What is Anxiety? Part 1

anxiety

Over the next 2 weeks at Journey to Joy, I will be discussing Anxiety: What it is, what it feels like, the impacts, causes, and treatment.  It’s very common for people to experience Anxiety, but not realize that it is actually Anxiety.  Often they refer to it as “anticipation”, “nervousness”, or just “stress”.  Anxiety can differ from person to person, but there are a few symptoms that are always consistent. According to the DSM-5, which is the diagnostic tool that mental health professionals use, certain criteria must be present for a clinical diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder.  The criteria include: Excessive worry about a variety of topics, activities, or events for 6 months or more. The worry is difficult to...

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Is Fear Driving Your Life?

fear

Fear is a natural emotion given to us to help us survive.  However, it can also be taken to an extreme, where it dictates your life and interferes with your functioning.  Fear can become dysfunctional and harmful when it comes from trauma, cognitive distortions, mental illness, shame, an unhealthy upbringing, or perfectionism. Fear is both a positive and negative emotion.  It’s positive in that it sends a “Danger! Alert!” warning to our brains when something seems off.  Its purpose is to keep us alive.  Sometimes we will experience a gut feeling or intuition that tells us something is wrong, even if we don’t have all of the information. Fear is also a negative emotion, in that it holds us back. ...

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