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Anxiety

Feeling anxious during day-to-day life events can be perfectly normal.

Everybody has feelings of anxiety as a response to life events like exams, waiting for medical test results or job interviews. However, repeated stressful situations make it hard for some people to control their worries, which become intrusive, debilitating, affecting their daily lives.

Talking therapies can help dispel negative automatic thoughts and beliefs by challenging established assumptions, and in the case of CBT techniques reset behavioural responses by changing a person’s perspective.

The dilemma is, every client is unique, their perception of fear and sadness is a reflection of their personal history and subject to environmental factors.

GPs can assist anxiety sufferers wanting to access ‘talking therapies’ by prescribing anti-anxiety medications without which they may be unable to proactively engage in the process.

This hyper-vigilant state can also be caused by other mental health problems, for example: panic disorders, OCD, phobias like agoraphobia and claustrophobia, as well as a symptom of PTSD and social phobia.

Long-term anxiety

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is a long-term condition, causing anxiety most days about a wide range of situations and issues, rather than just one specific event, making it hard to remember when they last felt relaxed. Each anxious thought triggers another, not necessarily logically, jumping between wholly different issues.

Simply put, ongoing anxiety compounds the rates of cortisol produced as a stress response, which can cause an anxiety spiral. Chronic anxiety can sensitise neurons, effecting that person’s behavioural patterns. It’s not unreasonable to recognize the significant negative correlation between chronic stress, traumatic life-events, sensitisation and mental health.

A GP’s use of anti-anxiety medication becomes clearer when a clinician recognises they can’t change environmental/social factors like unemployment, financially compromised and social isolation that may be causing the severe anxiety. Biology (the brain), psychology (the mind) and social (environment/support network) are interdependent - affecting one, can adversely alter the balance of the others. 

Anxiety has a ‘catch 22’: being anxious makes it challenging to reach out for support or help from someone you don’t know - the very process of seeking help can be stressful, causing yet more anxiety. The combination of GP support, and empathic counselling can alleviate these initial fears by using different methods to suit each client. As a counsellor I can offer remote sessions by telephone/email/zoom, or informal ‘walk and talks’ (following ethical guidelines) and when able; face-to-face sessions. See FAQs, or for further information and to make an appointment follow the contact link below.

If you in distress and require immediate psychological support contact the Samaritans free from any phone 116 123.