Easy Ways to Control Anxiety

Anxiety Control

No matter how much anxiety you suffer from, lifestill continues. However, you need to know the easiest ways to control your anxiety so that you can continue to live your life and prosper. Remember that there are many people who suffer from anxiety and still live normal lives. They have their own families, they go to work, have children and friends. They go on vacations and look very much like everybody else. The only difference in people having anxiety is that, they may suddenly become anxious or be hit by a panic attack any time. The attack can come in the form of a mild discomfort or a complete debilitation.

There are some individuals who can hide their own attacks in such a way that no one around them is aware. For some unfortunate few, their anxiety is extremely overwhelming, to the extent that it takes control of their lives and their lifestyle. Their anxiety controls their behavior completely.

Well, under whichever category your anxiety may fall, I want to assure you that it is possible for you to function while at the same time experiencing your anxiety. In this post, Easy Ways to Control Anxiety, I will discuss about the fear scale and other ways to combat anxiety If your fear scale is 8 or above, you will find out that it is very difficult for you to focus on any other thing but your anxiety. For somebody in that category, it is crucial that you try different methods to lower your fear level to a seven(7) or even below, before you try some of the tactics discussed in this blog post. You can use breathing techniques, medication, meditation or exercise to manage your anxiety. by medication. The most important thing you must be pro-active and strive towards reducing the level of your fear.

The Fear Scale

This is what I advise you do: keep a journal where you will record everyday what you think the level of your anxiety should be. Use the following codes:

0 = I absolutely have no fear. I am absolutely relaxed.

10 = The worst fear I have ever had. I am completely in panic.

4 to 8 = This indicates a zone of discomfort of high level of anxiety that many people can still manage to function through. If you are in this zone, it is very important for you to voluntarily work in that zone so as to recover your life from your anxiety danger. What I am saying is that you must control anxiety, instead of anxiety controlling you. Also know that you are altering the faulty wiring in your brain when you do not respond to a false sounding alarm. You are training your body the way it should respond (changing your physical symptoms) to your anxiety. Initially, you may find this very difficult, but with time, you will eventually notice that the less credit your anxiety gets from you, the less impact you will receive from it.

Your reaction to anxiety is a big part of it. When anxiety is triggered in your body, you will experience physical symptoms. When the anxiety monster takes the second bite, your fear of those symptoms is created. The lower the fear you have of those symptoms, the lower the control anxiety has over you. It is only through active practice you will desensitize your nervous system.

How to Function with High Levels of Anxiety

Many people who experience a high anxiety level (from 8 and above) find out it is very hard to concentrate on any other thing but their anxiety. Then it becomes very hard to use any of their calming techniques. That explains why it is crucial to practice and practice! However, it is not when you are in critical mode that you should practice; it is during the time of a mild or moderate anxiety. During a time like this, you will be able to control your anxiety with the breathing techniques, meditation or whatever method you have discovered that works best for you.

If everything else fails, then remember this, though it is unpleasant, it is not dangerous. Let me repeat this: if you are experiencing a level of 8 or above of anxiety, this is unpleasant, but not dangerous! This you must remember above everything else. Your feelings at such a high level of anxiety are so overwhelming that you find it very easy to respond to the false alarm that your body is sounding by arriving at the conclusion that real danger is very close to you. Just look around you and ask yourself if any other person is panicking. No? Then there is nothing wrong! You are just experiencing a false alarm because a few chemicals have come out of place in your brain (it has been sensitized).

Always Take A Break

I strongly challenge you to face your anxiety monster head on. However, it is very unlikely you will win the war in just one battle. You will need to try a couple of weeks, or even a couple of months, before you start feeling that you are winning the war against your anxiety monster. This explains why before you even start the battle you must have a certain time to take a break. Running away from your anxiety monster will never work. Although you may feel better, the monster surely knows it defeated you. In this approach, you are just training yourself to run away every time you come face to face with the monster.

Taking a break is different. A break is just a time out you have made with yourself in advance. You have decided to take a break and then return to the situation to manage it better in the near future. If you do take a break, ensure that you return to the fight soonest. If you wait for too long you will find it hard to return.

Use Imagery to Control the Monster
Another way to fight anxiety monster is the use of imagery on your own terms. Try to imagine or visualize the situation or place that gives you anxiety. At the moment the monster appears, start working on reducing your anxiety. Make sure your eyes remain closed when you are using imagery. Taking a break or time out is the opening of your eyes. This exercise is completely under your control. Combat the monster and try to feel the levels of your anxiety lowering. If it happens to be too much for you, just open your eyes. You are in control and safe. Before commencing an exercise like this, ensure you know precisely what to do to combat the monster, recognize your out and be assured that you are completely in control.

This will take practice once again. Just don’t give up and I promise you will get results. Once you are able to control the monster by using imagery, then it is time for you to step it up the fight! For instance, if you have trouble driving a car, just try to imagine driving while sitting in a comfortable chair at home and fight your anxiety on your own terms. Immediately you have developed a complete control over your anxiety while you are at home, it is now time to move to the next step. Go to your driveway, sit down in your car seat and start the exercise all over again. Just sit back and relax. Try to feel the anxiety as it is coming on, once the level of your anxiety hits is 4 or above, begin to decrease it. After mastering this sitting and relaxing in your car, then take a short slow drive around in your own neighborhood. Alternatively, you can look for an empty parking lot and then repeat the whole process all over again. From that point, look for another place where you can drive a little faster. Step this up again and continue until you are able to drive on any freeway and your anxiety is completely under your control!

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A food Lifestyle for Preventing Depression and Anxiety

A food Lifestyle for Preventing Depression and Anxiety.

The best and healthiest diet for preventing depression,anxiety and weight gain is probably the traditional Asian diet. We can even look at it as the Asian food lifestyle and not just a diet. Obesity is very rare in Asia. Did you ever wonder why many Asians are naturally slim and very healthy? The answer is not far-fetched. It is their diet! Since their childhood time, they have learned from their elders the healthy way to eat by choosing the right natural food combination and colors.

Asians do not try to lose weight - never! It is naturally they reach their ideal weight because of their natural and healthy diet. However, in America and some other western countries, people consume a lot of processed foods instead of natural diet, hence chronic diseases such as heart disease, obesity, cancer, diabetes, etc have been on the alarming increase. It's now time the advanced countries change their eating habits and learn the Asian food lifestyle.

The peoples of Asia are among the healthiest and happiest on the planet. The Japanese, Chinese and Korean are among the people who have lived the longest in the world. It is because of their diet that Asians have youthful appearance and health. Their diet is typically very low in saturated fats and does not contain preservatives and artificial ingredients. Asians take their foods in fresh and very natural form.

The traditional Asian diet is based on plant foods. It incorporates various ingredients and foods like vegetables, seeds, roots, nuts, fresh fruits, seaweeds, rice and beans. Some people believe that the Asian Pyramid Diet is vegetarian. This is not true. The Asian traditional diet does contain fish and meat but these are very minimal in consumption and they are usually served as side dish. We can easily argue the fact that Chinese cuisine is the most prominent of all Asian cooking styles, with various region-based styles.

The most fundamental difference is between southern and northern styles of Chinese cuisine. Southern dishes emphasize tenderness and freshness while, because of the colder weather, the northern dishes are comparatively oily and the use of garlic and vinegar tends to be more favored. On the contrary, Japanese cooking mainly emphasizes frequent deep-frying (such as tempura and so on) by applying vegetable oil or, the other way round, raw foods (such as sashimi and sushi).

The Asians use various kinds of fruits and vegetables when they are cooking. Some of them include scallions, cabbage, leafy greens such as spinach, bananas, grapes, guavas, melons, pineapple and jackfruit. The leafy vegetables are dark green in color and are packed with nutrients and vitamins. They are very good for detoxifying your body and keeping your skin young and supple. Of all the known Asian fruits, the pineapple is perhaps the one Asians love most.

The traditional Asian diet does not feature dairy and so it is rarely consumed. Because Asians consume a variety of calcium-rich plant foods, osteoporosis is very rare in Asia. The calcium that is found in milk or dairy products is a very poor substitute for the calcium found in plants because the former is very difficult for the human body to absorb. This is why many people in the western countries still suffer very much from osteoporosis, even though they consume a lot of dairy products every year.

Asian tea is one of the Asian favorite beverages. It is a safe and very healthy drink because it contains antioxidants and vitamins that help you fight cancer and reverse aging effects. Asian tea is also rich in metabolism boosters that are effective for fat burning or natural weight loss.

Now, here is a very helpful advice for you:

When you remove alcohol, meat and processed food from your own diet and start consuming large quantities of whole grains, vegetables and fresh fruits, you will begin to lose weight naturally. Don't remove regular exercise from your lifestyle because this is also among the Asian lifestyle. It will help you lose weight and keep your body very healthy.

Copying the Asian centuries-old food lifestyle will help you remain vigorous, youthful and slim. Exercise your body only in ways that it will react favorably to. Then you will reap the greatest benefit without using too much effort.

If you need the best diet advice, take it from the East. If you compare the shape of the average American to that of the average Asian, you will quickly remember that Americans, with all of their super foods and diet fads, are the most obese people on the planet. The Chinese, however, has a culture that, for thousands of years, has stuck to a balanced and moderate diet plan. The Asians have established simple diet principles that Americans can all practice so as to enjoy a healthier life.

If you eat like the Asians, you will look thin like them. When the Asians eat like you (an American), they look not thin like you. The paramount principles are moderation and balance. You do not need to consume Chinese food or even any Asian cuisine every single day. The cuisines in various countries are very different as explained in the previous chapters; but all the cuisines adhere to the exactly the same principles: a simple whole grain diet, some slightly cooked vegetables, and a small quantity of every other thing. Too little or too much of any one of these things is not good for you.

All foods have advantages and disadvantages. A good diet should be diversified, like a good stock portfolio. If you take the same food every day, you become overloaded in that one sector. Then you become more prone to that sector’s dangers, and simultaneously you miss out on the remaining good things that are in the market.

The bottom line is if you take smaller quantities of more foods, then there is no single one of them that can have too much influence on you.

Nutritionally, white rice is much better than brown rice. Brown rice looks like white rice that is enclosed in a thick brown hull. Eating brown rice is like eating a walnut without stripping off the shell. The hull contains nutrients although the biological availability is very poor. It takes the human body plenty of effort and time to try to dissolve or break the shell down. This process utilizes energy which is taken from the body and, hence, slows down the body’s metabolism. Remember that the paramount principles are moderation and balance. So, don't consume white rice every time. Consume all the grains, not excluding brown rice. The more the amount of processed food you consume, the more your body will find it hard it to un-process it. Therefore I strongly advise you take more simple grains than pastas and breads.

It is better to consume cooked vegetables than consuming raw ones. I do not deny the fact that cooking destroys a small quantity (about 10%) of the nutrients in vegetables, but the rest (90%) is then made available by cooking the vegetable. Your body has to cook and heat whatever that is raw and cold that goes into your stomach. This processing utilizes your body’s energy and takes it some time, and eventually slows down your metabolism. It is from our digestion that we get all the energy we need, that is, our body strives to extract life and energy from the food we consume and excrete the waste that we do not need. When you cook outside your body, the load is lightened and then your digestive tract only does the work of a filter. In other words, it sieves the useful stuff, sends it to your tissues and then sends the bad stuff to the tissue paper. Therefore I strongly advise we eat various types of organic and locally available vegetables.

It is not the amount of calories we consume that determines how much of obesity we will have. Calories are immaterial. For example, an average Chinese man takes between 25 to 40% more calories than an average American man. Even a sedentary office worker has more calories but less obesity. This is as a result of the difference in the kind of calories the office worker takes and how he or she prepares them. When you consume calories from their natural sources, you will get a more steady energy release, be able to satisfy your hunger, and find it easy to eliminate your body waste. When eat junk foods like snacks, cookies, sodas, artificial sweeteners, etc, your blood sugars will rise sharply, make you hungrier, and slow down your digestion. I strongly advise you never allow yourself to get hungry. Instead, just consume natural and good food.

Eating some red meat will do your body good. Many Americans take large quantities of red meat and this clearly explains why many of them have numerous health issues. Vegetarians nearly get it right; only they go a little too far. Avoiding meat usually will give some improvement in the short term, but it will always create a long-term deficiency. It is recommended by the Chinese that we take specifically 2 ounces of mammal meat 2 times every week. They say a small quantity of fowl and fish are good for our body as well, but we really need to rotate these with a little mammal. Contrary to general belief, dark meat is better than white meat, beef is better than chicken and yolks are better than egg whites. We get the best when we consume a little of every food. Once, a renowned Chinese medical doctor said,

"Vegetarianism is best for monks who live in the shelter of a temple and are seated for days in meditation".

Those of us who live an active lifestyle require a better source of an active food.

Let us discuss a little about the ethics of meat eating. It is my belief that our creator loves carrots too. There is a life force in everything that He created. Everything wants to reproduce and grow. So it is impossible “not to do harm" and survive. Everything must eat something. Human beings should be grateful to the creator for the lives He had given unto us so that ours can continue.

Avoid Dairy as much as possible. It is designed by the creator only for infants to change to substance in their body. Human beings are the only known animals that consume dairy after infancy. Although dairy truly contains calcium, but an amino acid called Casein overwhelms the calcium. This actually deprives your bones of calcium. A better and useful source of calcium for your body is green leafy vegetables and it has less bad effects.

Here is a fact that is taught by the Chinese medicine: dairy changes in adults into a substance known as phlegm which manifests in various ways: mucus, fat, sinus, mental fog, infections, respiratory problems, tumors, fibroids and skin conditions. Although a little amount of dairy will not do you harm when consumed, but a large quantity of it is not good for your body. It is water at body or room temperature that should be your primary beverage. Your second beverage should be the green tea. Every other fluid, not excluding coffee, should be taken only occasionally.

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Diet for Easing Depression and Anxiety

Diet for Easing Depression and Anxiety.

Although I have not found any specific diet that can cure depression and anxiety, certain food style or cuisine have been proven to help improve the mood of someone recovering from depression and anxiety. In the U.S,American Chinese cuisine is known simply as Chinese Cuisine. This food style was developed by Americans of Chinese descent themselves. It was served in several North American Chinese restaurants. The dishes that these American Chinese typically serve in their restaurants cater for the American tastes and they are very different from the Chinese cuisine in the China mainland itself. Even though China possesses many regional cuisines, the regional cuisine that has the greatest influence in the growth of the American Chinese food is the Cantonese Cuisine.

Differences Between American Chinese And Mainland Chinese Cuisines

Usually, American Chinese treat their vegetables as a garnish or side dish in their cuisine, while the traditional (mainland) Chinese emphasize vegetables. We can see this in the use of tomatoes and carrots. The mainland Chinese cuisine very often use Asian leaf vegetables such as kai-lan and bok choy and lay much more emphasis on seafood and fresh meat.

The Chinese cooking techniques that tend to be most common and which are used in the American Chinese cuisine are pan frying, stir frying and deep frying. They are all done with the use of a wok (that is, a Chinese frying pan looks like a bowl). Furthermore, the food is also reputable for its high levels of MSG which enhances the flavor. Customer demand and market forces have inspired many restaurants to go to offer menus that are MSG-Free or No-MSG, or to leave it out on request.

Take-away Chinese food is usually served in a wire-bail paper carton. American Chinese cuisine rarely uses ingredients that are native to and very often used in China. For instance western broccoli (xīlán) is commonly used in china whereas Chinese broccoli (Kai-lan) is commonly used in American Chinese cuisine. At times, people refer to western broccoli as sai lan fa (in Cantonese) so as not to confuse it with the two styles of broccoli. However, among Chinese speakers they typically understand that you are referring to the leafy vegetable except if it is specified otherwise.

The same thing is true of the words for onion (cong) and carrot (lo bac or luo buo , or hong luo buo, where hong means "red").  In Cantonese, Lo bac refers to the daikon, a large and pungent white radish. In some areas of China, the orange western carrot is often called "foreign Daikon" (or in Cantonese, more properly called hung lo bac, where hung means "red"). When you use chung, the word for onion, it is believed that you are referring to "green onions". This is otherwise known by English-speakers as "spring onions" or "scallions". The larger multi-layered onion bulb which is common in the U.S is called yang cong. This means "western onion". All these names provide the evidence for the fact that the American carrot, broccoli and onion are not indigenous to China, and so are not common in the China traditional cuisines.

Because tomatoes are new-world plants, they are also comparatively new to Chinese cuisine and China. We can find tomato-based sauces like the "beef and tomato" in a few American Chinese dishes. Therefore, if there is a significant amount of any of these ingredients in a dish, it is very likely that it has been Americanized. In an American Chinese cuisine, egg fried rice is also differently prepared, with the addition of more soy sauce for more flavor unlike the traditional egg fried rice in Chinese culture that uses less soy sauce. Dim sum and some other food styles were also altered to fit American palates, such as extra soy sauce and the addition of batter for fried dishes.

In the traditional Chinese cuisine, salads that contain uncooked or raw ingredients are rare, as are Japanese style sashimi or sushi. Nevertheless, a rising number of American Chinese restaurants, as well as a few upscale restaurants, have begun offering these items in response to the demand of customers.

The proprietor of the Blue Ginger establishment in Wellesley, Massachusetts, Ming Tsai, explained that American Chinese restaurants usually try to prepare food representing three to five China regions at a time, prepare chop suey, or prepare " some protein and fried vegetables in a very thick sauce", "8 different sour and sweet dishes", or even "an entire page of twenty different dishes of fried rice or chow meins ". Ming Tsai went on to say "the China-American cuisine is 'dumbed-down' Chinese food. Chinese adapted it and made it thicker, blander and more tasty for the American people".

Many of the American Chinese restaurants cater to their customers who are non-Chinese by writing menus in English language or adding pictures. If they have separate menus that are written in Chinese language, they usually feature delicacies such as chicken feet, liver or some other dishes of meat that might discourage their American customers. In Chinatown, N.Y, the American Chinese restaurants were famous for possessing a "phantom" menu containing foods that are preferred by the ethnic Chinese, but thought to be despised by the Americans who are non-Chinese.

American Chinese Restaurant Dishes

The following dishes frequently appear on the menus of American Chinese restaurants:

1. Sushi: Although it is part of the traditional Japanese cuisine, there are some American Chinese restaurants that usually serve different types of it on buffets.

2. Chop suey: In Chinese, this means assorted pieces. Usually it is just a brown sauce made from a mix of meat and vegetables but sometimes it can also be made and served in a white sauce.

3.  Almond chicken :  This is battered breaded chicken containing some ground almonds. It is fried and then served with onions and almonds.

4.  Sesame chicken: This is battered, boned, and deep-fried chicken that is then dressed in a translucent orange or red, mildly spicy and sweet sauce. It is prepared by mixing corn starch, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and chicken broth.

5.  Chinese chicken salad: It normally contains shredded or sliced chicken, fried wonton skins or crispy noodles, uncooked leafy greens and sesame dressing. There are some Chinese restaurants that serve mandarin oranges with the salad.

6.  General Tso's chicken: This is made from deep-fried chunks of chicken that are plunged in a batter and then seasoned with garlic, ginger, sesame oil, hot chili peppers and scallions.

7. Crab rangoon: It is made from fried wonton skins that is usually stuffed with cream cheese and surimi (artificial crab meat).

8. Fortune cookie: Fortune cookie was invented in California and is the westernized version of the Japanese omikuji senbei. American Chinese have sweetened Fortune cookies so they now appear in many of their restaurants.

9. Royal beef:  This is a sliced beef that is deep-fried and doused in a wine sauce. It is usually served with steamed broccoli.

10. Pepper steak: It is made from sliced green bell peppers, steak, tomatoes and green or white onions that are stir-fried with sugar, salt and soy sauce. Bean sprouts are not usually added.

11. Mongolian beef: This is beef that is fried with white onions or scallions in a spicy and usually sweet brown sauce.

12. Fried wontons: This is slightly similar to crab rangoon. A filling, very often pork, is wrapped in a wonton skin and then fried deeply.

13. Beef & Broccoli - This is flank steak that is cut into little pieces. Broccoli is then used to stir-fry it. Then it is covered in a dark sauce which is made with oyster sauce and soy sauce. Finally it is thickened with corn starch.

14. Sweet roll: This is just yeast rolls that are typically fried, covered in powdered or granulated sugar. There are some variants that are stuffed with icing or cream cheese.

American Chinese Regional Dishes.

1. Chow mein sandwich: This is sandwich made from gravy and chow mein (Massachusetts South east, Rhode Island).

2. Chop suey sandwich: this is sandwich made from chicken chop suey and put on a hamburger bun (Massachusetts North Shore).

3. St. Paul sandwich: egg foo young patty put inside in plain white sandwich bread (Missouri, St. Louis).

4. Springfield-style cashew chicken: This is a cashew chicken style that is made from the combination of cashews, breaded deep fried chicken and oyster sauce. (Missouri, Springfield).

5. Yaka mein: This is a Chinese-Creole food that is found in New Orleans. It evolved from Chinese-Creole to beef noodle soup.

Regional Variations.

San Francisco

Because of the influence California cuisine had on them, a lot of American Chinese restaurants have opened in the Bay Arean and San Francisco since early nineteen nineties. The American Chinese cuisine trademark dishes continued to be on the menu. However, there is much more emphasis on fresh vegetables, and the dishes are vegetarian-friendly.

Exotic ingredients are found in this new cuisine. For example we can find portobello mushrooms and mangos. Brown rice is usually offered but you can opt for white rice. In some restaurants grilled wheat flour tortillas is substituted for rice pancakes in mu shu dishes. This happens even in a few restaurants that are not known as California Chinese, both the more authentic places and the Westernized ones. There exists a bakery in Mexico that is into the selling of some thinner tortillas used by restaurant owners for making mu shu. However, Mu shu purists are not always happy about this trend.

Furthermore, we have a lot of restaurants that serve many more native-style Chinese cuisines because of the proportion and high numbers of ethnic Chinese in the Bay Area and San Francisco. Restaurants that specialize in Sichuanese, Cantonese,Hunanese, Shanghainese, Northern Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwanese traditions are available in many places, just as there are more specialized restaurants like Hong Kong-style diners, seafood restaurants and cafes (also called Cha chaan teng ), hot pot restaurants and dim sum teahouses. There are several Chinatown areas that also feature boba milk tea shops, Chinese bakeries, roasted meat, specialized dessert shops and vegetarian cuisine. In San Francisco Chop suey is not very much available, and the chow mein sold in this city is different from that sold in Midwestern.

Authentic restaurants that have Chinese-language menus may offer yellow-hair chicken (called wòhng mouh gāai in Cantonese Yale and called huángmáo jī in Pinyin, literally meaning yellow-feather chicken). This is just a free-range chicken, unlike the typical American mass-farmed chicken. This kind of chicken is valued for its flavor. However, it needs must be properly cooked to make it tender because of its lower fat content and its higher muscle content. The English-language menu does not feature this dish.

Since early nineteen nineties, Dau Miu (called dòumiáo in pinyin), a Chinese vegetable, has been popular, and now, it does not only appear on the English-language menus, often as pea shoots, but is frequently served by high-income non-Asian restaurants too. Initially, it was only seen during some months of the year, but now, it is inside greenhouses that it is grown and is available throughout the year.

Hawaii.

Hawaiian-Chinese food went through a little different development when compared to that in the continental U.S.A. As a result of the ethnicity diversity and the Chinese influence history in Hawaii, resident Chinese cuisine constitutes a part of the cuisine of Hawaii, which is a combination of various culinary traditions. There are some Chinese dishes that are typically served among plate lunches in Hawaii. There are differences in the names of the foods as well, like Manapua, which means in Hawaii chewed up pork, for dim sum bao, even though the meat does not have to be pork.

American Jews and the Chinese Restaurants.

The belief that American Jews eat in Chinese restaurants on the day of Christmas is documented by the media that it has a basis in fact. This tradition may have developed from the fact that there are no other open restaurants on the Christmas Day, in addition to the fact that there is close proximity of Chinese and Jewish immigrants in N.Y City. This has been portrayed in television and film.

Locations of Chain Restaurants Belonging to the American Chinese.

Panda Express: It is located everywhere in the United States and some parts of Mexico.

The Great Wall: It is located in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana and South Carolina.

China Coast: It was owned by General Mills Corp. but closed in 1995. It formerly had fifty-two locations throughout the U.S.A.

Manchu Wok:  It has locations throughout Canada, Japan, Guam, Korea and the United States of America.

P. F. Chang's China Bistro:  It has locations throughout the United States of America and it features fusion cuisines of the California-Chinese.

Leeann Chin: It is located in Wisconsin and Minnesota. It was formerly owned by General Mills Corp.

Pei Wei Asian Diner:  It has locations throughout the United States of America and is a subsidiary of P.F. Chang's.

Chinese Gourmet Express: It has locations throughout the United States of America.

Pick Up Stix: It is located in Arizona, California and Nevada.

Stir Crazy: It is located in Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, New York, Minnesota, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Texas.

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Causes and Management of Anxiety

Causes and Management of Anxiety

The psycho-dynamics of anxiety must first be understood before going to the causes. Some psychologists have described anxiety in general as an indirect and vague feeling that has no specific source or a fundamental cause. You may want to challenge this claim but the cause of anxiety the cause may be misunderstood or hidden.

Let us look at the specific tenuous mental states to which anxiety is related. There are 3 of them basically and is from them that emotional disturbances such as anxiety are derived.

1. Guilt.

Guilt naturally is the creator of psychic tension. It is the sense of personal wrongdoing that makes one deserve punishment. Guilt may be true, false, real, imaginary, moral or psychological. In either case, the psychic experience and tension are similar. When someone steals something, they may have a sense of guilt. However, imaginary or false guilt is the result of someone’s failure to meet the judgment or expectations of other people. Let us look at an example. Your child's peers may subject him to ridicule simply because he has not performed well in their sport's team, although your child has put in his best. This makes him feel like he he has failed or disappointed his friends. Therefore he feels guilty. This kind of guilt is unjustified because, morally, he should not be blamed for this offense. Some other secondary mental states that are often attributed to guilt are discouragement, depression, loneliness, despair, insecurity and so on.

2. Egoism.

This is another major tenuous mental state that may cause anxiety. If you suffer from egoism you are preoccupied with yourself and with your personal needs. Please note that anger is a common trait of an egoistic state of mind. There are 2 fundamental dimensions of egoism: superiority (or arrogance) and inferiority (or inadequacy). An arrogant person is compelled to obsessively strive to get personal attention and the praise or applause of others. His pride, exaggerated love of himself and his constant need for self-recognition usually make him judgmental, insensitive, and even merciless. We can see various examples in show business and professional sports. Jealousy, hostility, hatred, resentment, bitterness, and envy are some of the secondary mental states of arrogance or a superior disposition.

Inferiority or inadequacy, however, seems to be the more prevalent of the 2 dimensions in people who suffer from anxiety. Inferior disposition compels someone to be socially withdrawn from people or to feel intimidated around them. He may feel unloved, not worthy of personal recognition or even lack self-respect. He may also view himself as a total failure.

3. Fear.

This is third major tenuous mental state. However, it is not all fear that is malignant. We all need instinctive fear for our physical survival. Morbid fear is very harmful and can be recognized in a person who slavishly preoccupied with his own well-being and personal safety. A person, who has immoderate concern over maintaining or securing an admirable public image, reputation, material possession, good health and so on for himself, may produce morbid fear. Therefore, morbid fear in a person usually arises from his placing an exaggerated importance or value to such things like those that I just mentioned. Consequently, because his perception is overly distorted, the threat of damage or loss of those things may paralyze or even incapacitate him. For fear, the secondary mental states are insecurity, depression, panic, suspicion, and so on. Fear is also an important component of phobia, hysteria and paranoia.

Management of Anxiety.

Different schools of thought have been used to manage anxiety. Some therapists recommend some form of behavior modification like thought-stopping, relaxation training, modeling, and behavior rehearsal. Only some of these techniques have been proven to be helpful while behavior modification obviously has deficiency.

10 simple tips to manage your anxiety.

Whenever you feel anxious, use one or more of these strategies to help you cope with your anxiety:

1. Take a time-out.

Spend a few hours practicing yoga, listening to music or meditating. Apply a massage and other relaxation techniques. Step back from stress will help to clear your head.

2. Eat a well-balanced meal.

 Avoid skipping your meals. Take healthy and energy-boosting snacks when you have the need.

3. Help yourself by reducing caffeine and alcohol.

Doing this will help to prevent anxiety aggravation and panic attack triggering.

4. Get sufficient sleep.

When you are stressed, you body needs additional rest and sleep.

5. Exercise every day.

Doing this will help you feel and look healthy  maintain your health.

6. Do your best.

Stop trying or striving to be perfect. Perfection is not possible.

7. Accept and welcome humor.

 Welcome and enjoy humor. A good laugh will go a long way to help prevent anxiety.

8. Maintain a positive attitude.

Strive to eliminate negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones.

9. Get involved in volunteer work and be active in your community.

Find a way to be active in your community. You can volunteer, create a support network, etc. These will help you a break away from everyday stress.

10. Seek help from a therapist or a physician.

Talk to a therapist, a physician, friends or family about your feelings. Let them know you need their help.

I have listed above some simple tips that some people have found helpful. However, here is the best and simple management of anxiety that I have found to be most helpful:

When you first wake up each morning, just take out a few minutes to meditate for peace and tranquility, and not negative events that may not even come to reality, you will create a new life for yourself - a life filled with optimism. Fear, uncertainty and anxiousness will vanish.

When you create peace and tranquility in your life, and not the one filled with chaos and fear, anxiety will have no entry points in your body because tranquility and anxiety cannot live in the same space simultaneously.

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Anxiety in Children and Young people

 

Anxiety in Children

All young people and children get anxious from time to time as they grow up because it is a normal part of their development, and they must develop the skills they need to survive face challenges in their own world. Furthermore, they have different levels of stress they can cope with. Some young people are of course more anxious than other people, and respond more quickly to stress and worries.

If you think that your child or a younger one’s anxiety is affecting their everyday life, development, relationship or schooling, you need to learn how to tackle it.

How does anxiety affect young people and children?

Anxiety in your child can make him or her show any of the following reactions:

·         Feeling sick, shaky, dizzy and faint or developing stomach cramps

·         Fast breathing or difficulty in breathing

·         Fast heart beats (palpitations), tense muscles or sweating

·         Feeling like he or she might die

Although the above mentioned reactions make your child feel uncomfortable, they alert and make him or her respond more quickly to danger. However, when anxiety happens often, or at the wrong time, children’s thoughts and behavior can be affected in negative ways. Some of these are:

• Frequent feeling of panic, fear, embarrassment or shame.

• Lack of confidence to try something new thing, face a challenge or even behave normal.

• Difficulty in concentrating, eating or sleeping.

• Anger outbursts, that is, they get very angry rapidly, and loses control.

• Having negative thoughts or worries in their head, such as thinking something bad will happen every time.

• They can say or do certain things that can affect them.

Some Problems Anxiety in Children Can Cause.

1. If your child or young one is too anxious it can affect your whole family. Here is a good example: You (the parent) and your other siblings may often be worried about upsetting your anxious child and so may decide to cancel or change appointments, routines or some activities so as to accommodate the child’s anxiety.

2. Anxious children may not want to go to public places, or they find it difficult to see their friends, meet new people or participate in outdoor activities. This can reduce their development and affect their relationships.

3. Anxiety can reduce the performance of children and young people at college or school or even prevent them from attending altogether. This will have a negative effect on their learning and future opportunities.

4. Anxiety in children often makes the parents of the children themselves become very anxious, for example, while trying to protect their children from a stressful situation.

5. Anxiety in children can have many other unpredictable and negative long-term effects on the children

Common Causes of children’s anxiety:

1. Separation and new environments.

Many children pass through changes in their homes, such as family separation, moving to a new house, going to a new school or changing schools, having a family member who is dead or ill, usually between 1 to 3 years of age. This can create anxiety in the children, especially if they are attending a nursery school. This will make them to worry that a bad thing will happen to them or their parents, resulting in the feeling of insecurity which may in turn result in the feeling of not wanting to go out or try something new.

2. Fear and Phobias.

Of course it is normal for your child to pass through stages of being scared of certain things, animals or people like the dark, water, dogs, monsters or ghosts. These can make them get very upset and behave irrational because of fear. However, many children with time grow out of such fears as they grow up. If the child fails to grow out of these fears, they may become unable to cope with their daily life. This will make them to have phobias and eventually anxieties.

3. Social situations.

Some children may develop anxiety from social situations. This can happen if they feel nervous, are afraid of being in a group, or afraid of certain friends in the group. Some children may find it difficult to talk to their peers or people they are unfamiliar with in a social setting. They can also be affected by self-consciousness or by the fear that other children will judge them negatively.

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Understanding Anxiety

Understanding Anxiety

As long as we continue to suffer, strive or struggle as each day passes, we must experience anxiety. Anxiety can be defined as a mental tension which manifests itself in irritability, worry, uneasiness or apprehension. You can get anxiety as a result of uncertainty about your future or some impending events, or because you are unable to control your environment, state of your mind or affairs. Anxiety is a human being’s natural emotional response because of his endeavor to live and survive comfortably. Anxiety is your constant reminder that you have appalling frailty and an utter impotence to master your own destiny.

Although anxiety is closely related to fear, they are not mere synonymous words. You can define fear as both the emotional and psychological response to your sense of being in danger. This means that you are using fear basically as your survival mechanism to promote your self-preservation. However, anxiety is the warning signal of your increasing survival impotence. You can describe anxiety simply as "fear spread out thin."

How Anxiety Can Affect You.

Anxiety can affect and cost you extremely much because its effects are intense and far-reaching. We can put these effects into 3 fundamental categories: the physical, the social and the psycho-emotional categories Let us take them one after the other.

Physical Category.

Anxiety can produce a series of physiological discomforts. We can label a particular manifestation of anxiety under what we call psychosomatic symptoms, like palpitations of your heart, an upset of your stomach, a headache, a muscle cramp, or various kinds of body aches and pains. Chronic or sustained anxiety can put you in a deteriorating physical health condition. There are other long-term effects which are classified under functional and organic illnesses, such as dyspepsia and heart disease.

Social Category.

Anxiety can also strain your social relationships and retard your interpersonal development. If you are an extremely anxious person, you may have the tendency to avoid your social contacts, even your familiar friends, because you want to reduce your anxiety level. Social contacts have the tendency to produce feelings of uneasiness, suspicion and uncertainty, and your natural reaction to all these will make you alienated or socially withdrawn. That is why extremely anxious people learn to avoid people and live alone.

Psycho-emotional category.

Anxiety may also lead you to psycho-emotional disorders which can be serious. At first, anxiety reduces your performance by restricting your reasoning abilities, making you dull or limiting your imaginative thinking, and causing you general discouragement. Feelings of disorientation and depression may then ensue. Personality maladjustments are the eventuality.

6 Shocking Facts about Anxiety You Might Not Know. 

Below is a list of interesting facts about anxiety that you might not know:

1. Forms of anxiety like worry, fear, pains or muscle aches can rapidly shallow your breathing, increase your heart palpitations, cause you fatigue or headaches. These are some of the most common complaints often heard by doctors. But anxiety can do even worse, like worsen or provoke alcoholism, make you over-eat, cause bowel irritation, premenstrual problem, and several other medical ailments.

2. The number of women suffering from anxiety is more than twice the number of men. This reason for this, according to experts, is either that, women are somewhat more likely to have anxiety, or that men are more likely to pretend they are not afraid.

3. According to a research study, more than 65 million people living in the united States experience some anxiety symptoms; 30 million of them have a full-blown anxiety disorder.

4. 1 out of every 2 people living in the United States will have mild to moderate anxiety for at least 2 weeks in their lifetime; 1 out of every 4 people will suffer from an anxiety disorder.

5. It was discovered from a recent poll that more than 25 percent of the United States workforce is suffering from chronic stress and anxiety.

6. A research study has shown that a lot more people are suffering from anxiety than people suffering from other mental health ailments, and that less than 25 percent of them will be able to receive adequate help. These 25 percent will suffer unnecessarily from a curable and treatable anxiety condition.

Destructive Anxiety Disorders and Symptoms.

I have listed and explained below the top 5 types of destructive anxiety disorders and symptoms that affect millions of people in the U.S and other parts of the world. You should know about them because they can directly impact your life or those of your loved ones negatively and can be very destructive.

1. Anxiety Attacks: This type makes you feel suddenly like you are about to die, go crazy, pass out, or even lose control. This type of disorder is often called PD (an abbreviation for Panic Disorder).

2. Compulsions: This type gives you an urge to carry out certain rituals like repeatedly washing things, counting things in a particular way, praying, or repeating certain words silently. This type of destructive disorder is called OCD (meaning Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

3. Appearance Concerns: When you are attacked by this type, you feel very convinced that something is grotesque or abnormal about your appearance, although other people cannot see it. This one is called BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder).

4. Obsession Attack: An attack of this type gives you some upsetting thoughts you cannot get rid of, for example, fear of losing control and doing harm to others, confession of a crime you did not commit, contamination by germs or dirt. This type is also called OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

5. Chronic Worrying: This particular type makes you constantly worry about your work, health, family, finances or school. It is also called GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder).

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Anti-depressant Myths and Facts

Anti-depressant Myths and Facts

Anti-depressants are very addictive.

No. Anti-depressants are not like nicotine, alcohol, or tranquilizers. They do not require frequent increases of dosage to maintain any effect. Furthermore they do not make their users to crave them.  Although not addictive, people who are using certain classes of anti-depressants like SNRIs and SSRIs do experience some withdrawal effects which can occasionally last for a few months.  There are also a number of withdrawal indicators like stomach upset, anxiety, flu-like symptoms, dizziness and strange dreams. Antidepressants are also known to possess some potential mild and severe side effects, which I strongly suggest should be discussed with depression experts or medical professionals before the beginning of treatment.  However I want to assure you that anti-depressants are certainly not addictive.

Anti-depressants are the panacea for treating depression.

No. They are not any kind of magical happy pills! The reason is that the mood improvement effects they produce can take many weeks to notice. Anti-depressants are not like methamphetamines because they do not result in euphoria.  In actual fact, only about two-thirds of people having depression usually respond to any particular anti-depressant, and there is a limitation on the mood improvement they produce.

Anti-depressants are only a quick fix. They do not really treat depression.

After establishing the fact that anti-depressants can take up to weeks to produce effects, so we cannot classify them as a “quick fix.”  Although they can help you lift your mood a little bit, they are far more effective when combined with therapy to check any fundamental environmental issues that contribute to depression.  Other potentially therapies you can combine with anti-depressants are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (discussed above), light therapy and herbal remedies (though you must plan this carefully with your doctor).

People who use Anti-depressants gain weight.

This is only partially true. There are some people who gain weight because they are taking anti-depressants. Although I have seen people who gain weight after they start taking anti-depressants, this is not necessarily caused by the anti-depressant. For example, if you take an anti-depressant, the added medication can produce an improvement in your appetite, which you may have lost because of your depression, and this now causes you to gain weight. There are some other people that may even lose their weight because their emotional eating has dropped when they start taking an anti-depressant. Weight gain or weight loss side effect actually depends on the individual and the anti-depressant prescribed for them. If you are concerned about your weight, please discuss it beforehand with your doctor or medical professional.

Once you are on antidepressants, you are always on them.

How long it takes to treat someone’s depression entirely depends on the type of depression they are having. Many people who are on antidepressants stop the treatment after 6 months, whereas people who have experienced many major depressive episodes require a longer time for treatment.  If you commence an antidepressant plan and begin to experience a positive mood change, I will not be surprised if you wonder if you can feel good after stopping your treatment. Doctors normally recommend that depression patients should stay on their anti-depressant for a minimum of 6 to 12 months.  Beyond that time window, it is a personal choice to stop treatment, and it is also very important to consider the other factors that were responsible for the depression before the patient continues to depend on their newly medicated feelings of recovery. As a result of potential side effects from anti-depressant withdrawal, it’s crucial to not just stop taking antidepressants abruptly. Instead, reduce the dosage slowly with the help of your doctor.  Although an antidepressant may have helped you recover from a depressive episode, you do not always need it to feel normal.

Antidepressants reduce sex drive.

It is true that there are some antidepressants that possibly have sexual side effects. But they do not normally cause lack of sexual drive. What is more common to them is they cause inability to achieve an orgasm. However, if you are depressed, your libido can be demolished, so the introduction of an anti-depressant can sometimes really help you improve your sex life.

It is dangerous to combine Anti-depressants with other medications.

I strongly advise you to discuss any other medication you are taking with your doctor or pharmacist first.  Drugs generally can interact with each another. However, anti-depressants that are commonly prescribed, such as SSRIs, have rarely been known to interact or cause problems with other drugs. The only exception is the risk of increase in blood pressure when you take SSRIs with MAO inhibitors. Generally, SSRIs are safe to combine with nearly all other medicines. Again, always ensure you consult your doctor or pharmacist to be sure.

Conclusion.

If you are having depression you may need to use an anti-depressant to treat it, and you should consult your doctor. The earlier you treat that depression, the greater your chance of recovering quickly. If the first anti-depressant you tried did not work, do not be discouraged. Just try another anti-depressant. Doing that could really make the difference you are expecting and your depression could be cured. Once you start taking an anti-depressant, your mood should be monitored closely by your doctor or psychiatrist.

In addition to taking anti-depressants, I strongly recommend that you see a psychiatrist or psychologists for CBT. This combination worked very well for me for the past 15 years. That is why I have continued with both the CBT and the anti-depressants to make sure that the good quality of life I live today is maintained.

I have discussed several depression treatments on this blog though my list is not complete. You can search for more. So if you have depression, do not give up! Do not let depression destroy you. It is not you, it only lives in you and it can be removed!

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