Almost everyone experiences anxiety or depression at some point in his or her life.
When left untreated, both anxiety and depression can get worse because the symptoms tend to exacerbate the condition, and the anxiety or depression takes over more and more of our lives.
Anxiety in Particular, Tends to Feed on Itself.
Once we begin to notice that we feel anxious, more and more things make us feel anxious and we even can become anxious of being anxious, or anxious of becoming more anxious! Sometimes people who are anxious are worried that there is something wrong with them.
This is especially true if you have had a full-blown anxiety attack or a panic attack. People who have had an anxiety attack, tend to start avoiding the things that are associated with the anxiety attack. For example, if you had a panic attack on the freeway, you might start avoiding driving on the freeway. Perhaps after a while, driving in general becomes stressful and is avoided. If one of the first symptoms of your anxiety attack was increased heart rate, you might actually begin to get a little anxious after running up a flight of stairs, even though this is a natural physical response to exercise and has nothing to do with anxiety!
Treatment for Anxiety and Depression.
Because our thoughts can have such an impact on our level of anxiety, therapy is a crucial part in the treatment of anxiety. Our choices and behavior can also have an impact on the amount of stress in our lives and the anxiety we feel. Although it may be tempting to just go to a physician to get medication for anxiety (and medication can certainly be helpful and sometimes necessary in the treatment of anxiety), it is important to examine the underlying causes of the anxiety and learn coping mechanisms to better manage the anxiety we inevitably will feel from time to time.
Depending on the source and severity of the anxiety, there are a number of tools and strategies I use to help you find relief.