Anxiety Symptoms, Types, Causes and Treatments

Intrusive Thoughts: 8 Ways To Stop Thinking About Something

Intrusive thoughts can be stopped using focused distraction, paradoxical therapy, acceptance, self-affirmation and more…

It’s one of the irritations of having a mind that sometimes it’s hard to get rid of negative, intrusive thoughts.

It could be a mistake at work, money worries or perhaps a nameless fear. Whatever the anxiety, fear or worry, it can prove very difficult to control.

The most intuitive method to get rid of intrusive thoughts is trying to suppress them by pushing them out of our minds.

Unfortunately, as some studies have shown, thought suppression doesn’t work.

However, the latest research has suggested that thought suppression may have benefits.

So, what alternatives exist to get rid of intrusive thoughts we’d rather not have going around in our heads?

In an article for American Psychologist, the expert on thought suppression, Daniel Wegner, explains some potential methods to get rid of intrusive thoughts (Wegner, 2011).

1. Focused distraction from intrusive thoughts

The natural tendency when trying to get your mind off, say, a social gaff you made, is to try and think about something else: to distract yourself.

The mind wanders around looking for new things to focus on, hopefully leaving you in peace.

Distraction does work but, oddly enough, studies suggest it is better to distract yourself with one thing, rather than letting the mind wander.

That’s because aimless mind wandering is associated with unhappiness; it’s better to concentrate on, say, a specific piece of music, a TV programme or a task.

2. Avoid stress

Another intuitive method for avoiding persistent thoughts is to put ourselves under stress.

The thinking here is that the rush will leave little mental energy for the thoughts that are troubling us.

When tested scientifically, this turns out to be a bad approach. In fact, rather than being a distraction, stress makes the unwanted thoughts come back stronger, so it certainly should not be used as a way of avoiding intrusive thoughts.

3. Postpone the thought until later

While continuously trying to suppress a thought makes it come back stronger, postponing it until later can work.

Researchers have tried asking those with persistent intrusive thoughts to postpone their worrying until a designated 30-minute ‘worry period’.

Some studies suggest that people find this works as a way of side-stepping thought suppression.

So save up all your worrying for a designated period and this may ease your mind the rest of the time.

4. Paradoxical therapy

What if, instead of trying to suppress a worrying repetitive thought about, say, death, you head straight for it and concentrate on it?

It seems paradoxical that focusing in on a thought might help it go away, but some research suggests this can work.

It’s based on the long-established principle of ‘exposure therapy’: this is where, for example, arachnophobes are slowly but surely exposed to spiders, until the fear begins to fade.

This approach is not for the faint-hearted, but research suggests it can be useful to get rid of negative thoughts when used by those tackling obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviour.

5. Acceptance of intrusive thoughts

Along similar lines, but not so direct, there’s some evidence that trying to accept unwanted thoughts rather than doing battle with them can be beneficial.

Here are the instructions from one study which found it decreased participants’ distress:

“Struggling with your target thought is like struggling in quicksand. I want you to watch your thoughts. Imagine that they are coming out of your ears on little signs held by marching soldiers. I want you to allow the soldiers to march by in front of you, like a little parade. Do not argue with the signs, or avoid them, or make them go away. Just watch them march by.” (Marcks & Woods, 2005, p. 440)

6. Meditate

Similar to acceptance, Buddhist mindfulness meditation promotes an attitude of compassion and non-judgement towards the thoughts that flit through the mind.

This may also be a helpful approach to get rid of negative thoughts.

There is a basic guide to mindfulness meditation.

7. Self-affirmation for intrusive thoughts

Self-affirmation is the latest psychological cure-all. It involves thinking about your positive traits and beliefs and has been found to increase social confidence and self-control, amongst other benefits.

It may also be helpful to get rid of negative, intrusive thoughts, although it has only been tested experimentally a few times.

8. Write about intrusive thoughts

In contrast to self-affirmation, expressive writing—writing about your deepest thoughts and feelings—has been tested extensively and it does have various health and psychological benefits (although generally only with a small effect).

Writing emotionally about yourself, then, may help to get rid of intrusive thoughts.

The disclaimer

A note on how to get rid of intrusive thoughts from Daniel Wegner:

“The techniques and therapies explored here vary from the well established to the experimental, but it should be remembered that, on balance, they lean toward the experimental…these assembled solutions for unwanted thoughts should be taken as hypotheses and possibilities rather than as trusty remedies or recommendations.”

That said, none of these techniques are likely to do any harm and all of them are probably an improvement on thought suppression.

Arachnophobia: How To Overcome A Fear Of Spiders

Arachnophobia, or the fear of spiders, makes them seem much more threatening than they are, however it can be cured relatively quickly.

Arachnophobia, the name for the fear of spiders, is one of the most common phobias, and largely irrational given that we are much more likely to kill them than they are to kill us.

People with severe arachnophobia are so scared of spiders they can’t even bear to look at a picture of one.

Arachnophobia is relatively common, with up to 50 percent of women and 18 percent of men being arachnophobes.

The arachnophobia rates vary from study to study — the exact figure probably depends on whether you draw the line at people who are absolutely terrified of them or at people who find them somewhat creepy.

Below is the psychological research on the roots of arachnophobia, what it does to the mind and how it can be quickly cured.

1. Arachnophobia may have ancient roots

It may be no accident that so many people have arachnophobia, or a fear of spiders.

One prominent theory of arachnophobia states that early on in human evolution, spiders posed a threat, so we’ve developed a sort of hair-trigger reaction to them.

You can see this in children as young as three.

When they are shown pictures of either spiders or cockroaches, the children are much quicker to spot the spiders (LoBue, 2010).

This is unusual since cockroaches are also unattractive creepy-crawlies.

Not everyone agrees with this evolutionary theory about arachnophobia, though, and some argue that we actually learn arachnophobia at a young age.

However much the fear is learned, there does seem to be an innate component: we can all learn to be afraid of spiders very, very quickly.

2. Arachnophobia makes spiders look massive

“OHMYGOD, there’s a MASSIVE one in the bath!”

Except to other people it doesn’t look that big.

For those with arachnophobia, the fear of spiders actually causes the spider to appear larger than it really is.

In one study, people with arachnophobia were asked to look at various sized tarantulas, then estimate their size (Vasey et al., 2012).

The more scared of spiders they were, the more they overestimated its size.

Naturally, this perceptual distortion hardly helps people with arachnophobia.

3. Fear of spiders makes them ‘loom’ closer

Similarly, people with arachnophobia perceive them as closer, if they come towards them.

One study had participants watching a video of spiders coming towards them.

They then estimated the ‘time-to-collision’ (Vagnoni et al., 2012).

The more scared they were of spiders, the more they underestimated this distance.

Co-author, Stella Lourenco, explained:

“The more fearful someone reported feeling of spiders, for example, the more they underestimated time-to-collision for a looming spider.
That makes adaptive sense: If an object is dangerous, it’s better to swerve a half-second too soon than a half-second too late.”

Unlike, say, a bull, though; a spider is unlikely to charge at you.

4. How to cure a fear of spiders

It’s possible to be cured of arachnophobia in one brief session.

Six months after a single session of therapy for arachnophobia, twelve people who were too scared to even look at a picture of a spider, could still hold a tarantula in their hands (Hauner et al., 2012).

The arachnophobia therapy itself involved slowly being exposed to a tarantula and having some mistaken thoughts corrected.

Dr Katherina Hauner explained:

“They thought the tarantula might be capable of jumping out of the cage and on to them.
Some thought the tarantula was capable of planning something evil to purposefully hurt them.
I would teach them the tarantula is fragile and more interested in trying to hide herself.”

5. Home treatment for arachnophobia

The usual treatment for phobias is slowly exposing people to their fears until they get used to them.

This is done in a graded way, starting with photos and moving on to live ones.

For those looking for a home cure for arachnophobia, here are three quick tips:

Watch someone else interact with a spider. This has been shown to help reduce the fear response in people with arachnophobia (Golkar et al., 2013).
Slowly get comfortable with being closer and closer to a spider–this is what psychologists call ‘exposure therapy’.
Describe your feelings out loud. Simply describing your feelings can help dissipate them according to a study by Kircanski et al. (2012).
Using safety signals can help people to cope with anxiety (Meyer et al., 2019). Safety signals can be anything from a picture linked to relaxing thoughts, to a piece of music or a place. Use them when worried about spiders.

6. Imagine spiders to reduce fear

Imagining spiders can also help people get over arachnophobia.

Repeatedly imagining something you are afraid of can set you free from it (Reddan et al., 2018).

The process of imagining an anxiety or fear leads to what psychologists call ‘extinction learning’ from arachnophobia.

Extinction learning means getting used to something you are exposed to repeatedly.

This study, though, found that imagining the threat, like a spider, is just as effective as being exposed to it in reality.

Professor Daniela Schiller, who led the study, said:

“We found that imagined extinction and real extinction were equally effective in the reduction of threat-related neural and physiological responses elicited upon re-exposure to real-world threatening cues
More specifically, neuroimaging results indicated that imagined extinction, like standard extinction, activated a network of threat suppression involving the ventromedial prefrontal cortex as a central hub.”

7. Faster treatment for being scared of spiders

More advanced methods have been discovered for curing arachnophobia faster.

For examples, when people are exposed to their fears in time with their heart beats, the treatment works even better (Watson et al., 2018).

Professor Hugo Critchley, who led the study, said:

“Many of us have phobias of one kind or another — it could be spiders, or clowns or even types of food.
Treatment usually involves exposing the person to their fear, but this can take a long time.
Our work shows that how we respond to our fears can depend on whether we see them at the time our heart beats, or between heartbeats.
You could say we’re within a heartbeat of helping people beat their phobias.”

For the study, 53 people with a fear of spiders were shown pictures of them on a computer screen.

Some were shown the pictures in time with their heart beat, others when the heart was resting and a third group randomly.

The results showed that spiders flashed up when the heart was beating led to the greatest reduction in fear of spiders.

The Reason Anxiety Is Socially Isolating (M)

Anxiety has a strange effect on this critical social ability, study finds.

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5 Relaxation Techniques For Stress And Anxiety

Relaxation techniques that are scientifically proven include progressive relaxation, autogenic training, meditation and cognitive-behavioural therapy.

Relaxation techniques for anxiety that are scientifically proven include progressive relaxation, autogenic training, meditation and cognitive-behavioural therapy.

Everyone gets anxious from time to time: there’s public speaking, job interviews, the dentist and all the rest.

For about one in six of us this will cross over into what psychologists term a disorder at some point in our lives.

This is when people are almost continuously anxious and find it difficult to concentrate, have trouble sleeping and become irritable and restless.

Women are roughly twice as likely as men to suffer from an anxiety disorder.

For the rest of us anxiety will come and go as part of the normal human condition.

Whether it’s a constant or occasional affliction, dealing with anxiety effectively is important.

People are often prescribed drugs for anxiety but these are less effective in the long-term and have side-effects so relaxation training is often preferred.

Relaxation techniques come in a variety of flavours, but the five methods which have much in common and the most evidence to support them are (Manzoni et al., 2005):

1. Progressive relaxation

The most commonly studied type of relaxation therapy may be familiar to you.

It involves mentally going around the muscle groups in your body, first tensing then relaxing each one.

It’s as simple as that.

And with practice it becomes easier to spot when you are becoming anxious and muscles are becoming tense as, oddly, people often don’t notice the first physical signs of anxiety.

This is based on the idea that the mind follows body. When you relax your body, the mind also clears.

2. Applied relaxation techniques

Applied relaxation builds on progressive relaxation techniques.

First you learn to relax you muscle groups one after the other.

The next stage is to cut out the tensing phase and move straight to relaxing each muscle.

Next you learn to associate a certain cue, say thinking ‘serenity now!’ (hello Seinfeld fans!) with a relaxed state. You then learn to relax really quickly.

Finally you practise your relaxation technique in real-world anxiety-provoking situations.

Once again, mostly this is about mind following the body.

3. Autogenic training

Goes back to the 1930s and is another technique for progressively relaxing the muscles.

To help you do this it has a mantra which you repeat to yourself as you go around major muscle groups: “my right arm is very heavy” and so on.

A second stage involves inducing a feeling of warmth in the muscles.

Once they feel ‘heavy’ from the first stage, you follow another mantra about warmth: “my right arm is very warm” and so on.

Further stages involve calming the heart and the abdomen and cooling the brow in much the same way.

Once again, you’ll notice that this is all about the mind following a calm body.

As before practitioners recommend daily practice so that you can relax more and more quickly.

With practice the simple intention to start the training will be enough to cause the body to become relaxed and warm.

4. Meditation

Here’s our old friend meditation which has so many different benefits.

There is certainly evidence that it can work for people who experience anxiety as well.

I describe the basics of mindfulness meditation in this article about attention and meditation.

Be aware that meditation is quite difficult and the drop-out rates are high from studies which investigate it (Krisanaprakornkit et al., 2009).

This suggests some people don’t find it particularly acceptable.

For people who can manage it, though, the results are often better than the other techniques (Manzoni et al., 2005).

Notice that this relaxation technique is much more actively related to the mind than the first three methods.

It doesn’t just target the body and wait for the mind to follow, instead it’s about the way attention is focused.

This may be partly why people find it harder. Still, it probably won’t do any harm to try.

→ Find out more about the benefits of meditation.

5. Cognitive behaviour therapy

Finally cognitive behaviour therapy, or CBT, targets both mind and body.

As it’s primarily a talking therapy you normally have to go to a psychologist who will help you target unhelpful thinking patterns.

But there are books available that explain how it works (I mention a few here: 6 Self-Help Books for Depression Recommended by Experts).

However these don’t specifically target anxiety, they’re mostly for mild depression.

Use multiple relaxation techniques

And there’s no reason why you should stick to only one approach.

When Manzoni et al. looked at studies which used multi-modal techniques, they found these were effective as well.

If you need to relax—for whatever reason and at whatever time—then try one or more of these different methods.

As you’ll have noticed the effective techniques share a lot in common.

Regular practice is the key and, if you give it a chance, the mind really will follow the body.

Panic Attack Symptoms And How To Deal With Them

How to deal with panic attacks, the signs, symptoms, causes, treatment and how it differs from a heart attack.

What psychologists call ‘panic disorder’ is a little different from the everyday use of the word panic.

Sufferers experience these panic attack symptoms:

intense fear,
a very strong physical reaction,
and the sensation of being about to die or losing complete mental control.

This article covers:

Physical panic attack symptoms
When to see a doctor
Causes
How to deal with a panic attack
Complications
Treatment
Lifestyle changes

Physical panic attack symptoms

Physical symptoms include:

shortness of breath,
chest pain,
upset stomach,
sweating and shaking.

That is why many people think they are having a heart attack.

Of course, thinking you are having a heart attack contributes to the panic.

This is all in the face of very little real danger — although it feels very different to the person experiencing it.

When to see a doctor for panic attack symptoms

Often people experiencing panic attack symptoms feel there is a physical problem. This is possible. That is why it is sensible to get checked out by a physician.

If they, or perhaps other people, suggest it could be more psychological, then panic attacks are a possibility.

Panic attacks are quite common among people who experience a lot of anxiety.

Causes

It is not known exactly why some people have panic attacks and others do not but it is likely the following factors are important:

Large amounts of stress
Genetic susceptibility
An anxious personality or being particularly prone to negative emotions
Changes in brain function

It is estimated that around 1 in 10 people experience at least one panic attack in a year.

They may not be frequent, but can be triggered by a situation or object that provokes deep fears.

For example, people who are fearful of social situations may have a panic attack at a party.

Or, people who are fearful of enclosed spaces might have a panic attack in a lift.

People who primarily have a panic disorder, though, can experience panic attacks apparently in response to little more than being afraid of being afraid.

It is often the fear of having a panic attack that starts the attack itself.

There is a kind of swirl of thoughts at the heart of panic attacks.

How to deal with a panic attack

One of the first steps in addressing panic attack symptoms is understanding and breaking down what is happening.

Stage 1: The first sign of disaster could be anything small that causes the first twinges of anxiety. It might be an upsetting thought, noticing a fast-beating heart or being in a certain situation.
Stage 2: As the anxiety grows — usually very rapidly — the physical symptoms get worse. The heart beats faster, the sweats start, the adrenaline flows. These physical sensations only seem to confirm those first twinges of anxiety: it feels as though it must certainly be a heart-attack or some other catastrophic problem.
Stage 3: Anxious thoughts have now become catastrophic thoughts. Naturally, this leads right back into more anxiety, physical sensations and so on…

Complications

Anxiety attacks should be treated because when they are severe they can interfere with quality of life.

Panic attack symptoms can leave people in a constant state of fear.

Some of the complications related to panic attacks include:

Often having medical care for health concerns
Developing specific phobias, such as agoraphobia or fear of driving
Alcohol or other substance misuse
Problems with finances
Avoiding social situations
Anxiety, depression, or other psychological disorders
Higher risk of suicidal thoughts

Treatment

More severe panic attack symptoms are best treated by a psychologist or other mental health professional.

Cognitive behavioural therapy is the best treatment for panic attacks.

They will recommend a variety of approaches, which might include:

Accepting the experience: reminding yourself that the experience will be over soon and you have survived it before.
Relaxation techniques: guided imagery, progressive muscle relaxation or any other activity that promotes relaxation can all help with panic attack symptoms.
Mindfulness exercises: Mindfulness involves learning to be in the present moment and to observe thoughts and feelings as they pass through the mind, without holding on to them or fighting them.
Breathing exercise: Taking slow deep breaths and focusing on those breaths is one of the easiest ways to address panic attacks in the moment. Notice the air filling your stomach as you inhale then count four as you exhale. Be aware of how you breathing slows as you continue to practice the exercise.

Doctors may also recommend medication, such as an antidepressant or antianxiety drug, although therapy is a better treatment for panic attacks.

Therapy does not have serious side-effects, like drugs, and it is not addictive or habits forming, as drugs are.

However sometimes a combination of approaches is recommended.

Lifestyle changes

A range of lifestyle changes may also be beneficial to anxiety attacks.

These can include:

Taking up meditation or yoga
Regular amounts of moderate exercise.
Managing sources of stress
Lowering or cutting out the consumption of alcohol, drugs, and caffeine.
Identifying and stopping negative thoughts.
Eating a balanced diet.
Using a support group for like-minded people.

9 Facts About Social Anxiety Disorder: Signs, Causes, Treatment

Facts about social anxiety disorder you should know include the signs if the condition, its causes and the best treatment.

The classic sign of a social anxiety disorder is a strong fear of embarrassment or humiliation in social situations, but it is much more than just feeling shy.

Around 13 percent of the general population are thought to have a social anxiety disorder.

Experiencing social anxiety disorder is linked to fewer romantic relationships, greater unemployment and fewer days worked, as well as lower productivity.

Here are nine facts your should know about social anxiety disorder.

1. Signs and symptoms of social anxiety disorder

Around 50 percent of people consider themselves shy, but social anxiety is more than that.

Social anxiety disorder is thought to affect around 1 in 8 people

The condition often strikes at important moments in people’s life and usually leads to a significant reduction in their quality of life.

The common symptoms of social anxiety disorder include:

blushing
excessive sweating
difficulty speaking
nausea
trembling or shaking
rapid heart rate
dizziness or light-headedness

Psychological symptoms include worrying about:

embarrassing yourself in a social situation
social events days or weeks before an event
other people will notice you are stressed or nervous
trying to blend into the background of social events

2. Best treatment for social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder is most commonly treated with antidepressants, but these are not the most effective treatment.

A study finds that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is more effective and the benefits continue after the initial treatment has finished.

Other ways of managing anxiety yourself include:

Support groups.
Eating healthily.
Complementary therapies like yoga, meditation and deep breathing.
Exercise.
Various mind-body approaches.

3. The causes of social anxiety

The fact is that there are a large range of factors that could influence whether you experience anxiety as a mental health problem.

Anxious personality. Some people are genetically prone to anxiety.
Childhood experiences. Bullying, hostile parents or other frightening experiences during childhood.
Long-term health problems like chronic pain are linked to anxiety.
Everyday habits such as working long hours, financial or housing problems and stress can cause anxiety.

Social anxiety disorder is also linked to higher levels of serotonin in the brain, not lower as previously thought.

People with social anxiety actually produce more of the neurotransmitter serotonin in their brains.

The more serotonin they produce, the more anxious they become.

The result is a surprise as social anxiety are often treated with SSRIs like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft.

SSRIs actually increase the levels of serotonin in the brain.

4. Antidepressants can help social anxiety

A combination of SSRI antidepressants and cognitive-behavioural therapy can be an effective treatment for social anxiety disorder.

Brain scans showed that the combined therapy reduced the neural response in the amygdala — part of the brain central to processing fear and anxiety.

5. Antidepressants have side-effects

While antidepressants can be effective, they are also associated with side-effects, and they don’t work for some people.

More importantly, the beneficial effects of medication tend to wear off after discontinuation.

6. Your friends like you more than you think

People with social anxiety disorder can find it difficult to make friends, but they are seen more positively by others than they imagine.

While social anxiety sufferers think their friendships are not of the highest quality, their friends are much more positive.

7. Acts of kindness can help

Performing acts of kindness — one of the steps in PsyBlog’s anxiety ebook — can help people with social anxiety mingle with others more easily, a study finds.

At the end of the study it was those who’d performed the acts of kindness who felt more comfortable in social interactions.

The acts of kindness seemed to help people deal with worries about rejection.

8. Exercise and probiotics for social anxiety

People who eat more fermented foods have lower social anxiety, a study finds.

Fermented foods that are a regular part of the Western diet include milk, cheese, yoghurt and bread.

They typically contain probiotics, which are likely behind the benefit.

The study also found that the more exercise people did, the lower their social anxiety.

9. It is never as bad as you imagine

It might feel like everyone can see exactly how anxious you feel, but that’s not necessarily the case.

People who have serious anxiety disorders consistently overestimate their symptoms in comparison to objective tests.

Severely anxious people, studies show:

do not sweat as much as they think,
their hands do not shake as much as they imagine,
and their breathing is not as erratic as it seems to them.

Ultra Processed Foods Linked To Depression And Anxiety

Depression and anxiety are linked to foods that make up 60 percent of all calories consumed in the U.S..

Ultra-processed foods are linked to both depression and anxiety, a large study finds.

People who eat more packaged snacks, reconstituted meats and sweet beverages have more days classed as ‘mentally unhealthy’.

They are also more likely to report having been anxious and feeling mentally unhealthy every day.

Ultra-processed foods tend to contain very little natural, whole food.

These foods are also the most addictive, containing high levels of refined carbohydrates that are quickly absorbed into the system, spiking blood sugar levels.

Dr Eric Hecht, the study’s first author, explained:

“The ultra-processing of food depletes its nutritional value and also increases the number of calories, as ultra-processed foods tend to be high in added sugar, saturated fat and salt, while low in protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals.
More than 70 percent of packaged foods in the U.S. are classified as ultra-processed food and represent about 60 percent of all calories consumed by Americans.
Given the magnitude of exposure to and effects of ultra-processed food consumption, our study has significant clinical and public health implications.”

The study included over 10,000 adults who were asked about instances of mild depression and the number of mentally unhealthy and anxious days they experienced.

The results revealed that those eating the highest levels of ultra-processed foods were 81 percent more likely to be suffering from mild depression than those who ate the least.

Professor Charles H. Hennekens, study co-author, said:

“Data from this study add important and relevant information to a growing body of evidence concerning the adverse effects of ultra-processed consumption on mental health symptoms.
Analytic epidemiologic research is needed to test the many hypotheses formulated from these descriptive data.”

The study was published in the journal Public Health Nutrition (Hecht et al., 2022).

The Stage Of Life When The Brain Is Most Sensitive (M)

In this phase of life the brain is especially sensitive to new memories, social stress.

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What To Say To Someone Who Is Scared

Fear and anxiety are emotions that can trap you, but facing them can help, explains a clinical psychologist.

Phobias and anxieties, such as social anxiety, are best dealt with by facing them.

It is not easy, but if done step-by-step most people can learn to deal with anxieties and fears — even overcome them.

Dr Suma Chand, a clinical psychologist who helps people with phobias, says:

“The most reassuring thing I can say to anyone about fear is this: All emotions change.
You will never stay in a panicky state for the rest of your life.
Persevere, and the fear will dissolve.”

Fear and anxiety are emotions that can trap you, says Dr Chand:

“The more you feed it, the stronger it grows.
Fear traps people.
Fear puts you in a box.
Your world gets smaller and smaller.
After a while, you’re avoiding the discomfort of the fear itself, rather than the thing you fear.
When you avoid the things you fear you feel safe and comfortable and you don’t want to do anything that will shake this safe cocoon of comfort.
However you pay a heavy price – your freedom to live your life like the way you really want to live.”

One of Dr Chand’s patients had exactly this experience:

“I saw an elderly lady who had a fall and broke her hip.
It was very traumatic for her.
After she recovered, she didn’t want this experience to repeat itself.
She became very cautious and avoided walking anywhere where there was a possibility for falling.
Although the fear had initially translated into rational attempts to exercise caution it turned into avoidance as she went overboard with being cautious.
The avoidance made her feel safe but caused her fear to grow.
She stopped going to the store, the mall and to yoga, all of which she had enjoyed.
Her social interactions became restricted as she began to stay home more, and avoided her favorite activities, because she was overly fearful about falling.
She began to feel low and hopeless as she saw her isolated, limited existence stretch ahead of her.
While the treatment is to face the fear, it is done in a manner that does not overwhelm the patient.
The graded approach made this patient feel less overwhelmed and also more willing to face her fear.
Once she began to attain success in facing her fear and recognized that what she feared was not happening, it was like a switch was turned on, and she went faster.
Soon, she was fine and back to her old activities again.”

Dr Chand describes when to address fears:

“The time to address a fear is when you find that it is causing you a lot of distress and it is affecting your life in a significantly negative way.
For example, many people fear snakes, which of course can be dangerous.
But they are not preoccupied with this fear and they don’t find that it is impairing their lives very much.
On the other hand, some people fear cats, which are unlikely to cause much harm.
They may find themselves regularly panicked by visits to friends’ homes if they have cats and so begin avoiding such situations.”

Social phobias

Social phobias are extremely common and people experiencing it often feel very anxious about all kinds of social situations.

Dr Chand says:

“I had a patient who had social phobia…
[…]
I asked her to look at her choices.
If she were to choose to step into the situations she feared in gradual stages there’s a chance that she would realize her dreams.
However if she were to opt for the choice to avoid them she was guaranteed that nothing would change.
The good news is that she opted to face her fears and challenge her fearful thoughts.
Today she is dating someone and they are well on their way to a long term relationship.”

→ Signs Of Anxiety: 21 Symptoms Everyone Should Know

The Most Common Mental Health Problem

The factors that predict recovery from the most common mental health problem.

Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental illness.

However, a study provides hope for recovery for those with anxiety disorders.

Fully 72 percent of people with a history of an anxiety disorder were free of it in the last 12 months, the research reveals.

On top of that, 40 percent were in excellent mental health and 60 percent had no other mental health problems.

A key to recovery from anxiety disorders is having at least one person to confide in.

This provides a sense of wellbeing and security which can triple the chance of recovery, researchers found.

Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson, the study’s first author, said:

“We were so encouraged to learn that even among those whose anxiety disorders had lasted a decade or longer, half had been in remission from GAD for the past year and one-quarter had achieved excellent mental health and well-being.”

The conclusions come from a group of 2,128 Canadians who had Generalised Anxiety Disorder at some point in their lives.

Professor Fuller-Thomson says the results are hopeful:

“This research provides a very hopeful message for individuals struggling with anxiety, their families and health professionals.
Our findings suggest that full recovery is possible, even among those who have suffered for many years with the disorder.”

People found it harder to recover from anxiety if they were depressed, had a history of substance misuse or had insomnia.

However, they were more likely to recover when married and having someone they could share their experience with.

Ms Kandace Ryckman, study co-author, said:

“For those with anxiety disorders, the social support that extends from a confidant can foster a sense of belonging and self-worth which may promote recover.”

Spiritual or religious beliefs also increased the chance of recovery by 36 percent.

Professor Fuller-Thomson said:

“Other researchers have also found a strong link between recovery from mental illness and belief in a higher power.”

The study was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders (Fuller-Thomson et al., 2019).