Danielle Bridge, from ABC Life Support, talks about anxiety, which is the theme for this year’s Mental Health Awareness.

According to Mental Health UK, this is one of the UK’s most diagnosed mental health disorders with nearly eight million people experiencing levels of anxiety which would constitute a diagnosis at any given time.

At this point, it is firstly important to recognise that everybody experiences anxiety – it is a natural response which is useful in many ways as it can give you the strength and stamina to escape dangerous experiences.

Once your brain recognises a threat, it releases adrenaline into your bloodstream making you hyper focused, your heart pumps faster to feed your muscles with oxygen which in turn allows you to run (among many other physiological actions!)

An anxiety disorder differs from normal anxiety in the following ways:

•It is more severe

•It is long lasting

•It interferes with the persons work and/or relationships

There are three main effects when somebody lives with anxiety, they are: physical, psychological and behavioural.

The effects of anxiety can be very physical, felt in the body and mimic fear and so people generally do not like the feeling and so stop doing the thing that causes the feeling which can lead to avoidance which is confirmation to the brain that the fear is justified. This sets up a vicious cycle of behavior which can be difficult to stop.

Some of the conditions that are diagnosed are:

•Generalised anxiety disorder – GAD

•Panic Disorder – Panic Attack

•Phobias

•Acute stress disorder (ASD)

•Post – traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

•Obsessive – compulsive disorder (OCD)

People who live with anxiety often feel hopeless or helpless as to their condition but there is help available. Firstly, accepting that things can be different, and that recovery is possible is key.

Useful treatments include:

CBT Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Anti-depressants (SSRI’s)

Mindfulness practices

Breathing practices

There are different severities of anxiety and therefore when somebody is experiencing panic or prolonged anxiety with marked physical symptoms, breathing and mindfulness practices may not be very helpful.

More information about anxiety: www.nhs.uk and www.mind.org.uk.