August 17, 2009

Treat Anxiety Panic Attacks The Holistic Way

by Patricia F. Doyle

Anxiety is a sudden and often intense subjective state associated with stress. It can help a person cope with a difficult situation, for example at work or at school, by prompting one to deal with it. When it becomes excessive, it may fit into the category of an nervousness disorder.

Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by emotional, somatic, cognitive and behavioral components. These components combine to create an unpleasant feeling that can sabotage a person's functioning.

Anxiety often occurs without an identifiable triggering stimulus. As such, it is distinguished from panic, which occurs in the presence of an observed threat. Furthermore, fear is linked to the particular behaviors of avoidance and escape, whereas anxiety is the result of threats that the sufferer perceives as being unavoidable and uncontrollable.

A competing view perceives anxiety as "a future-oriented state of mind" in which one is prepared to attempt to cope with imminent negative events. This implies that it is a distinction between future vs. present dangers that divides anxiety and fear.

Anxiety can be accompanied by bodily effects such as heart palpitations, fatigue, nausea, chest pain, shortness of breath, stomach aches, or headaches. Physically, the body prepares the organism to deal with a threat. Heart rate and blood pressure are intensified, blood flow to the major muscle groups is increased, sweating is increased, and digestive and immune system functions are inhibited (the fight or flight response). Outside signs of anxiety may include sweating, trembling, pale skin and pupillary dilation. Someone suffering from anxiety might also feel it as a sense of dismay or terror.

In addition to the physical symptoms, many emotional signs are involved as well. Those are not limited to: "Feelings of apprehension or dismay, trouble focusing, feeling jumpy or tense, expecting the worst, irritability, agitation, watching (and waiting) passively for occurrences of danger, and, feeling like the mind's gone blank". There's also, "nightmares/bad dreams, deja vu, obsession with sensations, a trapped in your mind feeling, and a perception that everything is frightening".

About the Author:

Tags: , , , , ,

Spread the word

del.icio.us Digg Furl Reddit Ask BlinkList blogmarks Blogg-Buzz Google Ma.gnolia muti Netscape ppnow Rojo Shadows Simpy Socializer Spurl StumbleUpon Tailrank Technorati Windows Live Wists Yahoo!

Permalink • Print

Track this entry

RSS BlogPulse

RSS Technorati Cosmos

Related Entries