I. What, Why and How? (Part 1)

We all experience moments of worry or stress. This is actually quite normal because of a biological stress response mechanism known as the “Fight or Flight”. During moments of stress, the body’s adrenaline kicks in.This then raises your heart rate and breathing to make you think quicker and to prepare you to act and respond to any danger, threats or other perceived causes of stress in order to protect yourself.

In today’s fast moving world, we are constantly being put under pressure to react to information quickly. We are forced to multitask, work harder and faster just to keep up, and are therefore always in stress response mode. When we are constantly under attack from stresses and worries like this, be they large or small, it can drive us to feel anxious, fearful and panic-stricken. It is no wonder that these modern times have been referred to as “The Age of Anxiety”.

Occasional feelings of stress are normal, and possibly help us to work and perform better, quicker and clearer thinking when solving problems. Too much stress however can make us feel the opposite – not only are we unable to perform well, but we can lose sight of what is important to us, particularly with regard to people who are closest and dearest to us. It may even make us blame ourselves for our problems, or take encouragement in the wrong way. Danny and Tony’s stories below best demonstrate and typify what pressure can do to people.

Danny's Story

Danny already had his law degree but was studying to pass the bar exam to qualify as a lawyer. However, he kept failing his mock exams and just could not understand why. As the exam day drew nearer, he would start to worry about failing already. The more he worried, the worse he did in the mock exams. When he went to his friends for advice and they said “relax, you’ll be fine”, he just did not believe them. When he went to his parents, who were already supportive, they just told him to “pull yourself together, you can tough it out”. He knew something must be wrong as he felt so much more nervous and tense studying for the bar exam than he ever did when he was at law school.

Luckily for him, he alone recognised that he was suffering from stress, and that the forthcoming exam was the cause. Although he had the support of his friends and family, their encouragement could not offer him any practical help. Had he been given the proper constructive help to overcome his stress, he would have been able to cope better and more positively.

Tony's Story

Tony on the other hand, is retired and lives a comfortable life with his wife, Mary. Although he receives a pension from his company and has some money saved, he is always worried about whether he has enough money to live and who will look after him as he gets older. This firstly, is in spite of his wife having also retired, and together they can keep up with the housework and afford the maintenance of their home； and secondly, their daughter who comes on weekends anyway to help out with the chores or take them to their various appointments. He received a medical bill once that was a few hundred dollars more than expected. This caused him to suffer a heart pounding attack and started to talk about losing everything: the house, his wife and his family. He kept complaining that he was too old now to get another job and would not know what to do if the "bills should start to pile up". His wife had to reassure him that the medical bill was really not too big, and that they had enough to pay for it without any hardship.

Tony worries about money each and every day. He is filled with dread each time a bill arrives until he can see that the amount is affordable. There is really no reason for him to worry yet he is unable to stop himself from doing so. This worrying seems to be getting worse and beyond his control. All he really wants is to be able to live a life free of these fears.

You can understand why Tony feels this way. There are legitimate concerns underlying his worries: he is financially comfortable, but realises that he no longer is capable of doing the same type of factory work as he did all of his life, and he just could not stop himself from worrying about money and old age. What is crucial for Tony is recognising that he is able to live a life without these negative feelings and must be prepared to use whatever available means to achieve this. He will however, need help and guidance to become more realistic and to learn techniques to enable him to lessen his fears.

Sometimes, anxiety can be so deep and profound that it affects more than just a single event; indeed, it can affect our ability to function in our everyday lives. Anxiety disorders can have many different signs:

• Intense physical and mental panic
• Obsessions
• Abnormal fears
• The inability to keep a job or maintain a relationship
• Total neglect of caring for our health or appearance
• The inability to make new friends or acquaintances
• Extreme reluctance to leave the house

When an anxiety disorder is diagnosed, it is usually because there is a clear pattern of problems, behaviours, or rituals that are a direct result of excessive fear, worry, panic or obsession. Different types of anxiety can affect different people, and some people can be affected by more than one type of anxiety disorder.