Understanding Anxiety
Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental health disorder, and come in different varieties. While they have different causes and symptoms, one thing people with anxiety disorders share are feelings of deep fear, concern, stress or being overwhelmed that affect their mood, thinking and behavior. If you have an anxiety disorder, your thoughts and feelings may get in the way of taking the actions needed to be healthy and productive. Anxiety disorders can get worse over time if they are not treated. In this section we will talk about generalized anxiety and panic attacks/panic disorder.
Many things cause anxiety including too much caffeine or other stimulants such as preworkout supplements or decongestants, poor quality sleep preventing your brain chemicals from rebalancing, poor nutrition and, of course, stress.
Always feeling “stressed out” | Headaches | Insomnia |Dizziness |Fatigue | Irritability | Shaking/trembling | High blood pressure | Shortness of breath | Hot flashes | Muscle tension
Recommended Videos
Recommended Texts
- Learn where worry comes from.
- Examine whether persistent worry is helpful to you
- Identify ways to tolerate uncertainty
- Explore how to cope with worries about current problems
Click HERE to go to New Harbinger's website and learn more. Use Promocode 1168SNIPES at checkout to save 25% off your ENTIRE ORDER, every time!
Shyness is a common problem that comes with a high price. If you suffer from shyness or social anxiety you might avoid social situations and may have trouble connecting with others due to an extreme fear of humiliation, rejection, and judgment. You will confront performance fears, test anxiety, shy bladder, and interpersonal fears—fundamental symptoms of social anxiety. Learn psychological flexibility to improve your ability to accept the feelings, thoughts, and behavior that may arise as you learn to work past your anxiety.
Click HERE to go to New Harbinger's website and learn more. Use Promocode 1168SNIPES at checkout to save 25% off your ENTIRE ORDER, every time!
- Get the basics. Learn what you need to know to quickly get anxiety under control in the first section of each chapter.
- Gain a deeper understanding. Take it further and read the second section of each chapter for skills that will help you make lasting changes. Then, go online to practice your skills.
- This quick and easy-to-read to anxiety treatment offers cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness and acceptance strategies to help you get back to living your life-without anxiety taking over.
Matthew McKay is one of my favorite authors. I love the majority of his books. The ones I recommend are practical, to the point and easy to implement as a self-help resource.
To see more, click HERE to go to New Harbinger's website and learn more. Use Promocode 1168SNIPES at checkout to save 25% off your ENTIRE ORDER, every time!
Articles
10 Ways to Prevent (or Minimize) Anxiety
Get enough sleep. Getting enough sleep is essential to helping your body rebalance the brain chemicals and hormones needed to feel happy and relaxed. Know your triggers and address the threat. Figure out why your body thinks it’s a threat and address that. Manage your time. Poor time management can lead a long hours at work and poor sleep, or just an increase in stress and anxiety because you get too much to do.
Examine the evidence…
10 Ways to Deal with Social Anxiety
Minimize stimulants. Stimulants including caffeine, nicotine, decongestants, certain herbs and sugar can all give you a jittery feeling which you can mistake for anxiety.
Know your temperament. Extroverts love being around people and draw energy from them. Introverts get …Know your triggers. Social anxiety may be worse if you are dealing with an authority figure or someone you are trying to impress. You may also feel more anxious in certain situations. Create an anxiety list. Create an exposure hierarchy.
Don’t Shit on the Present | Addressing Worry and Regret
Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes PhD, LPC-MHSP, LMHC Executive Director: AllCEUs.com Podcast Host: Counselor Toolbox and Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery Become a member at DocSnipes.com to be able to chat with Doc Snipes via text or video chat. Introduction Worry is a...
50 Ways to De-Stress Your Life
1. Keep your house clutter free 2. Allow "wiggle-room" in your schedule 3. Get a pet 4. Maintain clear communication with house-members 5. Get up 15 minutes earlier for extra time 6. Lay out your clothes and book bag/brief case the night before 7. Set 2 alarms (one on...
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Anxiety
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD) is one of the most common diagnoses. The interesting thing is that it has many symptoms that are very similar to anxiety, depression and giftedness. It is important to be aware of the symptoms of you are experiencing,...
Where Do Emotions Come From? Understanding The Mind Body Connection
Your brain is the main control center of the body. You experience the world through your senses. When the sensory input reaches the brain it figures out what the information means, based on prior learning experiences, and what to do about it. For example, when you are driving and you see a yellow light, based on your prior experiences, your body sends the signals out to either slow down or speed up.
Anger…What It Is and How to Deal With It
The body takes in stimuli that is seen, felt, tasted, or heard (including what is told to us)
- The brain weaves together this information into memories/experiences and creates a library of “schema” or expectations for similar circumstances. You probably have schemas about doctor’s offices, your mother’s visit, dogs, traffic lights etc…
- When the brain receives stimuli, it processes the information, “decides” what to do and sends the message back out to the body.
- Anger and fear are the brain’s responses to threats.
- The brain needs to have accurate and complete information from the body to effectively direct the body’s reactions….therein is where problems are created.
- Sometimes our schemas are incomplete or inaccurate because the current experience is different than similar past experiences or you are different now than you were when you had that last experience.
Anger Facts
Click here for more step-by-step resources
- The average person experiences 15 anger situations per day
- Anger reveals information about your values and what you think is important.
- Exercise, venting and time-out are often good strategies to get rid of the adrenaline rush, but are not effective for coping with anger.
- Coping with anger requires you to recognize what caused the anger and modify that stressor or how you feel or thing about it.
- Good communication, fair fighting and self-awareness/mindfulness are all important components for anger management.
- People express anger in different ways. Some people hold it inside and develop physical problems, some people explode and some people are passive-aggressive.
For videos, worksheets and articles to help you manage your anger, click HERE
New Harbinger has many books available, Dr. Snipes only recommends those she has personally reviewed and would use with her own clients.
Articles
10 Ways to Deal with Anger
1. Thank it. Anger is your body’s way of saying that there MAY be a threat of some sort. Anger often protects you from fear (Fight or flee). 2. Make a choice about the best way to use your energy to get closer to your goals….
50 Ways to De-Stress Your Life
1. Keep your house clutter free 2. Allow "wiggle-room" in your schedule 3. Get a pet 4. Maintain clear communication with house-members 5. Get up 15 minutes earlier for extra time 6. Lay out your clothes and book bag/brief case the night before 7. Set 2 alarms (one on...
ANGER: Where Does It Come From
Anger is a defense mechanism that protects us from threat or fear of rejection, isolation, loss of control, failure, the unknown and/or death. Think back to the last 2 times you were angry. What fears was your anger related to? Create a table. In the first column,...
A Primer on Anger
Important Points About Anger Anger is a defense mechanism. It defends people against the six basic fears: fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of loss of self-control/respect, fear of isolation, fear of death, fear of the unknown. Anger protects people...
Common Characteristics Of People With Anger Control Problems
Many people know they have anger control problems and feel guilty, but they don't know how to fix it. Identify which of the following characteristics best describes you and start trying to make a change. High levels of tension. These people describe themselves as...