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Anxiety

it's 05 Sep, 2023 5:28 am

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Anxiety

Background

This information is about the specific health area mentioned above. It comprises a combination of textual and video information, on our site and on external sites.  We will be adding new specific health areas and further information continually.

The idea is for you to understand more about the health area you are addressing before you get too far building your action plan.

General Information

Anxiety is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe. Everyone has feelings of anxiety at some point in their life. For example, you may feel worried and anxious about sitting an exam, or having a medical test or job interview.  However, sometimes this anxiety is not a result of a specific situation, but is an overall feeling.  This is known as an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders involve more than temporary worry or fear. For people with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away as situations change and it can get worse over time. The symptoms can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, school work, and relationships.  The NHS say there are several types of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and various phobia-related disorders.

  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder – excessive anxiety or worry displayed most days for at least six months, about things such as health,work, social interactions or just routine life. Symptoms include restlessness, edginess, easily tired, difficulty concentrating, irritability,tension, sleep problems.
  • Panic Disorder – unexpected panic attacks where people can experience heart palpitations, sweating,trembling, shortness of breath, feelings of impending doom or being out of control.
  • Phobia Related Disorders – extreme fear of or aversion to a specific object or situation out of proportion to the actual danger or risk from it. People experience irrational fear of it, take active steps to avoid it, experience extreme anxiety if it occurs.  Types include: Specific or simple phobias (of something like flying, heights, animals (spiders!), injections, blood), Social Phobia (or social anxiety disorder) where people have a fear of social interactions, Agoraphobia where people have an intense fear of transportation, open spaces, enclosed spaces, crowds or being outside alone, Separation Anxiety Disorder where people have fears about being parted from people who they are attached to.
  • Obsessive-compulsive Disorder – where people perform specific repeated behaviours or tasks as a result of recurring irrational thoughts.
  • Illness Anxiety Disorder – also known as hypochondria – anxiety about your health.
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – is anxiety following a traumatic event.

There are charities such as AnxietyUK which provide support for people suffering from anxiety.

Background Information

There is information available which will help you formulate your action plan – both on our site and on external sites.

On our site

PersonalityDrive

PersonalityDrive has a lot of information on different aspects of personality, including personality disorders and also some tips and information.

We have relevant information on PersonalityDrive
MindDrive

MindDrive has a lot of information on different sorts of mental issues, and also provides you with some options for sorting these issues out yourself or getting help.

We have relevant information on MindDrive

On external site(s)

Healthline have some information on anxiety – this includes the symptoms, some causes, treatments and the links between anxiety and stress, depression and alcohol.

WebMD have a full health centre dealing with anxiety and panic, with articles, videos and links to other sites.

Video

Sometimes the owner of a video will not allow the video to be played on external sites.  If you see the video is unavailable on the left just click the ‘WATCH NOW’ link on the right and the video will play in a new window.

Mind trick to deal with panic attacks

If you suffer from panic attacks, then there is a way of dealing with these.  This video shows how you can overcome these.  It explains the reasoning behind the panic attacks and why this mental trick actually works.

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Questionnaire

In order for you to assess what you know about this health area, we suggest using a questionnaire. This might help you understand your situation in this area, or taking it might improve your understanding of the area.

You may be able to take this questionnaire online – either here on our site or on an external site – or download it and complete it on paper – it depends on copyright (and whether we’ve managed to build it on our site!).

The ways you can take a questionnaire:

PDF for download, Questionnaire on our site

Take Questionnaire on our site

You can take a questionnaire on our site. This will score the questions automatically and give you a summary showing what your score means.

Our Questionnaire

The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a classic stress assessment instrument. The tool, while originally developed in 1983, remains a popular choice for helping us understand how different situations affect our feelings and our perceived stress. The questions in this scale ask about your feelings and thoughts during the last month. In each case, you will be asked to indicate how often you felt or thought a certain way. Although some of the questions are similar, there are differences between them and you should treat each one as a separate question. The best approach is to answer fairly quickly. That is, don’t try to count up the number of times you felt a particular way; rather indicate the alternative that seems like a reasonable estimate.

This questionnaire originates from Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JB, et al; A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder and was created by Pfizer Inc.

Welcome to your Anxiety questionnaire. This questionnaire originates from Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JB, et al; A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder and was created by Pfizer Inc.

The tool, while originally developed in 1983, remains a popular choice for helping us understand how different situations affect our feelings and our perceived stress. The questions in this scale ask about your feelings and thoughts during the last month. In each case, you will be asked to indicate how often you felt or thought a certain way. Although some of the questions are similar, there are differences between them and you should treat each one as a separate question. The best approach is to answer fairly quickly. That is, don’t try to count up the number of times you felt a particular way; rather indicate the alternative that seems like a reasonable estimate.

1. 
Feeling nervous, anxious or on edge?

2. 
Not being able to stop or control worrying?

3. 
Worrying too much about different things?

4. 
Trouble relaxing?

5. 
Being so restless that it is hard to sit still?

6. 
Becoming easily annoyed or irritable?

7. 
Feeling afraid as if something awful might happen?

This questionnaire is based on the GAD-7 questionnaire from Pfizer.  On our site it is purely for information purposes, to give you an indication of your current situation. The steps you take afterwards are purely your choice - we only provide indications. Below you will find some terms of use set out by Pfizer.

You agree that access to and use of the PHQ and GAD-7 screeners is at your own risk. Pfizer disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Neither Pfizer nor any party involved in creating, producing, or delivering the PHQ/GAD-7 shall be liable for any damages, including without limitation, direct, incidental, consequential, indirect, or punitive damages, arising out of access to, use of or inability to use the PHQ/GAD-7, or any errors or omissions in the content thereof. This limitation includes damages to, or for any viruses that infect, your computer equipment.

Since the questionnaires rely on self-report, in the event of referral to a clinician all responses should be verified by the clinician and a definitive diagnosis made on clinical grounds, taking into account how well the patient understood the questionnaire, as well as other relevant information from the patient.

Subject to the terms above, you agree to Pfizer's Terms of Use found at http://www.pfizer.com/general/terms.jsp.

Download questionnaire and take it yourself

You can download at least one questionnaire from our site.  You will have to score the questionnaire yourself.

Anxiety is an interesting word and often is misused. People say “I am suffering from anxiety” but often they don’t really understand whether they really are. Many people become anxious about life and life issues, but it does not necessarily mean it’s a problem. To judge if it is a problem please take this short test.

If the test says you have a moderate level of anxiety, please remember that anxiety is an effect not  a cause. In other words: if you go to a doctor with a rash they will give you something to make the rash go away. They won’t attempt to find out the cause of the rash. The same applies to anxiety: go to the doctor and they will give you medication to numb your senses and make you feel a little less anxious,  but they won’t necessarily work out the cause of the anxiety – i.e. they will treat the effect and not identify the cause.

Working out why you’re anxious is the key – analysing your moods and how they are triggered, how long it lasts and when do you return to normal.

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A Butterfly Life: 4 Keys to More Happiness, Better Health and Letting Your True Self Shine

Times of change can be a challenge, no doubt! Whether it’s a relationship breakup, job loss, or being diagnosed with a serious health issue. Or you may WANT things to be different, but it feels a little scary or overwhelming. The butterfly reminds us change can be beautiful, even necessary, in order to realize our full potential and live our best life.