Free Yourself from Anxiety Read Free Page B

the worry makes it more likely that they will.
Specific phobias
    These are also known as simple phobias because they focus on just one thing. There are hundreds of these, from fear of thunderstorms to fear of injections.

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
    GAD is different from a phobia in that you feel excessively anxious but without a specific focus. You feel tense and unable to relax. You may feel many of the symptoms of a panic attack but without the climactic rush of panic. You may also be constantly worried about something bad happening to people you care about, and you may feel that your worrying keeps these people safe. The constant worry is very distressing and can make you feel that you’re out of control and might go mad.
Feeling unreal
    Some people describe a strange and scary feeling of being ‘not quite there’, ‘unreal’ or ‘not in my body properly’. This is not in fact an Anxiety disorder in itself, but it is mentioned so often that it needs explaining. It happens when someone breathes in a shallow, fast way, which upsets the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in their system. It is frightening but not dangerous.
    If you’ve had Anxiety for a long time, and think that you know everything it can throw at you, then it can be very frightening if these feelings of unreality suddenly develop on top of everything else you have to cope with.
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
    OCD starts with obsessive thoughts, which are so upsetting that you search for a way to get rid of them. If your way is to carry out compulsive behaviours then you have OCD. Compulsions often have to be repeated many times before it feels like the thought has been cancelled out.
    The obsessive thoughts are often about dirt and disease, or about harming someone, either by accident or by giving way to an impulse. Thoughts about germs may lead to compulsive hand washing or cleaning. Fear of causing harm can lead to checking gas taps, electrical connections or the car.
    Other compulsions may involve hoarding (newspapers, food or just rubbish), or a preoccupation with symmetry or arranging things in a particular order.
    Sometimes there is an obvious link between the compulsive behaviour and the object of the obsession – e.g. dirt and washing – but in other cases there appears to be no logical connection. For example, someone believed they had to touch every lamp post they passed to prevent something dreadful happening to a member of their family.
    Sometimes the compulsions are thoughts rather than actions. Obsessive thoughts about harming someone or doing something immoral or taboo, may lead to compulsive thoughts about prayer to cancel out the obsessive thoughts.
    Compulsions tend to increase over time, so that you have to do a longer ritual with more repetitions to achieve the same amount of temporary reduction in Anxiety. This is exhausting of course, and so someone with OCD can eventually get to a point where they avoid as far as possible the things that trigger their compulsions. This can mean, for instance, that someone with a cleanliness obsession actually becomes quite dirty because they can’t face the enormous ritual of taking a shower or washing their hair.
    If you have OCD you may well have always been a methodical, accurate and careful person. You may even have had a job that exploited these useful qualities. When you are under stress your useful qualities turn to OCD.
Understanding the difference between OCD and phobias
    Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between OCD and a phobia. There is a sense in which most Anxiety sufferers have an obsession – if you spend all your time worrying about having a panic attack, or findinga spider, or meeting someone in the street, then you are obsessed to a certain extent. And you could say that behaviours such as constantly checking a room for spiders, or crossing the road to avoid a meeting, have an element of compulsion to them.
    But there is an extra dimension to