Stress & Anxiety

HAT IS ANXIETY? Theorists have attempted to answer this question over the years. They have met with success and failure in their experiments but all have contributed in very important ways to today's understanding of what anxiety is. Most of the time if I were to ask you what anxiety is, you'd give me an incomplete but satisfactory answer because anxiety takes in such a large domain amongst mental and physical disorders. Fear, phobia, panic, even anticipation, fall within the boundaries of anxiety. Stress* is an alternate term for anxiety and may even fall into the list of conditions found in anxiety as fear, etc. We have all experienced anxiety in several of its forms. We even take in yet another form of anxiety we actually welcome at times - thrill*! However, the implications of thrill will be covered in a future article, this one deals with anxiety in its purer forms, and the ones which produce unpleasant and undesired effects. (Thrill is more like "anxiety-by-consent.")

Each type of anxiety has its own characteristics and theorists have sometimes focused on singling-out one or more of these conditions on which to base theories. Again, these theorists have all contributed extremely valuable knowledge to our present database of information on anxiety, but on the other note, relying on sometimes biased information fequently leads to mis-diagonsis and unnecessary treatment. Even today anxiety can be grossly misunderstood in case-by-case situations.

When you experience fear, fright, and panic, you know that these, by nature are spontainous. In other words, these types of anxiety are brought on by unexpected and sudden changes in your immediate surroundings and they, in some way, challenge or endanger your well-being or that of your loved ones. The anxiety sharply increases instantly after the event that caused it and gradually drops off as the event passes.

Anxiety brought on by such imminant events as speaking at a future presentation, a very important meeting such as an employment interview for a reputable position can bring on anxiety in a completely different pattern altogether. Unlike anxiety brought on by sudden, unexpected change in events, you know that as the time approaches for whatever it is you are anxious about draws near, your anxiety over it increases. After the event it drops off sharply. I would like to call it 'progressive' anxiety, but is better known as 'anticipatory anxiety.'

Anxiety is associated with other technical but important terms. Psychoanalysts look at anxiety as a 'psychodynamic' phenomenon.* Many in the medical professions look to chemical imbalances which can be caused by genetic and local sources and administer medicinal therapies to treat the problem. There are others who approach the problem of anxiety who have contributed that the various states of anxiety are all learned behaviors which can be 'unlearned.'

In all cases, whether anxiety is caused by physical maladies, a sudden event, or a an anticipated one, when any of these bring about distressed anxiety which persists over a reasonable time, they should be treated correctly. Proper evaluation is very important to correct treatment. Being treated for an anxiety disorder on the basis that it is being caused by some anticipation, but is really stress coming from something in the client's lifestyle that has not been disclosed for whatever reason.

Here's a good example of this kind of mis-diagonsis: A client goes into a health facility. It doesn't really matter what kind he has chosen. Life has been pretty rocky with strained relationships, failing to meet expectations at work, and financial stress. All these details come up in the diagnosis, and treatment ensues. The client leaves out information that he feels would be embarrassing to reveal, whether it is a bad habit or a medical condition, whatever, so this goes unreported in the diagnosis and the results generally do not hit the mark. In all cases should you seek treatment for anxiety in any of the methods mentioned above, it is vitally important you understand, first, that treatment is important, and further, that the more complete and accurate the information is you sumit to your therapist, the greater likelihood your treatment will be a success.

A qualified hypnotherapist also relies on accurate information provided by the client to assure the outcome will be favorable. Hypnotherapy is a highly effective tool for the resolution of all types of anxiety whether the problem rests with anxiety itself and the problems that cause the anxiety. Pain causes anxiety. Anxiety can cause other undesired effects such as depression. Depression has been known to cause anxiety. Hypnotherapy, EFT, NLP, and other specialized techniques, when appropriately administered historically has had a very high track record of success for those seeking alternative health solutions.