplace, for example, racist, harassing, discriminatory, poor relationships with colleagues or bosses, and dramatic events in the workplace, for example, death, severe injury, hold-ups. What a list. It is a wonder that so many of us enjoy our workplaces a well as we do.
People have their own list of personal fears. Having grown up on a farm, I’m not particularly scared of snakes but many of my friends are terrified. A dinner party where you are meant to look good and sound smart can be quite stressful. Some people worry about their body shape because they are too fat.
As most of us have an extended family, and we assume responsibility for our family, we can worry about things like education, unwanted pregnancies, and financial difficulties. Worse, parents worry about their children becoming drug dependent. Relationship problems one of the major causes of people seek therapy. There are plenty of family triggers for stress.
What we have to do is to work out how to deal with these stressors in order to reduce or relive the stress and tension. I propose a model I call BE CALM. The acronym has two purposes: to remind you to be calm in the face of a stressful event or a difficult and person; and the six letters represent logical strategies for dealing with complex situations. The model is B for Build, E for Examine, C for confront, A for Accept, L for Let go (forgive, forget) and M for Move on with your life. I don’t have space to explain this model but when one works through this carefully over any stressful event, a plan of action can be mapped out that will mean that we can manage and relieve stress effectively.
5 Triggers of a Panic Attack
October 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Countless people are affected by Panic Attacks each year, causing immense panic and anxiety and a sense of fear. Dealing with Panic Attacks is quite challenging and some people are prisoners in their own home afraid to venture out. Identifying what triggers a Panic Attack is the first step in taking control of your panic disorder.
Signs of Panic Attacks
It’s difficult to miss a panic attack. It comes without warning and the sufferer responds with a state of fight or flight. The most common panic attack indicators include the following:
- A sense of extreme panic and anxiety, often including a fear of imminent death
- Pounding heart and chest pains
- Unsettled stomach and feeling faint
- Extreme sweating
- Wobbly sensation
- Shortness of breath and sometimes a feeling of choking or being smothered
- A strong desire to escape
Panic Attack Triggers
With careful observation some panic attack triggers can be avoided. For people with a panic disorder this can provide a sense of liberty. Understanding panic attack triggers can help foresee when they will occur.
Trigger 1: Consuming Caffeine
Drinking coffee has the ability to increase your heart rate and make you more attentive. As the heart rate increases it has the potential to trigger a panic attack due to the reaction of a thumbing heart. Too much caffeine can lead to a person becoming unsteady, another symptom of panic attacks.
Trigger 2: Various Medications
It’s wise for people that have a panic disorder to shun medications that have the potential to trigger a panic attack. For example, if you are taking medication that causes you to feel queasy, your body may construe this side effect as a panic attack.
Trigger 3: Overdoing Exercise
When you over exercise, your heart rate increase, you perspire and you take deeper breaths. This is another aspect that can increase the chances of experiencing a panic attack.
Trigger 4 Constant Worry
Constant worry and stress has the ability to trigger panic attacks. Remaining calm and cool in these times can reduce the chance of experiencing a major panic attack.
Trigger 5: Being Out of Your Comfort Zone
Big life changes can put your entire system at a disadvantage. When you are coping with the loss of a loved one, a divorce, a new job, or another big change, it’s hard to take care of yourself mentally and physically. It’s important at times like this to take time for yourself and get the support you need from family and friends.