Identifying and Managing Anxiety: What You Need to Know
Identifying Anxiety and Quick and Effective Tools to Manage It
Many people have been diagnosed with anxiety and are taking the right steps to keep it under control. Others have this condition but believe that their anxious feelings are just a normal part of life, while others have received a formal diagnosis but pretend that everything is all right. Regardless of which category you fall under, it’s important to be more familiar with anxiety and explore methods to properly manage this condition, such as signing up for cognitive behavioral therapy and learning safe coping skills.
If you’re ready to know more about anxiety and its management, this blog is for you.
How to Identify Anxiety
Most human beings can feel anxious at certain points in their life. This feeling can be brought about by numerous factors, such as having a serious medical problem, losing a job, going through a divorce, and more. However, feeling anxious and having anxiety are two different things. You’ll know that you have anxiety if you have uncontrollable worries and fears that you just can’t shake off and if you’re too focused on your current problems that you can’t concentrate on other things. You might also feel an impending sense of doom or panic even though there is no immediate danger around you.
Anxiety can also manifest in the following signs and symptoms:
• Increased heart rate and/or palpitations
• Rapid breathing
• Weakness and tiredness
• Sweating and trembling
• Tense muscles
• Difficulty sleeping
• Irritability
• Restlessness
• Gastrointestinal problems
• Physical discomfort
It’s important to note that these signs and symptoms don’t just point to anxiety — they can also be caused by many other health conditions. This is why it’s important to consult with a professional, licensed, and experienced therapist; with their help, you can confirm if the signs and symptoms that you’re experiencing are related to anxiety or not.
Managing Anxiety with the Right Tools
When it comes to anxiety, different solutions work for different people. Because of this, it’s important to try several anxiety management strategies and find out which one works best for you.
Deep and focused breathing is one of the most effective methods that people use. Anxiety can cause you to breathe rapidly and prevent you from getting enough oxygen into your body, and you can counter this by deliberately slowing down your breathing and taking deeper breaths. This can help you relax and focus your thoughts on the present.
It can also be helpful if you take the time to take a closer look at your thought pattern. Oftentimes, anxiety can cause a steady stream of negative thoughts to run through your brain, which can further feed your fears and worries. However, if you question your self-talk, you’ll avoid jumping to the worst-case scenario and realize that not all of your anxieties are rooted in truth. Knowing your triggers is also a good approach. For instance, if you know that caffeine can worsen your anxiety, you can avoid drinking coffee and caffeine-laden drinks. If your trigger is a stressful work environment but you can’t immediately switch to another job, consider learning and using cognitive coping skills to keep your anxiety at bay.
Get in Touch with Anxiety
Identifying and managing anxiety can be difficult, but you can make the process easier by using this blog and taking into consideration the anxiety management strategies mentioned above. You can also reach out to trusted therapists like The Holding Space. Our licensed and professional therapists have extensive experience with helping clients with anxiety, and we provide cognitive behavioral therapy in Los Angeles and other forms of therapy to help them effectively manage their anxiety. Book an appointment with us now