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| Are you feeling anxious?
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| You're not alone
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Most people have anxiety and anxious moments. It's part of our being human and represents our "flight or fight" response, which is a totally natural response to danger, or perceived danger to ourselves or our loved ones.
The trouble is that sometimes we can let anxiety get the better of us, and when that happens, it can be really frightening, worrying, debilitating even.
We lead much more stressful lives on a daily basis than our forebears. Or at least we think we do. We believe there is a lot more to worry about and to fear and so anxiety is increasing.
In the USA, it's thought that people with diagnosed anxiety disorders has increased nearly two and a half times between 1987 and 2007 - from one in 184 Americans to one in 76. For children, the rise is even more startling - a thirty-five-fold increase over the same period.
Why is this? As with any psychological or mental illness, the reasons for anxiety are hard to pin down, but from a psychological and society point of view, we do put a lot more pressure on ourselves in terms of expectations – for work, for achievements of ourselves and our children, for earning capacity, for relationship success, for quality of life. Which is ironic because our anxiety can often drastically affect or quality of life.
For children it can be brought about by personal trauma, divorce, separation, bereavement, friendship breakdowns, bullying, pressure to do well at school, lack of self-confidence, feeling of not being good enough and exam stress.
Anxiety can be caused by many things – both physical and psychological. It can even be caused by our diets and some foodstuffs that mimic anxiety symptoms – e.g. caffeine and sugar and some medications.
The most common anxiety disorder is GAD – General Anxiety Disorder. This is a long-term condition that causes someone to feel anxious about a wide range of situations and issues, rather than one specific event.
People with GAD feel anxious most days and often struggle to remember the last time they felt relaxed, but they often have no idea what's actually making them feel anxious. GAD can cause both psychological (mental) and physical symptoms. These vary from person to person, but can include feeling restless or worried and having trouble concentrating or sleeping.
Psychological symptoms of GAD
GAD can cause a change in your behaviour and the way you think and feel about things, resulting in symptoms such as:
- Restlessness
- A sense of dread
- Feeling constantly "on edge"
- Difficulty concentrating
- Irritability
People with anxiety often withdraw from social contact with their friends or families avoid stressful situations of the onset of worry or dread. They may also find going to work difficult and stressful and take time off sick, but these actions only really serve to increase the worry and a lack of confidence and self-esteem.
Physical symptoms of GAD
GAD can also have a number of physical symptoms, including:
- Dizziness
- Tiredness
- A noticeably strong, fast or irregular heartbeat (palpitations)
- Muscle aches and tension
- Trembling or shaking
- Dry mouth
- Excessive sweating
- Shortness of breath
- Stomach ache
- Feeling sick
- headache
- pins and needles
- Difficulty falling or staying asleep (insomnia)
Anxiety triggers
If you are anxious as a result of a specific phobia or because of panic disorder, you will usually know what the cause is. For example, if you have claustrophobia (a fear of enclosed spaces), you know that being confined in a small space will trigger your anxiety.
However, if you have GAD, it may not always be clear what you are feeling anxious about. Not knowing what triggers your anxiety can intensify it and you may start to worry that there will be no solution.
If this all sounds familiar and if you are suffering from anxiety, then the important thing to remember is that you are not alone, not by a long chalk, nor are you weak, stupid or a loser. Anxiety is incredibly common and people you may really look up to for inspiration may also suffer from anxiety.
Bianca Dye is one of Australia's best-known and loved radio show hosts. Having been one of the original cast of the hugely successful NOVA 96.9 in Sydney and night time host on the Gold Coasts, Gold FM, she is currently the breakfast show co-host of the Illawarra's number one station, i98fm. She's also a TV presenter, actor, speaker, columnist, comedienne and author. She's a great example of someone who's hugely talented, acclaimed, has a great career and great life, yet she suffers from anxiety.
Bianca has been diagnosed with GAD and here she explains a bit about how it affects her and what she does to try to manage it.
What triggers your anxiety?
It can seriously be anything and can often be triggered from a traumatic past or childhood experience. I go to therapy sometimes and my therapist, Jane Donovan says that my traumatised 10-year-old self makes a lot of my decisions when I get anxious. Rather than my adult, sensible, sorted self! You revert back to the frightened you of your childhood. Anything can trigger it really - relationship problems, jealousy, trust issues, mistakes, work pressures. But it's usually when things build up or when more than one thing overwhelms me on the same day.
How does it manifest itself?
In lots of ways. A tight chest, rapidly beating heart. If it's really bad, it's pins and needles in my arms and this awful feeling of dread. I can't tell you what it's about. I could have a great day ahead of me but I still have this awful feeling of dread and you have no idea of where it's coming from. Other things can be insomnia and just lying awake thinking or worrying about things, headaches and migraines (always a sign I've pushed myself too much).
I've been diagnosed with GAD. I don't just get anxious one day and then not the next. For me it's ongoing on a daily basis. But I have learnt to let it sit there in the background and try not to let it get the better of me. Most of the time I'm winning. But sometimes it wins, the baddies win… but it's really important to not beat yourself up when they do. You just have to go into the next day as a new day.
I have had a couple of panic attacks - 4-5. They're terrifying. They've happened usually when I've been in a work or social situation where I've been really hot. This seems to set them off. I remember once sitting on the loo, thinking I was having a heart attack, dying. Your body just gets consumed by it and it's unbelievably frightening. Never say "get over it" to someone with anxiety if you haven't experienced a panic attack and can understand the terror.
What do you do to deal with your anxiety or what do you find helpful?
I have to say meditating is one of the key things I've found helps. I've done courses and if you can be dedicated and disciplined you will really get a hold on your anxiety. I don't do it as much as I should so I can be my own worst enemy!
Get an app on your phone - a mindfulness or meditation app. Gabby Bernstein's Spirit Junkie is great. You only have to commit to 5 minutes a day of shutting your mind off from everything. 5 minutes of meditation can be very powerful and very helpful for anxiety. Click here for Body + Soul's pick of the 8 best meditation websites in Australia.
Exercise is really important. When I' doing regular exercise, cardio etc, I always feel so much better. Exercise is really important, eating healthily, avoiding alcohol and helping other people - you feel so much better doing good things for other people and not making yourself the focus of your own life.
When I was working on her show, Kerri-Anne Kennerly was my mentor and she said don't let things build up so you get overwhelmed. Tackle things one thing at a time and don't beat yourself up about it. Do one thing a day. You don't have to rule the world.
Do you have any other tips on managing anxiety?
My biggest thing apart from meditation and trying to be healthy is "Beware social media!" It's one of the biggest causes of anxiety. Don't get caught up in Social Media. It's easy to get obsessed with it and look at all this incredible stuff that people are doing, and get overwhelmed by their successful happy, perfect lives… FOMO (fear of missing out) is a dangerous thing. It's easy to start thinking that you're a failure and that their lives are so much better, so much more perfect and in control than yours. They're not, trust me!
However in some ways Social Media can be wonderful and helpful. I have a page on instagram called @anxietyfree. It's supportive. My page and others like mine are there to say: you're not alone. Lots of very successful, incredible, amazing people suffer from anxiety. You're not crazy or weak or a loser. We need to end that stigma. You'll probably find that there are more people who suffer from anxiety than people who don't! It's completely normal. It's completely fine.
You are not mad and you're not alone!
If you are feeling anxious, go to see your GP. There are also organisations that can help you, including SANE, Anxiety Australia, Beyond Blue and Headspace
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Bianca Dye |
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