What is Anxiety and how to control it?

Feelings of anxiety are healthy, are normal and are expected through the rollercoaster of life. Imagine, you may feel anxious before a job interview, or through the run-up to an event.

However, for some individuals, feelings are intensified, are episodic and are extreme, overtaking life on an everyday basis. Such encounters are diagnosed as generalised anxiety disorder, a mental health condition, possibly impactful for the long term.

Understandably, digesting symptoms of anxiety at a normal rate is possible, as for most, they are short-lived. Yet for individuals with a diagnosis of anxiety, symptoms can be engulfing, increasing alertness, stress, paranoia, and panic as uncontrollable responses.

Anxiety can be an extremely tough disorder to experience, especially where exposure to triggers is rife. It’s also complicated as there are different types of anxiety, such as social anxiety and separation anxiety, requiring diverse approaches to rehabilitation.

Yet, there are ways to control, manage and live with anxiety, recommended as a degree of self-help. Here’s our advice on ‘what is anxiety and how to control it?’, offering some proactive actions to independently reduce symptoms of anxiety.

Contact our team at Cassiobury Court for support with mental health concerns. We’re available with both treatments and supportive tools to effectively treat, reduce and control mental health disorders, such as anxiety.

What is anxiety and how to control it? – Understanding anxiety

Understanding anxiety is very important, as currently, a general picture is painted of the disorder. By this, we mean that generalised symptoms and effects are linked to anxiety, which are common yet fails to represent every diagnosis.

Anxiety can display through a wide range of symptoms and can also materialise into different effects, for every individual. Triggers of anxiety are also wide-spanning, making it an unpredictable disorder to experience.

6 in 100 people are found to develop signs of anxiety each week in the UK, displaying its prevalence. Each diagnosis will be different, yet will surround heightened levels of worry, uncontrollable nervous energy, and unexplainable panic, showing how life-limiting it can be.

Being aware of ‘what is anxiety and how to control it?’ will be recommended through possible signs and symptoms, to reduce its control as a mental health disorder.

What can cause anxiety?

Causes of anxiety are usually sensitive and personal, linked to either previous experiences or current emotional responses.

Some of the most common causes of anxiety-related mental health disorders include:

• Negative and influential environments
• Trauma
• Excessive stress
• Negative social experiences
• Childhood problems/upbringing
• Substance abuse/dual diagnosis
• Genetics
• Phobias
• Other mental health disorders
• Physical health conditions, such as diabetes and IBS
• A lifestyle that produces consistent stress and panic
• High emotional situations
• Loss, unpredictable events, and uncontrollable experiences

Anxiety can be brought on by a range of causes, personal to each sufferer. No matter the trigger, anxiety can develop into an engulfing condition if ignored and untreated, instead benefiting from control.

Signs and symptoms of anxiety

Being aware of the signs and symptoms of anxiety will help to understand how common it is as a mental health disorder. A clinical diagnosis will be likely through such symptoms, benefiting from self-help and rehabilitation.

Again, signs and symptoms can fluctuate in form and weight for each individual. Yet common anxiety disorders display through:

• Increased heart rate and blood pressure
• Dizziness
• Sleep problems
• Digestive issues
• Excessive sweating and shaking
• Increased alertness
• Episodic stress
• Living on the edge
• Depression
• Uncontrollable nervous energy
• Panic and paranoia
• Uncontrollable thought processes
• Feeling anxious around certain stimuli (phobias)
• Behavioural changes, such as cancelling plans
• Feeling withdrawn from everyday life
• Using drugs and alcohol as coping strategies
• Abusing anti-depressants

Reducing and controlling anxiety

‘What is anxiety and how to control it?’ has been touched on above, displaying causes and symptoms of anxiety. Now it’s time to consider self-help and its benefits, to control the weight of anxiety as a mental health disorder.

Here are some self-help tips to control everyday symptoms of anxiety:

Deep breathing exercises: Anxiety is known to increase heart rate, increase stress and increase panic. Deep breathing exercises can help to regulate such stress on the body and mind, found to restore balance. Using this exercise will be recommended especially through anxiety attacks and crises.

Exercise: Physical exercise is highly associated with strong mental health. Movement helps to produce happy chemicals in the brain, known to reduce the likes of depression and anxiety. Exercise is an effective coping strategy to regulate everyday anxiety, offering a healthy technique to control emotional responses.

Mindfulness: Symptoms of mental health disorders can be difficult to deal with, found to blur reality and increase illogical outlooks. Mindfulness is a tool that can help to promote greater presence and grounding through signs of anxiety, offering control and a degree of rationalisation.

Education, awareness, and prevention: Being aware of anxiety as a disorder is an effective way to control its strength and reoccurring nature. Awareness of personal triggers and how to prevent their exposure through lifestyle choices and coping strategies are recommended.

Lifestyle choices: Your lifestyle can aggravate symptoms of anxiety. Making healthy and positive choices can help to control anxiety as a reoccurring disorder. Avoiding caffeine and alcohol, aiming for balance and movement, reducing stress levels, and considering relaxation management are all effective choices.

Self-care: Self-care is a personal action, which can materialise differently. It is however extremely effective through episodes of anxiety, to restore balance and to suppress symptoms. Controlling triggers of anxiety can be eased through acting on self-care, by prioritising your physical and mental wellbeing.

Connectivity: Remaining connected to loved ones and support groups are an effective way to control anxiety. While it may feel easier to withdraw from everyday associations, remaining active, honest, and connected will be encouraged.

Set realistic outlooks: It’s normal to relapse or to experience heightened symptoms of anxiety. Setting this as a realistic outlook is recommended, as control will fluctuate throughout a diagnosis. Being realistic is very important, by remembering that you are human, and that anxiety will always be an emotional response for every individual across the world.

Make use of helpful resources: There are many resources available to you to treat and control anxiety. Support groups, treatments and therapies, and online information and tips are all available, to ease the symptoms of anxiety.

Accept mental health treatment: In uncontrollable situations, mental health support and treatment will be helpful. At Cassiobury Court, we offer both from our private drug and alcohol rehab clinic, to work through anxiety and dual diagnosis. Treatment is available to suppress the weight of anxiety, whilst offering ongoing support and encouragement through controlling symptoms and triggers.

Anxiety is one of the most commonly encountered mental health disorders. Yet with such awareness, it’s also one of the hardest disorders to control, through everyday life. Being aware of ‘what is anxiety and how to control it?’ will be beneficial, along with making use of our recommendations.

Your lifestyle, outlook, support system and knowledge can offer respite from anxiety. Control your symptoms with self-help and treatment, suitable to improve mental health.