Online Counselling for Anxiety

Is it fear or anxiety? Does fear develop into anxiety? How do we know if we should tackle fear because it’s not the fear but anxiety? Sometimes people don’t know when fear becomes anxiety.

Differences between anxiety and fear

We should know that fear is alright. It’s normal to worry or feel uneasy, scared when under pressure or facing stressful and dangerous situations. We worry  when experiencing insecurity. We feel fear in danger. In those circumstances our automatic alarm goes off because we feel threatened. We feel fear.

In fact, fear is necessary and protective. It helps to stay alert, regain safety, be focused and ware. Fear urges constructive actions (to resolve or remove triggers). Fear starts and ends.

When fear turns into anxiety the fearful feelings and worries are almost constant and overwhelming. Fear becomes dysfunctional and it is not protective anymore. Persistent worries start interfering with life, relationships or what we do.  Here we talk about anxiety. 

Why do we become anxious?

Some people are predisposed to anxiety because of the environment and so called conditioning: social conditions where they live or developed, past or current insecurity, danger or losses. People can develop anxiety at any age, when they live in chronic stress or traumatizing conditions. Other people might become anxious because of overly demanding life, not taking care of their health and neglecting their psychological well-being. For instance lack of exercise and sleep, high social pressure, some medication or even alcohol and caffeine can be the triggers.

Because the anxiety is a group of disorders and related conditions (not a single disorder) the symptoms of anxiety can look very different from person to person. For example one individual may suffer from intense anxiety attacks that strike without warning, while another gets anxious going to a party. Someone else might struggle with disabling anxiety of driving or leaving their house. . Still another may be worrying about almost anything and everything.

If you think you might have anxiety you should take it seriously and remember anxiety is treatable. People don’t have to suffer for the rest of their life once they have anxiety.  The bottom line in overcoming anxiety is that the mind, the ways of thinking, what a person does and how they respond to their life maintain or change anxiety. If these don’t change anxiety hardly can go away. Medication helps control the symptoms of anxiety but it doesn’t cure it. 

Emotional symptoms of anxiety:

• feelings of apprehension or dread, trouble concentrating, feeling tense and jumpy, irritability, restlessness, watching for signs of danger, feeling like your mind’s gone blank

Physical symptoms of anxiety:

• pounding heart, sweating, upset stomach, dizziness, frequent urination or diarrhea, shortness of breath, tremors and twitches, muscle tension, headaches, fatigue, insomnia

Types of anxiety disorders: Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Specific Anxiety Disorders – Phobias, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Check your anxiety