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Anxiety can range from mild to
severe. Milder symptoms include
nervousness, feeling tightness
or pain in the chest area or stomach,
worrying, difficulty sleeping and
shyness. More severe symptoms may
interfere with work or social functioning
such as excessive fear of leaving
the house, crossing a bridge or
being in crowded public places.
It
can be helpful to understand, as
best as possible, when the anxiety
started and what keeps it going. Anxiety
can be due to a chemical imbalance, however, it can
also be due to a sense of feeling insecure inside,
inability to process emotions, allowing negative thoughts
to be in control, ineffective breathing and more.
PTSD can occur
following a recent traumatic event
(car accident, surviving a fire,
rape, assault) or it can be a more
chronic condition left over from
childhood where there was abuse. Some
symptoms include: recurring nightmares,
flashbacks, an inability to perform
daily tasks, startling easily, having a restricted
range of affect, having a sense of a foreshortened
future, difficulty falling or staying asleep, irritability
and outbursts of anger and hyper vigilance.
A person
recovering from PTSD needs primarily
a safe and supportive place to
work through and heal from the
trauma. Talking about the
trauma is part of the recovery
process. Actively changing
ways of thinking and feeling, creating
boundaries and learning relaxation
are some ways of managing PTSD.
Therapy
for stress management could include
first looking over your lifestyle
and seeing if any changes could
be made there to reduce your
stress. In addition
I would suggest ways of relaxing
and managing stress and we would
explore these during the session.
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