| Few conditions can be more disruptive of a happy life | | | | with anxiety is to accept it. Here are some helpful |
| than generalized anxiety disorder, also known as GAD. | | | | steps. |
| Generalized anxiety disorder symptoms are worry | | | | Accept anxiety. Don't be mad that you never get glad. |
| taken to a new level: | | | | Don't let anxiety become an excuse for how you act |
| In ordinary anxiety, worry does not get in the way | | | | or feel or think, but realize it is, at least temporarily, part |
| of carrying out your daily responsibilities. GAD can | | | | of your life. |
| completely disrupt your job, your family, and your social | | | | Witness your anxiety. Watch your anxiety levels go up |
| life. | | | | and down, and notice what makes you feel |
| In ordinary anxiety, you can control worrying. In | | | | better-then try to duplicate that situation. |
| GAD, you worry all the time. | | | | Act despite anxiety. Don't let anxiety keep you from |
| In ordinary anxiety, worries may be unpleasant, but | | | | living. Find all the strength you can to go ahead and |
| they don't cause significant distress. | | | | engage life despite feeling anxious. |
| In GAD, worries are extremely stressful. | | | | Rehearse success. Have a picture in your mind of the |
| In ordinary anxiety, worries are limited to a small, | | | | best outcome in any situation, and go for it, despite |
| specific number of real concerns. GAD can cause you | | | | how your feel. |
| to worry about all sorts of things and always expect | | | | Expect the best. Plan your participation in life as if |
| the worst. | | | | anxiety were not an issue, and then do everything you |
| In ordinary anxiety, bouts of worry last for short | | | | can to take control and achieve your goals. |
| periods. If you have GAD, you have been worrying | | | | 2. Practice self-help for panic attacks. |
| almost every day for at least six months. | | | | Even if you have a terrific attitude, your autonomic |
| GAD can cause muscle aches, tension, and soreness. | | | | nervous system, the part of the central nervous |
| It can cause nausea, diarrhea, and flatulence. There | | | | system that controls breathing, pulse, and digestion, |
| can be trouble falling asleep or trouble staying asleep, | | | | among many other functions, can still get out of whack |
| with constant fatigue. The psychological symptoms of | | | | and cause a panic attack. This isn't so much a |
| GAD include feelings of dread, an inability to stop | | | | psychological event as it is a physiological event. |
| worrying or control anxious thoughts, fear of losing | | | | Taking deep breaths you exhale fully, or splashing your |
| control, fear of being rejected, difficulty staying | | | | face with water, can reset your autonomic nervous |
| focused, and a total inability to relax. Generalized | | | | system to end the attack. |
| anxiety disorder can cause symptoms that are so | | | | 3. Follow an anti-anxiety diet. |
| debilitating that they require emergency medical | | | | When you diet to reduce anxiety, you don't have to |
| treatment, usually with tranquilizers. | | | | count calories. You only need to avoid sugar-laden |
| If you are not experiencing totally debilitating anxiety, | | | | foods and caffeine. Sugar and caffeine keep the parts |
| however, three simple steps can help. | | | | of your brain that generate free-floating anxiety on |
| 1. Stay A-W-A-R-E. | | | | constant alert, and eliminating these substances quickly |
| What you resist, persists. The most useful way to deal | | | | goes a long way toward making you anxiety-free. |