Coping With Anxiety

Understanding Anxiety

Anxiety Is Worry

Worry is about f e a r.

Fear is about feeling out of control. Out of control is about feeling fragmented and susceptible to every stimulus possible.

So it’s just not reasonable to think (or feel) that anyone can thwart being anxious….right? Well, maybe….

Our brains and nervous systems are constructed to receive and process a very wide swath of sensory perception. The field of neuroscience is making tremendous headway into understanding how we are built and how are systems work. Unfortunately we are a long way from fully understanding “How It Works” …maybe.

What’s Really Going On?

What if we looked at anxiety from a different perspective? What if instead of separating ourselves into many pieces and dimensions we looked at ourselves as whole? What would we look like? Seeing or the act of seeing what is “really there” versus what is only perceived “inside of our mind’s eye”…is such a basic principle that we don’t talk, think or analyze it much. We sort of just accept that there is a difference between reality and fantasy. But what if this is simply not true?

Uh oh….was that too much? I know it sounds crazy…whatever that is. But seriously, what if what you think about, feel with your heart, skin and nerve endings that you usually do not see, but certainly know exist, were acknowledged for the truth they bring? How can you do that? Why would you even want to try?

Because if you don’t you are doomed to feel anxious for your entire lifetime, albeit in different levels and phases or periods of time.

Panic Attacks

Anxiety is sometimes referred to as “signal anxiety” which may trigger PANIC ATTACKS. This can be understood as the perception of anxiety is signaling you that there is something you are scared of and need to address. You may be able to easily identify what the source of this panic disorder is or it may be obscured from view….maybe in the deepest level of your unconscious mind. If left unacknowledged, unexpressed the internal pressure created by keeping panic attacks inside of your body and mind will affect your overall metabolism and health.

Talking about the anxiety can help relieve the pressure…but if you don’t know what to talk about you need a different way to express the anxiety so it can be better understood. When you work with an art therapist the anxiety can be expressed using the tools of the artist. Then the expression of imagery (artwork) can be de-coded or analyzed to arrive at the deeper meaning.

Because the right and left hemispheres of the brain are equally engaged, an integration occurs on a deep, intracellular level, mitigating and sometimes vanquishing the anxiety altogether. This happens due to the nature of our bio-energetic / chemistry and its ability to connect with the cosmos at large at a quantum level.

We are in a constant dialogue with the universe and its infinite (maybe) manifestations. This includes getting tangled up with another person, place or time on a sub atomic level leaving the question “Whose anxiety are you actually perceiving?”. More times than not it is yours and someone or something else combined leaving the work of discrimination to you, unless you have conscious family, friends and community to process this with you.

Anxiety & Stress

That is why medications that tamp down the feelings associated with anxiety disorders are not healing at all…rather they actually create an energetic dam, so to speak, that walls off the anxiety and creates the opportunity for it to re-route itself. This is so because all emotions and perceptual feeling states seek creative expression….and if they do not get it they will find a route to express themselves in a non-healthy way…An example of this is “Stress” burrowing energetically into the physical body and finding release through a skin rash for example…or IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome or even cancer (?). Science has already taught us the devastating effects stress can have.

Symptoms

Some physical symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and panic attack mental signs:

• Feelings of danger
• Nervousness
• Rapid heart rate
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Hyperventilation
• Sweating
• Trembling or shaking

How To Deal With Anxiety

Feeling anxious? So how do you handle anxiety? Who do you go to for help? What should you be doing with your mental health professional? Anxiety, social anxiety, and panic disorder can be so unpleasant and scary that it can feel like you need immediate help! This is part of the fight or flight response. Talk therapy alone may not provide enough release of the pent up energy and more importantly if you cannot get to the root cause of the anxiety, you may feel powerless against it!

Art Psychotherapy & Anxiety 

One effective method of coping with anxiety is art psychotherapy. Art psychotherapy is a process where working together we release the anxiety through real time image-making…not “good pictures”….images. They can be random lines, a paper filled with color and no specific design. The release is IMMEDIATE…The relief is IMMEDIATE….and the process to begin to understand what emotions are causing the anxiety becomes apparent as insights are born and understood. This means you CAN make emotional connections to your past, present and future. You CAN learn about other people’s influence upon your anxiety (and health) . Most importantly you ARE IN CONTROL of the expression and with your art psychotherapist to help guide you, you can move as quickly as you wish through the healing process. This means going slowly is important also and that option is just as valuable as moving fast.

Tips For Coping With Anxiety

• Take a break. Stop what you are doing and go for a walk. Try meditation and/or yoga.
• Get enough sleep. Your body needs rest, and lack of sleep can cause anxiety. 
• Deep breaths. Inhale and exhale slowly. Breathing helps.
• Watch your diet. Careful not to skip eating meals, and watch what you eat… especially sugar. Though sugar may help some during an attack, in the long run it may bring more anxiety.
• Limit caffeine and alcohol. These can aggravate anxiety and cause panic attacks.
• Exercise daily. It’s hard for some to find the time, but a healthy body can equal a healthy mind.
• Learn the triggers. Keep a journal record your daily routine, and maybe see if it’s also something you are eating or drinking that may be causing symptoms.
• Talk to someone. Talk to friends and family, and let them know what you are going through. Speak with a mental health professional or physician for help.

Helping Anxiety

It is a personal journey. It may involve other people …people you know, people you don’t know. No matter what, anxiety is treatable in the present as we transform our relationships with what we thought of as illness and unwell being into understanding the signal to listen carefully to your perceptions of life and its many mysteries. If you ever had a panic attack and are looking for mental health treatment, I can help.

I Can Teach You How To Listen