Although anxiety is often an unpleasant feeling, it’s actually a healthy response to certain triggers. There are many situations that come up in everyday life when it is appropriate and reasonable to react with some anxiety, that’s because anxiety — as in day-to-day concern about say, crossing a busy street or about a persistent toothache — helps keep us safe. It’s also a natural response to stressors. If you didn’t feel anxiety in response to everyday challenges involving personal loss or failure, something would be wrong.
“Normal” anxiety is proportionally related to a specific situation or problem and lasts only as long as the situation or problem does. For example, it’s completely normal to feel anxious about speaking in front of a large group of people or meeting an important deadline at work, but that anxiety should subside once the meeting is over, or the deadline passed.
Anxiety disorders may have slightly different signs and symptoms, and different types of triggers and behaviours. You may have an anxiety disorder if your symptoms make it difficult to carry out daily activities, cause you to avoid opportunities, or simply feel intolerable.
​
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is, simply put, our bodies built in security system. A physiological and psychological response that occurs when the body and mind encounters stressful, dangerous or unfamiliar situations.
​
We all feel some degree of anxiety when confronted with a threat — either real, or perceived. Both situations can trigger adrenaline and your body’s fight-or-flight response, a physiological reaction that prepares you for survival.
Perceived threats can often feel like actual threats to our well-being, even though there may be no real harm. But whether these threats are perceived or not, any threat can feel real enough when they put us on edge and trigger our ability to feel anxious.
Symptoms of anxiety
You may notice several signs of anxiety. You can have a physical response, like:
​
A racing heart
Sweating
A knot in your stomach
Nausea and vomiting
Muscle tension
​
Other symptoms that might surface include:
​
Restlessness
Fatigue
Difficulty focusing
Irritability and mood changes
Inability to sleep and other sleep disturbances
​
The symptoms of anxiety vary from person to person, and they grow in severity based on the cause of stress. But in most cases, anxiety occurs when a perceived threat triggers these symptoms for a prolonged period of time and disrupt your daily life. You can experience physical signs of anxiety or mental and emotional signs of anxiety, and sometimes, even all of them at once.
Types of anxiety disorders
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Panic Disorder
Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
Health Anxiety
Separation Anxiety Disorder
Phobias
(**Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) used to be considered anxiety disorders, but are now classified independently – we have standalone workshops for these**)
How can this workshop help with my anxiety?
The world health organisation estimate that anxiety disorders are the world’s most common mental disorders, affecting 301 million people in 2019, but how many of those people really understand WHY their bodies are responding the way they are? The amount of people we will encounter who believe they can "get rid" of their anxiety is astonishing, and unfortunately, it's not possible. As we mentioned above, it is a "built in" security system - that when it is working properly, has mostly likely saved your life more times than once. However, like any kind of security system - it can malfunction.
Our workshop focuses first and foremost on psychoeducation (learning about anxiety), we believe it is very difficult to take control back from your anxiety if you don't fully understand how it works.
We will suggest specific skills to improve symptoms.
Focus on changing negative thought patterns and reducing avoidant behaviours.
Using techniques like cognitive restructuring, thought challenging, behavioural activation, journaling, and relaxation.
​
Another key part of the workshop is sharing your own experiences, and hearing other people's. Sometimes that social support, and knowing you aren't alone (or going crazy with your thoughts) can be very therapeutic in itself.
Although every persons "security system" can be different, as can their real and perceived threats, and overcoming your anxiety will take much more time than 3 hours to do, we are confident you will walk away from this workshop with the knowledge, applicable skills, and support you need to get started on the road to reclaiming the control we know an anxiety disorder can take away from you.
“He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.”
​
— Michel de Montaigne