House Call Doctor : How Can You Tell If You Have Anxiety? :: Quick and Dirty Tips ™Clipped from: http://housecalldoctor.quickanddirtytips.com/how-can-you-tell-if-you-have-anxiety.aspx |
NOTE TO ANY READERS: I am going to do a bit of free-thinking to get all of my ideas about how this subject may affect me. Therefore, the reading of it may be somewhat disjointed. When I have finished emptying out my brain, I will try to bring it all together into a cohesive piece, but be forewarned if I do not succeed lol.
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I am curious as to whether or not I might have some form of anxiety or a minor panic issue. There are things that I have always been apprehensive doing, and there are things that I have come to almost dread doing.
| Always disliked doing and will try to avoid | Uncomfortable doing, but will do |
| For as far back as I can remember, I have hated asking for assistance. Part of it is more of a willfulness to do it on my own, which would probably be classified under bipolarity's delusions of grandeur. Not wanting to be made to feel somewhat beholding to, or humbled by others might also be that too, which I pretty much always feel when having to go to someone for something fairly substantial. If I have to do it, I of course do, however I will go through other steps first instead of trying that one first. | I will ask instructors and bosses for instruction on how to do something. I usually prefer to not have to ask if others are around, so that my question might not be considered as unworthy, or beneath me; after all, it's bad enough that the person being asked might think that. I definitely do not like to be reamed the riot act around others, for the very reason. However, since this very topic was one of the items brought to the attention of the group that was set up here at work, I know that I am not out of the ordinary in feeling this one. |
| The despising levels grow when it concerns my family. Many a person have had to suffer a relatives giving them their opinion on the ills that they have done, all wrapped up in the candy coating of giving information for that person's own good. Because of the Molotov cocktail that makes me 'me', I have heard that pretty much non-stop since early childhood. Once I got to the point where I was not required to live through it, and subsequently be put into the position of 'feeling bad' over it, I have gone though some pains, many times great, to avoid it whenever possible. I have spent a night away from home because I could not get home and would not call a family member for a ride. I have spent a period of time without power in my home. To avoid more 'conversations' about my handful of cats, I don't have my family over, however I pretty much avoided having my family over when I moved out, due to not sharing my personal information, for pretty much the same reasons. | I prefer not to have conversations that give a lot of information to others when out, like at work. One, I probably at assigning my own feelings in situations like that: I don't want to listen to other people's conversations either. I don't want private information that I can't do anything with, since I do try to refrain from 'gossiping', and I don't like overhearing other people's confidential or business talk to family or others. I don't necessarily want or like seeing them in that light. Also, I tend to feel uncomfortable over my conversations, since they often involve fixing some financial matter, like dealing with creditors in years past, or other such subjects. |
| Some personal information I will go out of my way to avoid giving. This is usually information that tends to really grate against some people, such as how many abortions I have had. I usually avoid that topic altogether, since it can be a hotbed, from the most religious to an atheist who might classify one such as I from anywhere between unworthy, to sleezy or trashy, to whatever. IMO, those are the opinions that are hard to shake once they have formed in someone's mind about you. Even bad spenders have received titles of that kind from some people. | I don't like when I've discovered that I've asked the same question numerous times. I also get embarrassed when I've discovered that I have been referring to someone with the wrong name and they have had to correct me. The embarrassment tends to provide ample emotion for me to remember the name |
| Crying, even for something good | I will often rely on husbands/boyfriends to ask questions of, since I do not want to appear less in someone else's eyes. |
| If a fault of mine is mentioned to me, I will try to turn it away from myself, or I might flip the situation around so that the other person is receiving some kind of guilt, so that mine is less. An example would be that the other night, my family and I were talking about touchpad/tablets and I had mentioned that I had a keyboard for mine, to which my mother replied 'why am I not surprised', to which I then replied back something like 'and where did I get that from?'. Unfortunately, my mother's version of this trait is just like mine, as in 'and where did I get that from', so she will flip things around just as fast, except she believes that I, and my youngest sister, the only other one to receive everything that she has, only in various degrees, switch it around on purpose to pick on her. IMO, my sister does it quite a bit to pick on her, I however do it merely trying to not have to deal with a fault being presented to me. | When a boss might call me into his/her office, I will quite frequently assume it's because of some wrong that I've done. After so many years of having done wrong things, I now automatically assume that I have again done something incorrectly. |
| I will frequently avoid asking for permission to do something, or avoid conversations with others where I might not get what I want, so that I don't get the no answer. I attribute that to an anxiety due to not wanting the feeling of dealing with the refusal, and subsequently not getting whatever it is I desire to acquire. |
How Can You Tell If You Have Anxiety?
Episode 64: September 21, 2010
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by Rob Lamberts, MD
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The next two articles will cover an area that takes up a lot of my time in practice: anxiety and depression. These two problems are not just mental health issues; their presence can also greatly affect a person's physical health. Today I'll focus on anxiety, although I will start out with some general principles around both of these conditions.
How Can You Tell If You Have Anxiety?
When discussing anxiety and depression, we first have to define terms because both words represent emotions and medical conditions. Anxiety, the emotion, is a normal part of life. If you see flashing lights in your rear-view mirror, you get anxious. Simply feeling anxious is not cause for medical concern. The same is true for the emotion in depression--sadness--which happens as a normal part of life.
Clinical anxiety and depression are not the same as the emotions, although the emotions are present. These are real medical problems that have a big impact on your life. Two things separate emotional states and clinical conditions: duration and severity. In order to "officially" diagnose clinical anxiety and depression, symptoms have to last more than three months and have a significant impact on the daily function of life (although in reality, they are often diagnosed before 3 months).
I'm going to leave depression for next week and focus on anxiety now.
What Is Anxiety?
So what is anxiety? Anxiety, the emotion, is a feeling of powerlessness or helplessness. If you had a magic button in your car that made the police car behind you disappear, the presence of those lights wouldn't be so traumatic. It's the inability to control things we think may hurt us that makes us anxious. When clinical anxiety exists, it makes life feel out of control...which creates more anxiety. That is perhaps the hardest thing about clinical anxiety: you get anxious about being anxious.
How Is OCD Related to Anxiety?
But anxiety takes many forms, many of which don't look like anxiety. When a person feels out of control, they often find ways to compensate. A good example of this is obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD. Many people with OCD have something in their life--past or present--that they want to control but can't. Perhaps they were abused as a child, or perhaps they've lost spouse or child. Their reaction is to control something that is in their power--like keeping their house clean, washing their hands, or locking the door. That attempt to control things becomes a compulsion--something they can't stop from doing.
What Is Generalized-Anxiety Disorder?
Big anxiety--anxiety that casts a long shadow in your life--usually needs professional help.
Sometimes anxiety is a non-specific feeling of worry or dread, such as with generalized anxiety disorder. Anxiety can be very specific to situations, such as with phobias including fear of bugs, snakes, public speaking, heights, or water. I am not talking about people who don't like bugs or snakes, I am talking about people who won't leave their house or can't sleep because of these fears. Sometimes the anxiety revolves around relationships, as is the case with social anxiety disorder, and sometimes the symptoms come in episodic flares, like with panic disorder. Finally, some people escape their anxiety using alcohol, drugs, or other addictions. That list is by no means exhaustive; the bottom line with these behaviors is that they are a reaction to the person's vulnerability or helplessness.
What Causes Anxiety?
Like most illnesses, anxiety disorders are a mix of heredity and environment. Having a family member with clinical anxiety doesn't guarantee you will have it, but it will make you more prone to trauma that can trigger clinical anxiety. But please hear me on an important point: anxiety has a reason. It's not moral weakness or a lack of faith that makes people struggle. Unfortunately, people around those with clinical anxiety don't know that, and often chide them to "just don't worry so much." That adds the emotion of shame to the struggle with anxiety, and it is unnecessary. People with anxiety disorders don't wake up and decide that they will be anxious. They would love to stop, but can't.
How to Cope with Anxiety
So what can be done about anxiety? Here are my Quick and Dirty Tips for dealing with anxiety.
Tip #1: Don't feel ashamed. I wouldn't blame you for bleeding if I threw a brick at you, and most people dealing with anxiety have had emotional bricks thrown their way.
Tip #2: Look for root causes. Usually there is something from the past that hasn't been dealt with that you are either trying to escape from or resolve. Understanding why you feel the way you do helps a lot in trying to overcome it.
Tip #3: Talk to someone. If the anxiety is not too big, talking to a friend, family member, or religious leader might help. But big anxiety--anxiety that casts a long shadow in your life--usually needs professional help. Find a counselor who has been trained to treat anxiety. You shouldn't be ashamed for seeking help; it's a much worse thing to run from your problems.
Tip#4: Take medications if needed. There are two main kinds of medications for anxiety: ones that last a short time, and ones that you take every day. The shorter-acting medications are usually medications like Valium or Xanax, which can be addictive if used too often. If you need one of these medications more that a few times a week, you should probably consider getting on a preventive daily medication, like Paxil or Zoloft. These medications don't fix the root problems causing your anxiety, but they do steady your emotions enough that you can face those bigger anxieties that lurk in the shadows.
I'll stop here for now. There is a whole lot more I could say, but I just wanted to give an overview. Next week I'll cover anxiety's cousin: depression.
If you have topics that you want me to cover, send them to housecalldoctor@quickanddirtytips.com, or you can submit them to me on twitter (@housecalldoc) or my Facebook page.
Don't forget about my blog, Musings of a Distractible Mind.
Let me once again remind you that this podcast is for informational purposes only. My goal is to add to your medical knowledge and translate some of the weird medical stuff you hear, so when you do go to your doctor, your visits will be more fruitful. I don't intend to replace your doctor; he or she is the one you should always consult about your own medical condition.
Catch you next time! Stay Healthy!
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Comments for How Can You Tell If You Have Anxiety?
sreenish
8/27/2011 2:47:24 PM
good, may be i can overcome my day 2 day problems.
thanks
sreenish
8/27/2011 2:44:59 PM
good, may be i can overcome my day 2 day problems.
thanks
mani
10/14/2010 9:53:15 AM
good
good
good
WarmSocks
9/23/2010 12:18:56 PM
Excellent overview. That makes it sound like anxiety is very treatable. Thank you for another great post.
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