Anxiety And Stress. Understanding The Differences And Options.
The causes of stress are usually a very individual thing but most commonly it is caused by a specific thought process that then generates a specific emotional response such as fear, anxiety or frustration.
When someone experiences anxiety on the other hand, there is a strong feeling of uneasiness and apprehension that doesn’t always readily reveal its source. This can increase a person’s anxiety due to the fact that the reason why they are feeling anxious is not always obvious. So while stress and anxiety share certain similarities they are very different with causes being different and treatment options similarly needing to be different. Stress is generally speaking a milder type of condition while anxiety is a diagnosable condition that has specific psychological causes that need to be addressed in treatment.
Excessive emotional disturbances such as grief generalized worry and fear as well as physical conditions such as hypoglycemia, hypoadrenia and an overactive thyroid are just some physical conditions that can lead to increased levels of stress.
Effectively treating anxiety and stress means that the causative factors must be identified. Even though some of the factors that we have mentioned above will in most cases be present to some degree, every persons case will be different. This can be problematic when you attempt to treat yourself, but it is possible. One of the most useful techniques that can be used is to begin to take note of the particular circumstances that accompany your anxiety attacks or peak stress periods with a view to trying to identify factors that may be causing your stress and anxiety.
Once the cause of the stress and anxiety has been uncovered finding someone who you can talk to openly about your specific issue is often advised. Whether that person be a professional therapist, a support group or simply someone who you can talk things out with, finding someone to talk with and work out some solutions that are appropriate, and most importantly that you will follow through with, is often the best form of self help in these situations.
It goes without saying that anything you can do to remove stress from your life and maintain a healthy lifestyle will help any other treatment methods you choose to use. Exercise, appropriate nutritional support through a well balanced diet and possible nutritional supplementation and adequate sleep and just general downtime where you can rest and re-charge will definitely help you in your quest to not only become stress and anxiety free but also prevent recurrence of the problem in the future.
Of course what we have discussed here are measures you can take should you still have a reasonable amount of control of the stress and anxiety. If severe physical symptoms palpitations, pain in the chest, extreme dizziness and disorientation occur along with self destructive thoughts, get medical help immediately. While anxiety and stress can be addresses with the basic measures we have discussed sometimes they are not enough. Always seek appropriate medical treatment when in doubt
Leave a Reply