From the Desk of Janet Barclay

I don’t often have guest posts on this blog; after all it is called “From the Desk of Janet Barclay,” but every once in a while someone contacts me about a topic that I consider too important not to share with my readers. If you ever feel stressed or anxious (isn’t that all of us), this post by Calm Clinic publisher and founder Ryan Rivera is for you.

Anxiety is considered a negative term, but it has a genuine evolutionary benefit. Anxiety is the activation of the “fight or flight” system – a system that is designed to notify your mind and body when you’re in danger, and help give you an instinct to respond accordingly.

Without it, you wouldn’t be scared of going down dark alleys at night, nor would you be afraid when a poisonous spider is sitting on your face and looking at you menacingly.

When the Anxiety is a Real Problem

Over thousands of years, however, the way we live our lives has less of a need for the fight or flight system. It’s valuable, certainly, and it’s something that can help you in situations where you’re really in danger, but it’s not that common to be hunted by predators or face to face with a wild boar.

At the same time, we live our lives in a way that cause us to deal with mental stress on a regular basis. Whether it’s going to work at a job you hate or being told that your neighbor is probably dangerous, there’s a good chance that you deal with issues regularly that keep you mentally stressed.

The combination of these two factors can be a real problem, and one that can affect your mental health so strongly that it becomes a part of your character. You become so stressed that you experience anxiety in situations that don’t call for anxiety. This is known as an anxiety disorder.

Characterizing Anxiety as a Problem

The key issue, of course, is how to know when you’re suffering from serious anxiety or when you’re simply living with daily stress. It’s important to remember, however, that if you believe your stress is affecting your health or happiness, there’s no harm in seeking out some type of counseling or treatment. Any time your stress affects your happiness it can be a problem.

However, anxiety is diagnosable if it falls under the following criteria (from the DSM-IV-TR):

Excessive anxiety about a number of events or activities, occurring more days than not, for at least 6 months.

The person finds it difficult to control the worry.

The anxiety and worry are associated with at least three of the following six symptoms (with at least some symptoms present for more days than not, for the past 6 months):

• Restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge
• Being easily fatigued
• Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
• Irritability
• Muscle tension
• Sleep disturbance

The anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social or occupational functioning.

It should be noted, however, that there are other issues at play as well. It’s possible to experience mostly physical anxiety without the worrisome thoughts. There are also different types of anxiety disorders, including panic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder, that fall under different sets of criteria.

Despite the above diagnostic criteria, the final line is what’s most important. If you feel that your physical symptoms, your overall anxiety, or the amount of worrying you do on a regular basis affects your happiness or functioning, then your anxiety is a problem, and may be worth a visit to a trained psychologist. Even if you don’t have a diagnosable form of anxiety, that does not mean that relieving that anxiety isn’t important.

You Don’t Have to Do it Alone

If it were easy to simply turn off their anxiety and worries, then people would do it. The reality is that anxiety is based on dozens of factors and life experiences.

• Your upbringing.
• Your genetics.
• Your social experiences.
• Your diet/exercise level.
• Your daily stress.

Anxiety is not the type of condition that can simply be turned off with each negative thought or feeling. It needs special attention to help respond to all of the different reasons that you experience anxiety. Luckily, anxiety treatments are genuinely possible and backed by evidence. The key is to simply be willing to get the help you need.

About the Author: Ryan Rivera is the author of www.calmclinic.com – a website dedicated to those dealing with anxiety, both for life stress and as the result of a disorder.

Photo: © Ricardo Verde Costa / Photoxpress