Anxiety Disorders
Everyday life can be stressful and a certain level of anxiety is normal

Everyday life can be stressful, and it is normal to experience a certain level of anxiety when faced with difficulties and changes such as a new job, moving house, taking an exam or even entering into a new relationship.

Anxiety is an automatic response which allows us to stay alert and focused and keeps us out of risky or dangerous situations, especially when they are outside our comfort zones.

• What do you worry about the most? It may be your relationship, money, safety, your children, a retirement plan, work, illness.
• Do you often feel anxious about what other people may think of you? You know it’s irrational but you can’t help it.
• Do you wake up around 3am unable to go back to sleep? Your mind is racing with various thoughts and worries and you feel exhausted in the morning.
• Do you have ‘too much on your plate’ at work and find yourself unable to switch off in the evening? You are spending long hours in the office, you don’t have time to relax or go to the gym.

Anxiety can have detrimental effects on your health and negative impacts on your life.

However, a high level of anxiety and stress can have seriously detrimental effects on our health as well as negative impact on daily life, as feelings of anxiety, worry and stress often interfere with job performance, school work and more often than not relationships.

Anxiety is not only responsible for change of mood or heart disease, high blood pressure and depression; it has also been identified as a major contributing factor in a number of illnesses including: diabetes, rheumatism, arthritis, allergies, skin diseases, asthma, multiple sclerosis, ulcers, stomach and digestive tract and bowel complaints to name just a few.

According to www.patient.co.uk approximately 1 in 20 people have an anxiety disorder.

People with GAD know that on some level their worry is not warranted, but they don’t seem to be able to stop themselves from continuously worrying over different situations.

GAD often starts in early adolescence and develops slowly. GAD affects around 6.8 million Americans, with twice as many women as men.

• Are you continually anxious about many aspects of your life, such as money or family problems?
• Are you unable to relax or go to sleep at night and you find it difficult to focus during the day?
• Do you always think things will go badly?

• Do you continually think over a problem beyond helpful problem solving?

• Do you feel anxious over exams?
• Do you feel anxious when driving on busy roads?
• Do you feel anxious before a big meeting?

Research by the National Institute of Mental Health shows that women and men are equally likely to develop Social Phobia, which usually begins in childhood or adolescence.

• Do you experience excessive fear of particular situations?
• Do you worry for days or weeks before a particular event?
• Do you worry about what people will think of you?
• Do you have a hard time making friends and tend to keep to yourself?
• Do you blush, sweat or tremble around other people?

• Do you feel anxious about suffering from illnesses? This is often the cause for a high level of anxiety, which stops people from visiting a medical clinic.

Panic attacks often begin in late adolescence or early childhood and often the person will only experience one or two attacks. Over 6 million American adults are affected by panic disorder with twice as many women as men.

• Do you have sudden repeated attacks of fear?
• Do you intensely worry about when the next attack will happen?
• Do you avoid doing things or going places because you previously experienced a panic attack in that same situation?

Racing heart, dry mouth, rapid breathing, sweating, shaking and disturbed sleep.

Tense muscles, increased fidgeting (fight or flight responses), headaches, stomach ache, general aches.

Vivid visual imaginings of worse case scenarios, disturbing dreams.

• ‘I am going to go mad’
• ‘I’m never going to make it’
• ‘How can I get over this?’
• ‘I may die’
• ‘People can see I’m stressed’
• ‘Everybody is looking at me’
• ‘I want to run away and hide’
• ‘This is too much for me’

During our Initial Session, we will discuss your situation, your symptoms and what you want to achieve. Together we will work towards realistic and achievable goals.

You can contact me, give me call me on +971 55 732 99 66 or send me an email to evelyne@evelynelthomas.com and we can discuss your situation.