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STRESS & ANXIETY
LA and OC Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and Counselor
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Stress and Anxiety
Stress and Anxiety
Stress is, an inevitable survival response to events or perceptions in our everyday lives and is reportedly on the rise.
Stress is a bodily response to the sense of threat in our environment and can be related to:
- Relationships
- Pressure in balancing home and career
- Finances
- Health issues: Acute and Chronic illness, Chronic pain, Surgeries and Medical Trauma
- Grief and loss
- Accidents
- Depression, to name but a few stressors that we all face in our everyday lives
When we are stressed, the part of the brain that is activated is the fight, flight, freeze or submit response in the oldest part of our brain, the reptilian brain. We know the physical signs: Who has ever been stressed about something in their life? Who knows someone who is suffering from chronic stress?
When our brains reset on constant default stress levels, we experience things like chronic anxiety, fear, and anger. Our bodies are pumping adrenaline, cortisol and other chemicals preparing us for "fight or flight" throughout the day. Over time, this causes not only mental health issues, but has been linked by scientific research to high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, chronic immune response problems, chronic inflammation, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, memory problems, premature aging and even premature death.
Anxiety
There are short term anxieties that we experience from time to time that are relatively mild and pretty common to the human condition such as speaking in public! However, for anxiety that lasts for longer than six months, a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder is appropriate. This is serious and can get worse if left untreated. While each type of anxiety has different symptoms, all symptoms include excessive, irrational fear and dread.
Unlike the relatively mild, brief anxiety caused by a stressful event (such as speaking in public or a first date), anxiety disorders last at least 6 months and can get worse if they are not treated. Each anxiety disorder has different symptoms, but all the symptoms cluster around excessive, irrational fear and dread.
Like depression, anxiety disorders often co-exist with other mental or physical illness as well as substance abuse; these conditions, of course, often exacerbate the anxiety as one would imagine.