It is normal for anyone to get worried but when these worries become constant and irrational, interfering with your daily life in general, you may want to check with your mental health doctor for a condition called GAD or Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Do you simply worry too much? Do you feel so anxious all day long for no apparent reason? Do you feel body pains, as if your energy is being depleted? Can you sleep well at nights without worrying about the most trivial of things? Don’t fret! The good news is that your anxiety disorder can be treated with effective self-help techniques that will ease all your worries away.
GAD is like your inner worries and anxieties going haywire. You just can’t seem to stop worrying too much. In fact, your worries are overwhelming your ability to lead a normal life and you just feel it too hard to relax. Like many people with GAD, you mostly worry about issues on health, money, work, or family. Unlike normal folks, you take these worries into a new height. For example, a simple missed phone call by your friend makes you so severely anxious that you threaten to sever relationship with that person. This is how your worries can drive you to the extreme – with GAD.
Do you hear yourself often say ” It’s driving me crazy! ” Perhaps, you need to listen to yourself for real. If you always have the tendency to exaggerate your little worries and tensions, know that life is not cursing you with its worrisome burdens. You might be a possible candidate for GAD and you need to learn the physical and mental signs of having one.
What are the Physical and Psychological Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD?
1. feeling of dread
2. irritability and difficulty focusing
3. stress
4. inability to put anxiety under control
5. huge fears of losing control or rejection
6. muscle aches or tensions
7. inability to have quality sleep
8. jumpiness, restlessness, or uneasiness
9. nausea
10. stomach upsets or diarrhea
How Can You Cope with Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD?
You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars in finding ways to treat GAD. In fact, you can make yourself feel better with these self-healing techniques:
1. Deal with your worries and anxieties productively and challenge yourself into thinking positive. Learn that there are things in life that you need to accept like the uncertainty of things.
2. Make a lifestyle change and have a healthy habit by skipping caffeine that can trigger your anxiety woes, getting a good exercise, eating a healthy diet, or by simply creating a better relationship with family and friends.
3. Learn how to relax through various meditation and deep breathing techniques. You may listen to binaural beats to help you achieve deep sleep that will make you wake up each day with a clearer mind, minus the worries.
4. Indulge your five senses – see a beautiful view, hear a soothing music, smell the aroma of pure grade essential oils to uplift your mood, taste a yummy meal, or hug your favorite pet.
5. Learn that with too much worry, you need to be AWARE – ACCEPT your anxiety, WATCH your worries, ACT as if you are not worried, REPEAT these steps until you are free of your worries, and EXPECT for the best things that life can give. ( Excerpt from Anxiety Disorders and Phobias: A Cognitive Perspective by authors Gary Emery & Aaron Beck ).
If you find it tough to deal with GAD by yourself, you may always get professional help that will guide you in understanding and dealing with your condition. In the end, you are the key to your freedom from all these unnecessary worries and it is up to you to completely step out of the dark and into the light of positivity.