What is Anxiety?

The word anxiety covers a wide range of feelings, such as fear, worry, nervousness, and apprehension. Everyone will experience feelings of anxiety at some point in their lives, but anxiety can be problematic when:

• it holds us back from living the life we want to live
• it happens too often
• the symptoms last for a long time

Anxiety is your body’s response to a perceived threat or danger. If your brain senses danger, it responds by putting your body into fight or flight mode as a form of self-preservation.

Fight or flight mode isn’t necessarily triggered by physical danger; it can be triggered by something we perceive as a threat. 

A good example would be another person’s expectations of us or the expectations we place on ourselves. Counselling for anxiety and panic attacks is one of the best ways to reduce anxiety symptoms.

Here’s a few Scenarios that you Might be able to relate to:

• The pinging sound of your email inbox or the ringtone on your mobile phone makes you feel anxious and overwhelmed.

• You are filled with feelings of dread when you look at future dates in your diary and see upcoming wedding invitations, work nights out, birthday drinks, etc.

• You don’t have any upcoming events or problems to be anxious or worried about, which you can’t help feeling overwhelmed by a constant feeling, sense, or presence of dread and fear.

What are the Symptoms of Anxiety?

Anxiety is the body’s response to danger or a perceived threat. The symptoms of anxiety can be extremely powerful and difficult to manage without professional help.

If you think you may have anxiety, you might have experienced some, if not all, of the following symptoms:

• You feel dizzy or lightheaded
• your legs feel like jelly
• you find it difficult to concentrate on things
• your thoughts are racing through your mind
• you feel as if your heart is racing
• heavy sweating – sometimes so profuse that it comes through your clothes
• you might feel detached from the world around you
• feeling the need to use the toilet
• tingling or trembling feelings in your hands and legs or the feeling of “butterflies” in your stomach
• your muscles feel tensed up and tight
• your breathing alternates between shallow and fast
• Other physical responses such as feeling nauseous, a churning stomach, or sweating palms.

The symptoms can vary between mild and severe. People experiencing severe anxiety symptoms can build up to having a panic attack. If you identify with any of the symptoms above, Wirral Counselling Association can help you overcome them and live a more fulfilling life. If you are thinking about having counselling for anxiety in Wirral, we offer a free 20 minute consultation to help you on your journey to a better life.

What is a Panic Attack?

A panic attack is when someone is experiencing several of the symptoms mentioned above. The symptoms of anxiety can become so strong that they develop into a panic attack. It can become so extreme that it feels like you are going to have a heart attack or even die! The fear of dying creates even more anxiety….. which creates a horrible vicious circle.

Behaviours Associated with Anxiety

A person struggling with anxiety is likely to adopt certain behaviours to make the anxiety “go away.”

Practising Avoidance

Avoiding certain people or places is a common behaviour among people who struggle with anxiety. Avoidance is an attempt to control a situation and stop the uncomfortable feelings of anxiety from getting out of control.

Do you see any of the following behaviours within yourself?

• Avoiding a phone call from an unknown number and letting it go to voicemail or a recognised number trying to get a response from you.

• Thinking of believable excuses to avoid going to social gatherings, events, or meetings.

• Not opening emails in your email inbox or avoiding opening your email inbox altogether “if I haven’t seen it, then I don’t have to do anything about it.”

The scenarios above are attempts to “delay” doing something in the present moment and waiting to feel more able to do it in the future. Delaying taking action now only worsens the ‘thing’, resulting in more intense anxiety symptoms. Don’t delay having the chance of a better tuture – call phone number for effective anxiety counselling in Wirral.

Numbing Yourself to Avoid the Feelings of Anxiety or Panic

Drinking alcohol, using drugs, and excessively smoking are all attempts to control the symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks. People self medicate as a way to cope with the symptoms. As the leading provider of counselling for anxiety in Wirral, we know that self-medication only makes anxiety worse.

Here’s why these Types of Behaviours to Control Anxiety and Panic Attacks Don’t Work

Avoiding the ‘thing’ might feel good at that moment, but the only thing that’s been achieved is the anxiety has been temporarily avoided rather than dealt with. Avoiding the thing only makes you more anxious, and you never learn that the ‘thing’ you fear doesn’t happen, or if it does, it’s nowhere near as bad as you imagined. Avoiding something only intensifies the anxiety rather than making it go away.

These types of behaviours will negatively affect your life and make you feel like your anxiety is controlling you.

If You Never Stop Worrying or Constantly have Feelings of Dread, Therapy for Anxiety and Coping with Panic Attacks can Help.

Having therapy for anxiety will give you a safe place to talk about your symptoms and how to cope with them. The goal of anxiety therapy is to help you control your anxiety rather than it controlling you.

However, the most important benefit you will learn from having therapy for anxiety is to discover what “triggers” your anxiety.

It is important to remember that anxiety is a symptom. Something is triggering your anxiety, and therapy will help you explore and discover what those triggers are.

Anxiety Relief is just a Phone Call Away!

If you would like to dramatically reduce the feelings of anxiety and stop having panic attacks, pick up the phone and call 07700169121

Our treatments for anxiety are talk therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and hypnotherapy.