Tips to Survive Corona Virus – Anxiety part 2

What are the Signs:

Hi everyone. So last post we talk about what is anxiety. This post will focus more on common signs of unhealthy levels of anxiety.  There are 3 basic ways anxiety disorders affect a person’s life: Mentally, Physically and Behaviorally.  

Mentally: Is how a person perceives the world and the consequences of the actions. Threats and dangers are experienced to be much worse than in actuality. Things like if I screw up the school presentation I will fail the class and drop out of school. If this report has even one mistake I am going to be fired from my job and be homeless. Because of threat being so severe a person will then focus all of their attention on just those threats, to their detriment. 

Physically: Many times how you feel inside your mind comes out in physical reactions. List of common symptoms include but not limited to:

• Increase heart rate
• Dryness of mouth
• Sweating 
• Chest pains 
• Light headed
• Dizzy 
• Muscle tension 
• Grinding of teeth 
• Shortness of breath 
• Fatigue 
• Muscle weakness 

Behaviour: 

When dealing with anxiety there are two main behaviours that could occur. The first is avoidance. This is when a person avoids the areas or activities that causes them anxiety. For example if a person is anxious about doing a presentation at work, they may call in sick and avoid going to work altogether. This avoidance doesn’t just stop there. It can be any activity that causes the same type of anxiety. So the person who avoided the work presentation by skipping work may also avoid going outside entirely since the possibility of talk groups of people is too similar to the scenario of giving a work presentation. 

The second behaviour is safety behaviours (ie actions that make us feel safer). This can be things like checking and revising previously complete work, or hoarding/stockpiling resources like food, or excessive cleaning. The biggest sign that anxiety has crossed over from regular levels to a disorder is when it prevents you from your day to day routine, or crafting your life the way you want. If you feel constantly in fear and running away from everything, it is time to see if you have an anxiety disorder. 

Treatment: 

So you have done a self check, decided that you have an anxiety disorder, what next? Maybe run down to the local pharmacy and pick up some anti-anxiety medication. Fuck no! Being properly diagnosed with anxiety takes time and on-going evaluation, popping some happy pills may actually do more harm that good. Going to your family doctor is the best place to start. Also remember that you don’t need to stop there. Also asking your family doctor for a referral to a psychiatrist just to get a second opinion is perfectly fine. Don’t worry they won’t be offended it is literally part of their job description. 

There are basically two types of treatment that can be offered. The first is therapy. This can be talk therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, counselling etc. This goes over lifestyle changes, meditation techniques and addressing root causes for the anxiety. The second type of treatment is medication. There is a lot of stigma with taking medication for mental well being. Are we taking too little or too much, should we avoid medication altogether. What I do firmly believe is that if you are taking any medication that affects the brain, make sure that you are doing so under the supervision of a medication professional.  This is also why I recommend having your family doctor give you a referral. That way you get a minimum of two professional opinions. Once you start taking medication make sure that you are seeing your doctor on a regular basis so that any adverse reaction or adjustment can be made in a timely manner. Also check out our other post on what to do when Taking New Medication.