ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION
Anxiety and Stress
While stress is caused by external factors, anxiety is a fear of the future and doesn't leave when the trigger has gone. Many people today are locked in high anxiety and stress which is exhausting emotionally, physiologically, mentally, and physically.
While some people experience anxiety in their thoughts, others are more likely to feel the emotions physically or somatically, holding the tension in the neck, shoulders, stomach, eyes or face. Other people have been masking anxiety for such a long time that they are experts at concealing their symptoms. This has been the case for the women in my family for several generations.
Different factors contribute to developing clinical anxiety. About 30% is genetic, some is environmental, and research now shows a link between anxiety, gut dysbiosis, and inflammation. Different conditions have anxiety at the root cause including:
- Social anxiety
- Social phobia
- Obsessive compulsive disorder
- Generalised anxiety
- Panic attacks
- Panic disorder
- Agoraphobia
- Health anxiety
- Perfectionism
Depression
Depression and anxiety exist on different sides of the same coin. In a sense, depression is the negative thoughts of anxiety, but without the adrenaline, and with all of the heaviness and lack of motivation you can imagine. Depression is the definition of clinical misery and it can consist of high levels of sadness, low self worth, hopelessness, helplessness, low motivation, a lack of energy, withdrawal from friends and family, poor sleep, and thoughts of self harm and suicide.
As bad as all of this seems, it is good to realise that depression is a syndrome, it is a state of mind, and it is highly treatable.
Psychological therapy is a wonderful treatment for anxiety, depression and stress. Many clients who attend therapy at the Engel Clinic report improvement in their first two sessions.