Handling Anxiety Attacks

Anxiety attacks can be seen as an abnormal and irrational panic over trivial things or accidents or for no reason at all. Attacks usually occur without warning and a person can simply burst into fear. Triggers can cause anxiety attack like getting stuck in the elevator or being called to recite in the class but in other cases, attacks come out of the blue. An anxiety attack is disproportionate reaction to the situation or the problem at hand, leaving the person excessively fearful, or sometimes incapacitated, which affects life, relationships, happiness and peace of mind.

Symptoms of Anxiety Attack

A person undergoing an episode of anxiety attack shows the following symptoms:

Heart palpitation (increase in heartbeat)
Hot flashes or chills
Hyperventilation
Surge of overwhelming panic
Feeling detached or unreal
Trembling or shaking
Trouble breathing
Feeling of losing control, going crazy; or fear of dying
Choking sensation
Nausea or stomach crams
Sweating
Dizziness
Chest discomfort or pain

Handling anxiety attacks

Anxiety attacks usually peak within 10 minutes and rarely last for half an hour. But during this time, a person can totally lose control of himself and show symptoms mentioned above. To handle this attack, a person must:

Relax Although it is often impossible to relax during an attack, it is very crucial not to submit yourself to your emotion. Breathe. Deep breathing helps calms and relaxes your mind and body. During an anxiety attack, focus your breathing to slow down your heartbeat. This also diverts your attention from the attack which helps you recover faster. Take some time and practice deep breathing exercises even if you are not stressed or feel anxious.

Think positively Again, during an anxiety attack, it is often impossible to relax or even calm yourself, but you have to be in control. Push more positive thoughts to your head. Instead of thinking that others will humiliate you or you are going to faint because you cannot take the pressure, think of the good things. Do no anticipate that something bad will happen because in reality, there isn’t. Keep in mind that the more you think negatively, the more anxious and panicky it is going to be.

Think that it will be over soon and it will. Anxiety attacks do not last for more than an hour so there is no reason for you to think and feel that your world is over. You don’t have to be mindful of the time. You don’t even have to count every minute that passed. What you should be doing is be conscious that it will not going to last forever.

Start an exercise program We have heard that exercise has lots of benefits both to the body and the mind. It is also a great stress buster and anxiety reliever. Experts agree that as little as 30 minutes of exercise, 3 to 5 times a week is enough to lower the level of stress and reduce the chances of having episodes of anxiety attacks.

Talk to someone you trust It can be your friend, your wife (husband), a relative or a therapist. Often, having someone who listens and understands what a person is going through will make a lot of difference. This is because it allows you to bring out your emotion rather than keeping it to yourself.

Child Anxiety Attacks

Just like adults, children experience fear, anxiety and apprehension. These are but normal emotional experiences that a person feels regardless of age. However, if anxiety becomes irrational, recurring and severe, and anxiety attacks happen without any apparent reason, and the reaction is disproportionate to the problem at hand, it can be a cause of concern. This is why on the first signs of problem, have your child get proper diagnosis by a health professional to be able to rule out any possible causes and determine the right treatment to be applied.

Since anxiety attack is a type of anxiety disorder, it is important to know what happens to a child who is suffering from such disorder. To be able to identify it, here are the following symptoms:

Frequent feeling of fear and panic
Bed wetting
Tantrums and excessive crying
Fear of making mistakes
Fear of getting embarrassed
Avoidance of certain activities such as school event and summer camps
Nightmares and night terrors
Compulsive behaviors
Resistance to any change
Low self-esteem, lack of confidence
Overly shy and difficulty making friends
Chronic physical symptoms such as stomach aches or headaches without any apparent reason

A child is under an anxiety attack if he shows the following symptoms:

Gush of overwhelming panic
Hot flashes or chills
Trouble breathing or choking sensation
Feeling of loosing control or going crazy
Feeling and fear of dying
Feeling unreal or detach
Nausea or stomach cramps
Hyperventilation
Shaking or trembling
Feeling like passing out
Chest pain or heart palpitation

Different children of different ages or even of the same age may manifest different symptoms. Moreover, some of the symptoms given may be considered as a normal behavior of a child. Thus it is a bit tricky to determine if he or she is really having an attack or not. What should be done is to recognize these symptoms and consider them as a reason of concern, then help your child deal with these symptoms through the following:

Seek help from health professional Effectively stopping anxiety attacks begins with recognition and followed by a compete diagnosis from your medical doctor. A full medical examination should be administered in order to rule out any other physical causes unrelated to anxiety.

Doctors usually give prescription medications to help relieve anxiety. If applicable, SSRI antidepressants may be needed for a long term solution. For a more severe case, doctors may refer the child to a psychologist.

Self-help techniques Parents may seek the help of books available for treating child anxiety. This is also very effective in teaching parents strategies for responsible parenting, which improve parent-child relationship and help build child self-confidence and self-esteem.

Play therapy is the child version of exposure therapy. As an effective child anxiety treatment, play therapy uses the power of play to simulate each fearful situation in a controlled environment, which then helps the child face the problem and come up with a solution.

Herbal medicines is proven and effective means of treating anxiety attacks and other types of anxiety disorder. Some of the commonly recommended remedies include passionflower, valerian, scuttelaria laterifolia (scullcap), California poppy, Melissa officinalis, hypericum perforatum (St. John’s Wort), hops and lavender.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

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Generalized Anxiety Disorder ( GAD ) is characterized by long – spell anxiety, excessive worry, and tension, even though there appears to be no reason to feel this way. This disorder affects about 6. 8 million American adults ( and twice as copious women as men ). The disorder usually develops gradually. It can start at any age but the highest – risk years are between childhood and middle age, a tolerably large time span. Evidence shows that genes flexibility a modest role in GAD.
Those who suffer from GAD will go through the day feeling worried and apprehensive. They often anticipate disaster in even minor situations and are usually overly concerned about various issues such thanks to health, money, household problems, or difficulties at work. It may even be hard taking begun in the morning because of the thought of what lies ahead of them for the day.

If you pride you have been over – worrying about many every – day problems for at least 6 months, you may be diagnosed with GAD. Although you may realize that your concerns are exaggerated, the problem still persists. Not through able to relax, startling easily, having difficulty concentrating are complete symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. Other problems include having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Physical symptoms that often accompany the anxiety include fatigue, headaches, muscle tension, muscle aches, difficulty swallowing, trembling, twitching, irritability, clement, nausea, lightheadedness, having to go to the bathroom frequently, feeling outermost of breath, and hot flashes.

The level of severity of your GAD can vary greatly. If you are diagnozed with a mild occasion, you can function socially for the most part and hold down a job with little difficulty. If your GAD is severe, you can find it difficult even to complete what may seem same the simplest activities.

GAD is usually treated secrete medications and / or psychotherapy. You may benefit most from a combination of the two. It may take some trial and error to discover exactly what treatments work best for you.

Medications include antidepressants like fluoxetine ( Prozac ), paroxetine ( Paxil ), escitalopram ( Lexapro ), sertaline ( Zoloft ), venlafaxine ( Effexor ) and imipramine ( Tofranil ); Buspirone ( BuSpar ); and Benzodiazepines like clonazepam ( Klonopin ), lorazepam ( Ativan ), diazepam ( Valium ), chlordiazepoxide ( Librium ) and alprazolam ( Xanax ). Benzodiazepines are for the most part only used for relieving acute anxiety on a short – term basis ( for example, when you are having an attack ). However, they have a tendency to be addictive and some pretty serious side effects like drowsiness, reduced muscle coordination and impaired report and recognition.

Psychotherapy, often referred to as talk therapy and psychological counseling, deals with trying to work out the underlying life stresses and concerns that may cause your GAD. Once these keep been identified, it is possible to and make behavior changes that can reduce your anxiety. One of the most recognized types of psychotherapy is cognitive behavioral therapy ( CBT ). Basically, short – term cognitive behavioral therapy aims to teach you specific skills that you can then use to identify negative thoughts and behaviors and substitute them with positive ones.

The above information about generalized anxiety disorder does not substitute for medical advice given by a health professional.

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Finding Relief from the Anxiety Attack

The following article covers a topic that has recently moved to center stage–at least it seems that way. If you’ve been thinking you need to know more about it, here’s your opportunity.

An anxiety attack, also referred to thanks to a panic attack, is an episode of intense panic and / or fear. Unfortunately, it often occurs suddenly with little or no warning. In some cases, theres an obvious trigger for the attack – – getting stuck in an elevator, for example, or thinking about your big race – – but in other cases, the attacks seem to come outer of the blue.

An anxiety attack usually hits its worst point within ten minutes, and it rarely lasts more than a half hour. To someone who has never suffered through one, this may not seem very long. But it’s an week to the person that’s experiencing it. The terror can be so severe that you feel like they’re about to die or completely lose control. The irrefutable symptoms of a panic attack are themselves so intense that they are regularly confused with having a heart attack. Common symptoms include: a rush of overwhelming panic, feeling of losing control or going crazy, heart palpitations, chest pain, dizziness, difficulty aware, choking feeling, hyperventillation, hot flashes, chills, trembling, nausea, stomach covet, and feeling like you’re not really real but looking in on yourself.

If you suffer repeated, unexpected anxiety attacks, and you are also disturbed of having an attack again in public, you may suffer from panic disorder. Panic disorder may also be accompanied by agoraphobia, the funk of considering somewhere that you can’t get help or a place that would be difficult to leave if you did have an attack.

The exact causes of panic attacks are not yet certain. However, we do know that the tendency to have panic attacks runs in families and there seems to be a correlation with major transitions equaling as graduating from college, starting the primary job, getting married, and having a baby. Severe emotional stress, like losing a loved one or job can also go ahead a panic attack.

Panic attacks could also be caused by medical conditions jibing as mitral valve prolapse ( which happens when one of the heart’s valves doesn’t stuffy properly ), hyperthyroidism or hypoglycemia, or by stimulant use or withdrawel from medication.

Luckily, anxiety attacks are treatable suppress cognitive behavioral therapy and / or medication.

Rational behavioral therapy focuses on the thinking patterns and behaviors that are sustaining or setting off your panic attacks. It helps you look at your fears in a more realistic light and caress that you are gaining control of the situation.

Exposure therapy exposes you to the absolute panic feelings while you are monitored in a safe and controlled environment. The point of this type of therapy is to give you the chance to learn ways of coping with your anxiety. You will be asked to do things that bring on your attacks, identical as holding your breath or hyperventilating. As you enlarge these actions, your fear lessons and you feel a greater sense of control over your fear.

This information does not substitute medical advice given by a health professional.

Now you can be a confident expert on beauty. OK, maybe not an expert. But you should have something to bring to the table next time you join a discussion on beauty.