Anxiety
Clinical anxiety is different from a typical stage fright, or feeling jittery just before a public speech, and feeling those butterflies in the stomach during your examination.
Unmanageable symptoms such as breathlessness, heart palpitations, racing thoughts, sweaty palms, inability to relax, and even panic attacks can happen unexpectedly or when triggered in specific situations.
These symptoms persist despite the absence of triggers, or when the events have long passed.
I am so hyped out; I can’t come down
I can’t explain why I feel so tight in my chest
There is a constant uneasiness in my stomach
Fears, obsessions control me…
Despite how uncomfortable these symptoms can be, it is not advisable to rely solely on medications alone. This is because, most psychotropic medications can end up becoming the main crutch and the skills of learning to calm yourself down and to soothe your nerves without pills and substances would be delayed.
Some of us may use avoidance of the circumstances and triggers to minimize anxious thoughts and feelings. Over time, this may develop into patterns of conflict avoiding, cues avoiding, and limiting oneself into the same bubble of safety.
Missed opportunities
‘Comfort zone’
Lack of growth or new experiences.
Distinct clinical anxiety patterns may fall into the following:
GAD – Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Frequent worrying, anxiousness, fearful that something bad can happen, are the common internal experience when you have GAD.
Nail biting, constant fidgeting, hair pulling, constant clock watching can be outward signs of fleeting anxiety.
Phobias
Social phobia arises when intense anxiety is felt during or leading up to any social event or activities or even in relationships.
Specific phobias can be acrophobia towards height, and agoraphobia towards enclosed space and caves. The excessive avoidance and fear of animals such as snake, spider etc, may be uncomfortable and baffling.
Performance fears such as atychiphobia which is an intense fear of failure, can lead to procrastination towards achieving our goals such as career, dreams, love, and intimacy.
All phobias are treatable where you can reduce the intensity of symptoms or resolve the buried root causes that have led to the phobias.
OCD – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Obsessions such as frequent hand washing, cleaning, trichollomania, constant checking or counting rituals. Such repetition and rituals often produce feelings of comfort and reassurance of outcome.
Irrational dependence on the frequent actions or rituals may become embarrassing and problematic in social relationships. Eventually, that can lead to social isolation, a huge loss of time and emotional exhaustion.
Like chemical dependence in addiction, rituals, frequent patterns of cleaning, checking, or counting can be a difficult crutch to let go.
Being honest with someone who cares is the first step towards getting out of the shadow of the obsessional thoughts and actions.
OCD is treatable. Owing to the long-term irrational patterns, it is a condition that usually needs mid-term to long-term therapy.
Slowing down, asking for help, giving yourself permission for making mistakes, allowing support from new and established support networks can be useful for increasing coping skills.
Self-awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and honesty are the keys in releasing what is causing the distress. A routine of self-soothing activities and exercises are also highly effective in managing lifelong anxiety.
Take a slow deep breath.
Take a walk.
Give your mind a rest.
For treatment inquiries, please send us the form so that a member of our team can contact you.