Anxiety & Panic Attacks

Probably the most common problem clients have contacted me for help with over the years is stress, anxiety and/or panic attacks. People often ask me what the difference is between stress and anxiety and although you may have read that anxiety is usually perceived as being more short term, while stress is seen to be a more long term problem, because the feelings and chemical responses in the body are pretty much the same for both, I tend to use the term anxiety to cover both.

In our ever more stressful world the number of people suffering from anxiety and panic attacks seems to be increasing, as people find it harder and harder to cope with the demands that life places on them, whether the problem is stressful personal problems, work pressures or a combination of factors which mean that all too many people find that they need help to manage their symptoms.

People are often embarrassed to admit that they suffer anxiety and can’t cope or that they suffer panic attacks, seeing it as some kind of inadequacy on their part, something to be ashamed of, especially if normally they are used to being the one who can cope. Anxiety and panic attacks are NOT a sign of inadequacy or something you ought to be able to deal yourself and even though you may fear you are ‘going mad’ (which is a common fear when severe anxiety strikes) – the symptoms strike because your subconscious mind mistakenly perceives that you are being threatened in some way and responds accordingly.

The language of your subconscious mind is imagination and unfortunately it can’t always tell the difference between a real, life threatening situation and the build up of stress caused by a life situation and your reaction to it, so, in the case of panic attacks, the fight or flight response is triggered, causing it to respond to a stressful life situation in the same way it would if your life were literally being threatened. So, bearing in mind you are trying to fight your body’s survival instincts by soldiering on, it’s not surprising the problem can easily become overwhelming as survival has to be our primary instinct and so easily overrides everything else

I know what anxiety feels like, having suffered in the past – I too have watched myself stoking up the fires of anxiety, but have felt unable to stop myself and felt that life was one long endurance test – defined by the mantra ‘just let me get through today, this week, this problem…..’ I know what it feels to dread going to bed for another night of watching hour after hour tick by without sleep and to experience the onset of panic attacks (though fortunately my professional knowledge and experience enabled me to fend off the panic attacks!).

The hardest thing is often admitting you’ve had enough of trying to cope on your own any more (believe me nobody is giving out medals for how long you can hold out before admitting your problems don’t seem to be going away on their own). Most people tell me that after that initial scary step of getting in touch and having their free consultation, they feel like they have taken the first step towards taking back control of their life and that it feels like there is light at the end of the tunnel.