Anxiety and Depression

Anxiety

According to Beyond Blue, “1 in 7 Australians is currently experiencing an anxiety condition which is equivalent to 2.71 million people today”. This has grown dramatically in the last couple of years due to Covid.

Common symptoms of anxiety include:

• Persistent, intrusive, worrying thoughts.

• Feelings of nervousness, restlessness or tension

• Feelings of impending doom or danger

• Increased heart rate

• Rapid and shallow breathing

• Sweating

• Trembling

• Lack of concentration

• Panic attacks

Only two kinds of people do not experience feelings of anxiety ever in their lives, namely psychopaths and dead people, so unless you come under one of these categories, you will feel anxiety at some stage. It is normal to feel some anxiety when we are stressed about things that stretch our capacity and take us out of our comfort zone or into the unknown, such as sitting for an exam, speaking in public or moving house to name a few. Or to have a specific fear or phobia such as flying, dogs, spiders etc. Once these experiences have passed, these feelings of anxiety usually subside. However, anxious feelings can sometimes persist beyond the experience of the known cause and also without any conscious underlying cause, stress or feelings of danger.  Persistent anxiety can be debilitating and disrupt every aspect of our normal life.

Anxiety is our nervous system screaming at us that it doesn’t feel safe and thinks we are in danger so prepares the body to run away or fight.  This is a great response if we are being chased by a lion but unfortunately, the body does not know the difference between a real threat to our life, such as being chased by a lion or a perceived threat to our life such as work demands or mortgages. It will respond when something is out of balance either emotionally or physically. Sometimes we are aware of why we might be feeling anxious such as in times of experiencing ongoing overwhelming stress, like a chronic illness, looking after a sick or elderly loved one, or being in an abusive situation. Or, from one-off trauma such as a car accident, death of a loved one or divorce. However, even after these experiences have subsided, anxiety can still be felt if accompanying thoughts, beliefs and emotions haven’t been processed, thereby keeping the experience still present in the body.

There is a growing body of evidence that supports the idea that anxiety can also be felt if the body is out of balance internally as well.  These can include; allergies, intolerances or sensitivities to substances and certain foods, toxicity from heavy metals, chemicals and additives, inadequate nutrition or hydration, poor gut health and responses to electromagnetic frequencies.

Anxiety does not have to be a permanent state to be managed. At I Body Therapies, we can help you become aware of what may be contributing to your feelings of anxiety and help alleviate these, bringing you back to balance.

Depending on the causes of your anxiety, we can help with:

• Kinesiology

• Hypnotherapy

• Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing and/or

• Tension Releasing Exercises

  
  

Depression

If anxiety is the activation of the fight/flight or survival response to threat or danger, depression can be seen as the third survival mechanism known as the freeze response. If we are unable to run away or fight the lion, we will freeze, so that it may not notice us. It is the brain’s most desperate attempt at surviving.  Immobilizing the bodi’s muscles and detaching us from our thoughts so that we don’t feel the pain that may be imminent.