Anxiety

Anxiety is similar to worry, only it’s more intense and disruptive to wellbeing.  It has a fearful quality that differentiates it from normal worry.

Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time, because it’s a normal part of life.  It’s only when it becomes persistent or very disruptive that anxiety earns its place as a psychological disorder.

There are a number of types of Anxiety Disorder and related conditions, including:

  • Generalised Anxiety.  This is a near-continual fearfulness or nervousness.
  • Anxiety or Panic Attacks.  These are very unpleasant brief episodes of debilitating anxiety, sometimes initially mistaken for a life-threatening condition such as a heart attack.
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  This is a severe form of anxiety that can follow extreme life events.  It’s characterised by distressing mental replaying of the events and hyper-arousal of the nervous system.
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  This manifests as a tendency to (for example) repeatedly re-check that doors are locked, or continually wash one’s hands to remove imagined germs.  It has anxiety components, but may also have other causes.

Below are the articles on Shrink Wrap that mention anxiety.

(If you need psychological help for yourself or a loved one who’s experiencing anxiety, please contact me via my clinic web site.)

Things are looking up

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I returned from walking my dog the other day in such an uplifted, joyous state that it took me by surprise. I realised I had unconsciously been applying three techniques that build positive, relaxed mood, pretty much on demand.

Here they are, so you can use them too. Read more…

Six tips for staying sane and happy as a business owner

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The Bank of Queensland have been talking with me recently about the unique stresses of owning a small or medium business, and what to do about them.

They commissioned research into this topic, resulting in the fascinating Business Balance Report. It reveals shockingly high levels of depression, anxiety and stress among Australian business owners.

So I gave them some tips for staying sane and happy while running a business. Read more…

Healing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

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Studying health instead of disease. That was the motto of an informal but far reaching 2006 study into the devastating illness known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or Myalgic Encephalopathy (ME). With the cause of the disease eluding scientists, this study sought instead to uncover how those who had successfully recovered from CFS had done so. Read more…

No, you don’t have to ‘love yourself’ before being in a relationship

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Self-help Hooey - love yourself

I’m not against self-help literature. I’m a shrink, so I’m all for it. There are a few fashionable self-help myths, though, that drive me up the wall because they are not only nonsensical, but it’s actually cruel to lead others to believe in them.

So I’m creating a series of Self-help Hooey posts that expose and put right some of this silliness. I hope to make you feel a whole heap better about yourself along the way, and equip you with much better strategies.

We’re going to start with these two doozies… Read more…