Anxiety is a condition which can affect us all at any time. A modest amount of it does no harm, in fact it can serve to keep us out of trouble. But too much anxiety can lead to symptoms such as panic, phobias such as agoraphobia and claustrophobia, stage fright, and so on. In extreme forms it can become paralysing, making it impossible to carry on the normal activities of living, working and relating to people.
In helping many people work through their anxiety in counselling and psychotherapy, I have come to the conclusion that there is always an underlying cause for the anxiety. It may not be easy to find the cause, as it may have happened at a time before the earliest memories, but I believe that the cause always exists. Some typical causes include
Anxiety is a condition which can affect us all at any time. A modest amount of it does no harm, in fact it can serve to keep us out of trouble. But too much anxiety can lead to symptoms such as panic, phobias such as agoraphobia and claustrophobia, stage fright, and so on. In extreme forms it can become paralysing, making it impossible to carry on the normal activities of living, working and relating to people.
In helping many people work through their anxiety in counselling and psychotherapy, I have come to the conclusion that there is always an underlying cause for the anxiety. It may not be easy to find the cause, as it may have happened at a time before the earliest memories, but I believe that the cause always exists. Some typical causes include
A professor began his class by holding up a glass of water and asking the students, “How much does this weigh?”
The answers ranged from 20g to 500g.
The professor replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter, it depends on how long I try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, my arm will ache. If I hold it up like this for a day I’ll have severe muscle stress, my arm could go numb, paralysis..... you’ll have to call an ambulance for sure. It’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes”.
A persons emotional distress can be very difficult to witness and we can do much in that moment to ease or compound that distress. Often our own discomfort or fear of that distress causes us to try and 'rescue' and/or 'calm down' that person but in so doing we frequently make the situation much worse.
We are, without doubt, living in difficult times on a personal and global level. Many people refuse to watch the news or read newspapers for fear of it dragging them down. Many individuals are struggling financially, either through unemployment, losing their jobs or being overloaded due to workplace downsizing; relieved they still have employment but imploding under the pressure of carrying the extra workload once done by colleagues now made redundant. The disproportionate rise in cost-of-living to wages. Plus a diversity of personal and family issues that frequently come along to test us: abuse, bereavement, bullying (at home or in the workplace), illness, family breakdown, relationship worries, moving house/area. Phew, no wonder people come into counselling struggling with depression, anxiety, stress, low-self esteem, insomnia, exhaustion etc., and so forth.
As a driver I like to keep my car clean, have it serviced regularly, check the oil and tyre pressure and make sure I have enough petrol. Then I can relax and feel I have done everything possible to ensure safe, smooth journeys.
Our journey through life will run more smoothly and comfortably if we check the different parts of ourselves.
The four tyres represent the four aspects of our Self:
~ ~ ~ Mental, Physical, Emotional and Spiritual ~ ~ ~
Most of us journey through life with them unbalanced.
Mild phobias are extremely common, as I discovered recently when talking to a group of friends - out of six people all of us had something we would go out of our way to avoid because of fear, including heights, trains, cats and cows! When phobias become more intense they can lead to strong fear reactions such as panic attacks, and become extremely limiting. For example, someone who is extremely fearful of spiders will start to avoid any situation where a spider might be encountered - since spiders can turn up almost anywhere this could mean avoiding going out, avoiding friends houses, shops, going in the garden, certain rooms in the house, and so on.
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