All About Anxiety | Fresh Insight

Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of fear, dread, or unease that triggers our body's fight or flight response. While it might feel unpleasant in the moment, it's a normal and important emotion that we all experience. Without anxiety, we wouldn't feel compelled to meet an important deadline or study for a big exam.

That said, anxiety exists on a continuum. On one end of the spectrum is someone who experiences anxiety situationally: while they're affected in the moment, they can cope effectively and go about their life thereafter. On the other end is anxiety that is so persistent and intense that other areas of life are affected, such as relationships, sleep, and/or work. Many people fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum, and recognizing where you are on this spectrum can help guide what support you might need.

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FAQs about Anxiety

Anxiety is a very normal and healthy emotion to experience. We might experience it before a big presentation, an important life decision, or an exam. This type of anxiety is temporary, proportional to the situation, and doesn't significantly interfere with day-to-day life. Once the stressful event passes, the anxiety usually fades.

When someone has an anxiety disorder, the anxiety is more persistent, intense, and often out of proportion to the situation. As a result, it can interfere with daily functioning, making it hard to work, sleep, or maintain relationships. In some cases, the anxiety might become so severe that someone experiences panic attacks.

Someone with an anxiety disorder likely experiences:

- Excessive anxiety and worry that occurs more days than not

- Difficulty controlling the worry

- Physical symptoms like restlessness, feeling on edge, or muscle tension

- Significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning

There are many different types of anxiety disorders, according to the DSM-5, the standard classification of mental health disorders used by health professionals. Some of the most common ones include:

- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): persistent, excessive worry about multiple areas of life. The anxiety is non-specific, meaning you might worry about your relationships, work, friendships, and more. According to The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, GAD is the most common anxiety disorder within primary care settings. Additionally, Canadian data suggests that 1 out of every 12 individuals in Canada will experience GAD at some point in their life.

- Social anxiety: intense fear of social situations or being judged by others

- Panic disorder: recurrent, unexpected panic attacks with intense physical symptoms

Here are some signs it's time to seek help for your anxiety:

You're avoiding things you used to like: whether you're no longer going out in public, avoiding certain friends, or saying "no" to social engagements, this is a sign it's time to seek support.
Other areas of your life are being impacted: perhaps the anxiety gets in the way of your relationships or makes focusing at work difficult. If you're unable to do what you used to do, therapy can help.
The anxiety feels unmanageable: if the anxiety feels constant or you feel overwhelmed with how to cope, we're here to help you make sense of the experience and learn how to cope.

A qualified mental health professional can evaluate symptoms, duration, intensity, and the impact of anxiety on your daily life. They ay use structured interviews or questionnaires to determine whether your anxiety meets the criteria for a disorder and rule out other conditions.

In Canada, only psychologists and psychiatrists can make a formal diagnosis for a mental health disorder. Registered Psychotherapists can provide educational resources, but it is outside of their scope of practice to make a formal diagnosis.

Therapy can help you:

Assess what environmental factors in your life might be maintaining or worsening the anxiety. From there, you can explore tweaks that can eliminate these factors or help them feel more manageable.
Identify and challenge your interpretations of day-to-day events in ways that are more accurate, realistic, and useful.
Develop mindfulness-based skills to help you examine thoughts rather than see them as facts that are 100% true.
Gradually face feared situations to enhance your distress tolerance and rebuild your life.
Manage physical symptoms of anxiety through techniques from somatic and sensorimotor psychotherapy (modalities that focus on using the wisdom of the body to cope with symptoms).

Absolutely! In fact, Fresh Insight's Owner & Founder, Kristina Virro, is both a nutritionist and psychotherapist due to her interest in how mental and physical health intersect. Generally speaking, increasing exercise, reducing caffeine and alcohol, and practicing relaxation techniques can all help. You can also email hello@fresh-insight.ca to book a nutritional counselling appointment with Kristina.