Tag Archives: panic

Sing Your Way to Calm

Anyone who has suffered from debilitating anxiety will know that correct breathing is one of the principal weapons against anxiety and panic attacks. There are countless references to the importance of breathing correctly in many schools of relaxation therapy, including yoga. While all of these methods are excellent and should be pursued, it can take a considerable length of time to make correct breathing your everyday style. Patterns of quick, shallow breathing which promote anxiety due to the changing oxygen/carbon dioxide ratio in the blood, are often firmly entrenched. It can take a lot of conscious effort to make correct, … Continue reading →

Anxiety: The new plague of the millennium

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Stress and anxiety have overtaken the contagious diseases that once plagued our grandparents and are regarded as the new epidemics of the 21st century. Having developed vaccinations for any number of communicable and deadly diseases, we are now left with the unease of the mind. Our fast-paced lives and changing family structures can contribute to a sense of helplessness and instability. Stressed-out people are now far more common than laid-back folk, and this is reflected in the increasing incidence of domestic violence, road rage, stress-related illness, and full-blown mental breakdowns, together with the rapidly escalating use of tranquillizers and antidepressants. … Continue reading →

Coping with Anxiety (2)

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Anxiety got you by the throat? Or perhaps it has your stomach in knots and your heart in a vice. Help is at hand. Following on from Coping with Anxiety (1) here are some more tips for dealing with those anxious feelings that just won’t go away. • Give yourself permission to feel anxious about the issue that is concerning you. We often give ourselves a hard time over the way we are feeling, and in doing so, we make our anxiety worse by minimizing or even dismissing the reason that we are feeling anxious. We believe other people would … Continue reading →

Coping with Anxiety (1)

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Is anxiety getting the better of you? Is it controlling the way you live your life? Has your quality of life diminished because of chronic low-grade anxiety or are you experiencing acute anxiety attacks in addition to a daily dose of anxiety? Anxiety is an extremely unpleasant sensation which most people are familiar with. Sometimes anxiety serves us in a positive way to motivate us to do things, such as get studying for that exam next week, or make an appointment with the doctor to talk about a health problem that is bothering you. But sometimes anxiety can take on … Continue reading →

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Treatment Options

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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an emotional disorder which occurs after the experience of a physical trauma: commonly war, physical assault (particularly rape), car accidents, natural catastrophes, and even the unexpected death of a loved one. For the disorder to manifest the victim of the event must feel intense fear and helplessness, coupled with an expectancy of dying or being seriously injured themselves. Sufferers of this debilitating condition will do anything to avoid places, people, or circumstances that remind them of the original traumatic event. Loss of memory surrounding many of the details of the actual event may also occur, … Continue reading →

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Diagnostic Criteria

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As we saw in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: What causes it?, this condition is a relative newcomer to the list of registered psychological disorders, yet it has existed under a variety of names, including “shell-shock”, since time began. It was first termed “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” in 1980. But as far back as the 1600s, the great English diarist, Samuel Pepys, described the Great Fire of London and documented symptoms in the population of what we would now term PTSD. Apart from natural disasters and wartime experiences, women who experience rape, sexual assault, aggravated assault, and robbery are particularly prone to the … Continue reading →

Panic Disorder: Case Studies (2)

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Panic attacks can affect anyone given the right circumstances. They are frightening events, ones that routine life cannot prepare us for. Small wonder that a panic attack is never forgotten, and it is the very intensity of these attacks that make us all so vulnerable to succumbing to a life filled with anxiety and punctuated by panic. When Mandy gave birth to her second child, the birth was unexpectedly complicated and what started as a natural birth ended up as a C-section and a baby in intensive care. However, the hospital staff were excellent and Mandy’s little daughter came home … Continue reading →

What is Panic Disorder? (1)

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Do you know someone who seldom seems to leave the house, or if they do they leave in the company of another person? Are they reluctant to accept invitations to weddings, attend social events, or even have a cup of coffee at your place, but are more than happy to hold functions at their own residence? Then that person may be suffering from Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia. Panic attacks are frightening events and often occur after an isolated trauma or, alternatively, after a long period of sustained stress. The attacks are terrifying and appear to come out of the blue … Continue reading →

What is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

Kathleen cannot leave the house without repeatedly checking that she has locked the front door properly. She rattles the door over and over again to assure herself that the door is locked. She will start to leave the premises only to return up the front steps again to reassure herself that the door is, in fact, locked. She may repeat this more than once. Helen cannot bear to use a towel once it has already been used, even if it has only been used just once to wipe her own hands. It has to be replaced immediately. She also cannot … Continue reading →