| Most people just get on with life and expect anxious | | | | anxiety disorders which include Obsessive-Compulsive |
| feelings to fade and not give them a second thought, | | | | Disorder (OCD), General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and |
| but if you suffer from anxiety disorder, you can do | | | | Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. |
| nothing other than dwell on the thoughts of | | | | Those feelings of anxiety and panic can arise at any |
| anxiousness which in itself makes you more anxious. | | | | time usually for no apparent reason and make the |
| A vicious feedback loop soon establishes itself and | | | | conditions all the more difficult to deal with. The |
| you are trapped in the middle of it unable to see how | | | | unpredictable attacks often leave you worrying about |
| to escape its trap. | | | | when the next one will be and then we set off into |
| The natural feeling of anxiety and panic is something | | | | another-self fulfilling cycle of anxiety which can only |
| many people experience over the course of their | | | | exacerbate the condition. |
| lifetime. A state of nervous excitement before that | | | | An anxiety attack will normally peak within 10 minutes |
| first date, the fear before your driving test, the | | | | with most lasting between 5 and 30 minutes. How |
| imminent arrival of your first baby... Most people take | | | | ever long or how severe the attacks are, they can |
| this anxiety and stress in their stride. It subsides and | | | | seriously curb your day-to-day activities if left |
| the anxious feelings dissipate as we return to our usual | | | | untreated and there is a distinct possibility that you end |
| state of wariness, no problems there then. | | | | up trapped in your own house unable to leave in case |
| But for some people that heightened sense of anxiety | | | | of another attack. This is Agoraphobia (and takes a lot |
| is with them every hour of every day of the year, | | | | longer to recover from). |
| every year. They are in a permanent state of | | | | The fear of the next attack is not what stops you in |
| anxiousness and cannot relax and put things out of | | | | your tracks, it's the fear of having nowhere safe to run |
| their heads. They worry. They worry about anything | | | | to if another attack strikes. So you stop travelling on |
| and everything. They are often scared about being | | | | the train, in the bus, in the car. You stop taking holidays |
| worried and worried about being scared. | | | | abroad because how could you possibly consider |
| If this remains untreated which traditionally is by | | | | flying in your condition? |
| prescribed medication, with or without therapy, it can | | | | Maybe its just safer for everyone if you just stay at |
| develop and be exhibited as panic attacks, where | | | | home and anyway, you don't want people to know |
| ultimately the sufferer is anxious about when the next | | | | about your attacks/ you don't want to be a burden/ |
| attack will happen which increases the state of | | | | one thousand and one other excuses to stay in the |
| anxiousness which in turn increases the likelihood of | | | | safe confines of your home. STOP RIGHT THERE! |
| another attack. | | | | That is giving up on your life! Remember? You used to |
| From one vicious cycle into another. The knock-on | | | | go shopping with friends, you used to go to the cinema, |
| effects of this cycle of anxiousness can lead to Panic | | | | you went out for the occasional drink with work |
| Disorder. Panic Attacks often exhibit themselves as | | | | colleagues, you went to work, you went on trips and |
| part of a syndrome of responses recognised as | | | | on holiday. And now? |