Anxiety affects everyone as some point in their lives. You might worry about your relationships, money, health. Anxiety can be helpful when it helps us make decisions or perform when needed. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a type of Anxiety that differs from everyday worries. GAD is present in an overwhelming amount for atleast 6 months and is not based on real threats. It can be tough to manage as it seems out of your control in those moments. Specific thinking patterns and fears start to set in, and anxiety is continuously present or easily triggered when met with triggers. Many people would describe them as “always worried” or that they “always worry after a stressful event”.
Some of the main symptoms include:
Worry about everyday things
A sense of restlessness
A sense of nervousness
Lack of Focus
Sleep Disturbances
Irritability
Easily Tired
Such exaggerated worrying can interfere with your everyday life. The constant activation of the nervous system affects the body too by causing tiredness, sleep issues, muscle tension, sweating and trembling among other symptoms. Besides physical complaints, GAD can cause issues in your work life, relationships, family life and can move into forms of perfectionism, striving for approval, low self-esteem or avoiding certain situations or people altogether.
How can Counselling help?
This all seems quite a lot for someone to handle. Fortunately, GAD is treatable and manageable. Counselling is an excellent means to understand the symptoms, explore their cause, and work on the immediate fear responses. Almost all types of therapies work with GAD. They can differ in their perception of the issue and their treatment angle, such as thought pattern change, emotion recognition, somatic-based, through storytelling, or many other different perspectives.
If you find that your anxiety is affecting different areas of your life and want to work on GAD long-term, or you cannot cope in the short term and want to learn coping strategies, or simply want to understand your symptoms better, many counsellors can help you! You do not have to figure it all out alone.
References
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2017, October 13). Generalized anxiety disorder. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/generalized-anxiety-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20360803
Moore, B. A. (2014). Taking Control of Anxiety: Small Steps for Getting the Best of Worry, Stress, and Fear. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
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