Anxiety Disorders

You're running down the road, you are frightened, something is behind you.
You can feel it's presence bearing down on you. It's chasing you, it's
overbearing and you know that if it catches you it will destroy you. Wherever
you run it follows, down every street, down every alley it's still there right
behind you. You run into a house and hide ... still it comes. Managing to glance
back you see it, it is in fact a ... giant grisly bear ... snarling ferociously and
wanting to destroy you. Tiredness is setting in, you've been running for so
long and still the bear is right behind you. What can you do? How can you
escape? You turn a corner and you see it, there in the distance ... your
salvation ...
Twenty yards in front of you ... a flagpole ... you'll be safe up there, the bear
won't be able to get you. You make it and climb to the top just as the bear reaches the bottom of the pole. Seeing the bear down there you breathe a
sigh of relief, you are safe. Suddenly you feel scared, you realise that you are
thirty feet in the air, any wrong movement and you could fall, you must stay
alert at all times to prevent this. So there you are ... at the top of the flagpole,
unable to go down towards the bear, constantly alert lest you fall ....

The above describes a dream, a dream that symbolises anxiety-related disorders
and how we can live our lives - constantly alert ... always anxious to some degree.

With anxiety-related problems (including depression as such a problem), we watch
ourselves in everything we do and it’s not difficult to appreciate how this self
-absorption can lead us to believe that we are the only one with such a problem.
This, in itself, strengthens the ‘what’s wrong with me’ beliefs, yet nothing could be
further from the truth. Millions of people worldwide experience these problems; it is
estimated that in America alone over thirty million people suffer from some form of
anxiety disorder. The most common one is Social Anxiety Disorder (or Social Phobia),
closely followed by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Generalized Anxiety
Disorder. Around one in thirty to fifty people suffer from Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder (OCD) and one in ten are reported to have a specific phobia.
This doesn’t include vast numbers of people who have depression or those living
anxious lives ruled by shyness or stress. Many people feel they are working below
their potential and are frustrated, more people are unhealthy and overweight than
ever before, greater numbers of teenagers are depressed and problems involving
anxiety and stress account for the majority of visits to doctor’s surgeries. In a world
of better education, food, hygiene and healthcare, emotionally, society is crumbling.

In reality: when we suffer from an anxiety-related problem, we are not alone - many,
many people are feeling the same way.

Current understanding classifies anxiety disorders in 5 main groups:-

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Involves long-lasting exaggerated and
unrealistic worry (over such things as:- health, family safety, money, chance of
accidents) accompanied by anxiety symptoms such as trembling, being on edge and
body aches.
Panic Disorder: Attacks of panic that appear to be for no reason involving heart
palpitations, chest pain, sweating, trembling and fears of a heart attack, dying
or losing control.
Phobias: Can be specific - the fear of a catagory of objects (eg. dogs, snakes) or
generalized - a fear that occurs in many situations (eg. Agoraphobia: the fear of
outdoors or places where relief and / or escape from a panic attack would be difficult
and Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder): the fear of situations where we have
to do things in front of others and we fear they may judge/ridicule/reject us).
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Characterised by the perfoming of rituals
or routines (compulsions - eg. hand washing) to relieve the anxiety caused by
recurring thoughts (obsessions - eg. fear of being contaminated or contaminating
others).
Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD): The re-living of an experienced traumatic
event through such things as flashbacks or nightmares. This can lead to avoiding
similar situations or places, emotional numbing and physical symptoms of anxiety.

However. high anxiety also forms the basis for many forms of
Depression: Intangible pressure and feelings of not being able to cope involving
frustration and despair - wanting to be/do something but knowing we can't.

The disorders that develop can vary as infinitely as individual life experiences - yet
they all develop and grow in the same way - they've got to, for we are all human
with the same evolved fears and drives, the same nervous systems and we all
function in the same way.
When we look at the backgrounds of large numbers of people with anxiety and
depression problems, they are often strikingly similar in various ways. Negative life
experiences and subsequent feelings involving self worth and insecurity occur across
the board with such regularity and are so similar that its hard to see how they
cannot possibly play a major role in these problems.
Ranging from acute shyness and stress to anxiety disorders and depression, each
problem is unique to the individual. Expressions of social phobia vary from person to
person just as those of agoraphobia vary from panic disorder and GAD varies from
OCD. However, as unique to the individual these problems are and as different to
each other they are, these problems develop for similar reasons and strengthen in a
similar way. They do so in a manner that reflects the way our mind and body works.
Every human being on the planet (indeed, every animal) is built in such a way to
develop an anxiety disorder given the right (or wrong) set of negative life
experiences.

We shall learn how at the heart of these problems can lie neither illness nor disease
and not even disorder for these problems aren’t irrational, they develop for a good
reason – for our survival. As such, anxiety disorders (including depression) will be
referred to as ‘anxiety-related problems’ throughout much of this website.
They reflect subconscious ways humans have evolved to protect themselves -
almost everyone displays behaviours associated with anxiety-related disorders such
as disturbing thoughts, ritualistic checking, the need for perfection, anxiety, panic
and despair at some time in their lives.

How many 'normal' people:-
• Say 'Touch Wood' so as not to tempt fate.
• Repeatedly check doors, windows, switches.
• Take a drink before social functions.
• Avoid public speaking at all costs.

We may look at other people and think that they are more confident than us, but
that is not always the case, confidence exists on different levels. Some people are
very confident in some situations and not so confident in others.

"Those with a high level of confidence may have as many or more
weaknesses tha those with low self esteem. The difference is this;
instead of dwelling on thier handicaps, they compensate for them
by dwelling on their strengths" - Alan Loy McGinnis

Unfortunately, for many uf us, our life experiences come to make us focus
exclusively on our weaknesses - something that changes when we deal with
the cause of these problems.

In the next section we will take a look at some of the symptoms experienced across
many anxiety-related problems. Something which, in itself, relfects just how similar
the anxiety disorders (and depression) really are.