How to Deal with Anxiety and Worry?

Anxiety is a natural human reaction when things get out of control. It is launched by our thoughts and reinforced by them. In situations of uncertainty, anxiety tends to increase. In the conditions of a large information flow, we often feel inner anxiety more often than usual. Of course, this prevents us from fully living and receiving bright positive emotions.

About Anxiety

We inherited this reaction from distant ancestors who were forced to survive in extreme conditions. Anxiety is associated with a wide range of psychological problems, including:

● Phobias (fear of specific events or objects, e.g. heights, dogs, injections)

● Panic attacks (attacks of severe anxiety, not limited to a specific situation, accompanied by fear of death, loss of control over oneself, or loss of one’s mind)

● Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (compulsively repetitive thoughts or compulsive actions)

● Post-traumatic stress disorder (recurring memories of traumatic events with a pronounced negative experience)

● Generalized anxiety disorder (widespread and persistent anxiety)

Anxiety is accompanied by unpleasant physical sensations, which include:

● Cardiopalmus

● Trembling in the body

● Labored breathing

● dizziness

● Nausea

● muscle tension

● Increased sweating or redness

Thus, the body is mobilized to cope with a possible threat. Lack of professional help in such a situation can aggravate the condition and lead to various mental disorders and disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks.

Often a person in an anxious state begins to emotionally escalate a possible negative development of events in the future. For example, a person who is afraid of speaking in public may think: “What will happen if I forget a speech?”, “What will happen if the audience is not interested or they think that I do not understand what I am saying?”, “ What if I don’t answer the question or my joke turns out to be unfunny? In this case, a person has an image of how he stands in a stupor of fear of the public. All these thoughts concern the future and predict a negative outcome.

How to Cope with Panic, Increased Anxiety and Fears on Your Own?

Working with anxiety involves, first of all, an individual approach in each specific case. It includes:

● Monitoring your thoughts

● Analysis of triggers that trigger and increase anxiety

● Using relaxation techniques

● A conscious shift in the focus of attention from the internal state to external processes

● Keeping a diary

● Bying vitamins for anxiety

● Breathing techniques

● Mandatory compliance with the rules of information (digital) detox

First you need to understand that our thoughts (assessment of the situation) determine our emotional state. We continuously conduct an internal dialogue with ourselves about the world around us, give various assessments of ongoing events, characterize ourselves and people. This internal dialogue is constantly present in the background in our head and in times of stress increases anxiety and anxiety.

To interrupt it, you must first realize it (register it), and then switch your attention from thinking to perception. For example, in anticipation of an important interview, a candidate may experience severe anxiety, which is accompanied by continuous thoughts: “What if I get confused and keep silent when I am asked a difficult question?”, “And if I fail the test task?”, “What will happen if the new employer doesn’t like me?”

By registering this mental stream, you can sequentially switch your attention from internal bodily sensations to the external environment. For example, look around, observe the behavior of people around you, note how they are dressed, look for unusual objects in the environment, listen to external sounds (there are rarely situations when they are completely absent), rub your palms to feel a tactile sensation.

How Else to Deal with Stress and Anxiety?

In order to stabilize the psycho-emotional state, it is important to adhere to the rules of digital detox, that is, to protect yourself as much as possible from negative informational influence. First of all, at least two hours before bedtime and immediately after waking up in the morning, you need to put aside all gadgets, limit watching TV programs during the day, primarily news content, minimize your presence on social networks, critically evaluate incoming news, trusting only trusted sources. You can switch your attention and distract yourself from negative thoughts with the help of physical activity, walking in the fresh air, playing sports, and any other non-digital types of leisure.

They will help improve the condition and breathing techniques. During anxiety and anxiety, upper (chest) breathing predominates. To calm down and quickly stabilize your condition, you can use lower (diaphragmatic) breathing. It is easy to carry out. Standing or sitting put your hand on your stomach and breathe calmly, do 4 stages of a single breathing cycle. For the convenience of performing the exercise, each stage can be accompanied by an account.

On the count from 1 to 5, we take a slow breath through the nose, while the stomach protrudes forward, all muscles are relaxed, the chest is motionless. Then the breath is held for 2-3 counts. After that, also at the expense of 1 to 5, we make a slow exhalation through the mouth, the lips are folded into a tube. The abdomen is pulled back towards the spine. Before the next breath, pause for 2-3 counts. We freely release the flow of thoughts, ideas, memories, emotions, without fixing our attention on it. 3-5 minutes of conscious breathing is enough for the state to change.

If you continue to have a high level of anxiety, anxiety and cannot improve your emotional state, it is better to seek advice from a medical psychologist – a specialized specialist who will provide professional psychological assistance and support. He knows exactly how to deal with even severe anxiety.