Anxiety

Anxiety can range from uneasiness of impending doom to a full blown panic attack. It is a natural evolutionary reaction we have when our life may be in danger. This reaction causes a hormonal response in our body called ‘the fight or flight response’ which in turn makes us more able to flee the situation and therefore survive. However, in our modern day world any challenges or situations in our life which may result in failure, loss or embarrassment for us can provoke the same response to different degrees from apprehension or mild anxiety to extreme panic and the need to leave.

In fact a little bit of anxiety or apprehension can boost our performance so it is only the excessive levels of anxiety which are debilitating. This is true in the case of clinical anxiety where the anxiety is excessive and disproportionate and so has a detrimental impact on a person’s lifestyle, limiting what they can and cannot do which often has a further effect on their self esteem. The anxiety may be only brought on within a specific situation which is known as ‘Situational Anxiety’ or in the case of ‘Anticipatory Anxiety’, just by thinking about the upcoming event. ‘Spontaneous Anxiety or Panic’ tends to come out of the blue.

Common Symptoms of Anxiety