Stress and Anxiety

[TerryG]

As you know it is my wife who suffers from terrible anxiety.

Recently she has left her work as a hairdresser and gone out mobile hairdressing. She was so excited about this that her symptoms started to calm down somewhat.

The other day her last boss telephoned her and immediately the dear wife had a severe anxiety attack.

There is no doubt that some form of stress does trigger an episode that takes quite some time to control. I was wondering how many others might see this as possibly their main trigger and how they deal with it.

[Robbed]

When it comes to anxiety triggers, there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, anxiety disorder is generally CAUSED by stress. In other words, it is stress (either acute OR chronic) that tends to bring on the anxiety state as a whole. But once the anxiety state has taken hold, things become somewhat more complicated. For instance, stress MAY precipitate anxiety attacks. But it is not NECESSARY. Specifically, the brain tends to operate in a more erratic fashion when in an anxiety state. So anxiety attacks can occur without any apparent trigger.

[TerryG]

Yes Robbed that is very true and you have made a good point.

I see the problem being able to put in place some fail safe strategies under a sudden stress episode such as I described, that it would be so difficult to manage the onset of an attack.

It is for these reasons I would think that suffers withdraw from society to avoid such conflicts. I do not want to give up on this and really do believe there must be some way that these types of occurrences can be managed to some level rather than to withdraw from life.

To take it one step further I would imagine that any stress trigger would be enough to set off an attack. Whether it be a minor incident or chronic. Non sufferers would deal with it but what does a sufferer do to manage the symptoms which leads us to your exact point, and correctly pointed out, the erratic fashion that the brain tends to operate.

Would you suggest that in these type of circumstances one would practice their techniques, cease the interaction or is there some other technique appropriate for these circumstances.

[CallMeCrazy]

I had to leave my job because I felt terrible for a whole week after getting dehydrated. I just couldn't stand the thought of having to sweat in the heat all day anymore. I've felt dizzy and not hungry. I don't really feel nervous so I have this is some type of probably other than anxiety. Stress can make the body do crazy things though.

[bio]

Thats correct Robbed.

May I add, anxiety attack can also be triggered while watching our favourite tv channel, talking with friends about interesting topics and reading to name a few.

Thank God, I never had an attack while surfing the net fortuntely.
As such, to remedy it, I would go to internet for hours.

However, I have no doubt that stress exaggerates anxiety attatk.
Due to that belief, I choose to carefully managing anything to avoid overkilling stress.

[Robbed]

May I add, anxiety attack can also be triggered while watching our favourite tv channel, talking with friends about interesting topics and reading to name a few.

Then again, when this happens (and I know what you are talking about), are the anxiety attacks REALLY being triggered by these things? Or are they just coincidently happening at that time? It's really hard to say. Regardless, if these situations do indeed trigger anxiety attacks, then it is probably just a result of the brain being 'out of whack', rather than there being some deep-seated negative meaning associated with these things (as practitioners of traditional CBT might suggest). Therefore, if this DOES happen, it is probably MUCH more helpful to try to stay calm and 'float' throught the situation than it is to try to dig up some negative meaning (which probably doesn't exist) and try to replace it with a more 'positive' thought. Doing the latter in such a situation is likely to just increase stress, and, therefore, anxiety.

[TerryG]

Hello Robbed,

Any chance you might elaborate on "float" is this a technique or strategy. You have me interested. Thanks for your help as well.

[TerryG]

At this point in time my wife blatantly refuses to speak with her ex boss and now avoids situations where she places herself in a stressful situation.

The technique she is now using is one of arrogance and selfishness but in a good way where she is self preserving her sanity.

It seems to be working and she is then able to cope with situations that continually try to present themselves in front of her just doing normal daily activities.

Can anyone else provide another strategy such as this, as I am sure there are some mechanisms one could use to avoid an attack.

[TerryG]

Just a quick update.

At present my wife has been reading a lot about self hypnosis. The techniques used seem to have a calming affect on her. I have also noticed she has a lot more patience, possibly peace of mind, during the day.

I read a fair bit about it and it seems easy to do. Also there are mp3 recordings on the net that can be downloaded for relaxation.

I suppose being armed with another technique to manage anxiety attacks cannot hurt and self hypnosis seems to be a winner at this stage.