Dealing with Anxiety
Anxiety and the accompanying sensations of dread and panic can be truly overwhelming. When you think about it, these feelings are what you would feel if the worst were truly happening. A huge number of the population suffers from anxiety based disorders and many of you reading this will have suffered from a panic attack in your lifetime. Maybe your job is not going well, you are under personal and financial stress, and you have a permanent knot of worry in your stomach which won’t go away. Fear is stopping you from living your life as you choose to.
Anxiety is the response of a nervous system which is wired to keep us safe from harm, and alert us to danger. In primitive times, we had to escape from lions and tigers and the system worked brilliantly, but in our modern paced times the threat is not quite the same – but our bodies are wired as if it is!
Depression and anxiety disorders are very common in New Zealand. Some 6.1% of our population has been diagnosed with anxiety disorders.
Physical symptoms such as terror, panic, flushing , feeling dizzy, tingly or out of breath, sweating , social anxiety, tension and worries are all part of being anxious, and feeling anxiety. This then results in mind/thoughts and behaviour being affected.
People with anxiety tend to overestimate the seriousness of a feeling or problem, and feel a real feeling of unexplained dread, which, of course, causes a physical reaction.
We want to help you take good care of yourself, and be well prepared to live a richly fulfilling, healthful life. Reducing stress and improving the quality of your life is a good place to start.
How can we help you?
Anxiety sufferers are often drawn to conventional medication for instant relief, but natural medicine lends itself very well to the treatment of anxiety. Often conventional treatment is addictive and has other unpleasant side effects, plus the symptoms can reoccur when the medication is stopped.
Whether you have Panic disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder or Social Anxiety Disorder our counsellor, naturopaths, and homeopath are experienced in the treatment of anxiety. Each of these disorders will have physical, mental and behavioural symptoms which need support.
It is important to understand what is happening to you if you have anxiety, and explore all options available to you to eliminate it.
In clinic we use counselling techniques, lifestyle changes, herbal supplementation and homeopathy to manage symptoms and get to the root cause. We recommend therapy for persistent and recurrent anxiety. Working with a therapist can be helpful for guidance, making an accurate diagnosis, learning cognitive behavioural techniques and understanding what is happening in your brain and body to bring you a new clarity.
