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    Anxiety Explained: Managing Anxiety and Stress Problems
    Anxiety Explained: Managing Anxiety and Stress Problems
    Anxiety Explained: Managing Anxiety and Stress Problems
    Ebook184 pages1 hour

    Anxiety Explained: Managing Anxiety and Stress Problems

    By Sabry Fattah

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    About this ebook

    This book will take you through the story of anxiety from its nature, manifestations, and causes to its treatment. It will describe the experience itself and how psychiatrists diagnose and classify the different types of anxiety disorders. We will also discuss the medical and psychological aspects of anxiety and the multitude of available treatments including psychotherapies and alternative therapies. This is followed by changes in Lifestyle which may help to overcome stress and distress, including the role of diet, smoking, caffeine, and alcohol in aggravating your anxiety. The way forward to self-help is outlined.

    The book aims to provide information and answers to common questions many anxious patients may ask. It will also offer many techniques to help you manage your condition by your own effort.

    Written by a consultant psychiatrist with experience in psychotherapy and management of anxiety patients for four decades, this book fills a gap in the available self-help library of books on psychological problems.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSabry Fattah
    Release dateFeb 8, 2020
    ISBN9780463992579
    Anxiety Explained: Managing Anxiety and Stress Problems
    Author

    Sabry Fattah

    د. صبري عبد الفتاح يعمل استشاري للطب النفسي في انجلترا . تدرب ومارس الطب النفسي بإنجلترا منذ عام1990 وحصل على زمالة الكلية الملكية البريطانية للأطباء النفسيين ودرس بجامعة لندن وأجري ونشرأبحاث بجامعة ادنبره باسكتلندا وهو حاليا مقيم بالمملكة المتحدة.

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      Book preview

      Anxiety Explained - Sabry Fattah

      Table of Contents

      About the author

      Preface

      What_is_Anxiety

      The Stress Hormone and Anxiety

      Types_of_Anxiety

      Anxiety_Disorders

      How_Anxiety_is_Treated

      Medication_for_anxiety

      Psychotherapy

      Cognitive_behavioural_therapy

      Alternative_Methods_of_Management

      Meditation

      Managing_Stress

      Diet_and_Anxiety

      Exercise and Sport

      Good_Sleep

      Alcohol_and_Anxiety

      Nicotine_and_Anxiety

      Caffeine_and_Anxiety

      Role_of_Faith

      Pathway_to_Self-Care

      Further_Reading

      Sources

      About the Author

      This book is written by a Consultant Psychiatrist. After obtaining his medical degree, Dr. Sabry Fattah  was trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy, run psychotherapy sessions and therapy groups for about 10 years. He obtained a master degree in Neuropsychiatry, and followed his studies in the United Kingdom where he became a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists London.

      Dr Sabry Fattah obtained a Master Degree in Neuroscience from the University of London, then worked as a Research Fellow at Department of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh. He has several research publications, and he worked as a consultant psychiatrist in the UK for the last 30 years.

      Preface

      If you suffer from anxiety; you are not alone: 275 Million people worldwide have a similar problem. That is around 4 per cent of the world population. According to one estimate, anxiety disorders affect 18 per cent of the American population. Another large population-based survey quotes that up to 33.7% of the population are affected by an anxiety disorder during their lifetime. So, anxiety is very common.

      Humankind has always had to face uncertain situations and stressful life conditions. Imagine the brutality of wars throughout history, tyranny and injustice, famines, natural disasters like earthquakes, disease, and sudden death. Those dangers have always plagued the human consciousness and took their toll on the mental health of our ancestors. Our modern life puts us under more stress because of the complexity and inconsistency of our world. The perception of a consistent world, stable values, common traditions, limited choices, religious solace, and moral stoicism have been replaced by consumerism, a barrage of conflicting views, decline in religious beliefs, hedonism, unlimited choices, and changeable values.

      Many of us struggle under unprecedented stress and we are driven to look for support and help. Clear evidence of that predicament is the large number of people suffering from anxiety-related disorders (both physical and psychological illnesses), and the commonness of drug and alcohol misuse (addictions). Mental health services are trying to cope with such pressure with limited resources of personnel and funding.

      We need to distinguish between everyday anxieties and worries from psychiatric conditions known as Anxiety Disorders. Everyday anxiety makes us worry about things such as paying bills, finding a job, a breakup, or any difficult social situation. Anxiety disorders breed unwarranted and constant worry without an immediate life problem, which causes significant distress and interferes with daily duties and responsibilities.

      Anxiety disorders have more than one form, for example, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety or Specific Phobia. In our daily life, we may be self-conscious or feel embarrassed, awkward, or uncomfortable in some social situations; but this is different from Social Anxiety Disorder. In Social Anxiety Disorder, the person withdraws from most social interactions for fear of being judged, humiliated, or badly embarrassed.

      Many of us experience nervousness or tension before exams, presentation, performance on a stage, or a job interview. This is not social anxiety or social phobia. We may face a realistic threat or dangerous situation in our life which stir fear in our heart then we forget it. This is not like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, in which we have recurring nightmares, flashbacks, fear, and avoidance of situations reminding us of the threat, several months after the threatening situation is over.

      People who suffer from anxiety disorders complain of symptoms similar to what we feel when we are distress and anxious. Muscles get tense up; the heart beats fast, hands become sweaty, the mouth becomes dry and hands get shaky. There may be a stomach pain or dyspepsia, aches and pains in muscles, tiredness, and lack of sleep. These are just a few of the manifestations of worry and anxiety. The difference between everyday anxiety and a psychiatric disorder is in the severity, duration, and impact on daily functioning. People who seek professional advice for their anxiety symptoms do so because their anxiety is intolerable and unmanageable, symptoms lasted longer than expected and affected their ability to cope with daily tasks, duties, and responsibilities.

      This is a book for anyone who is going through a period of anxiety, short or long, severe or mild. The book attempts to provide some information about anxiety and its disorders. It may be a useful guide for those who experience such emotions more frequently than usual or others who are already receiving professional help. In addition, the book reviews several self-help techniques and simple steps of life-style changes which may offer an extra benefit to many peoples who live a tense and worrying life.

      There are many good self-help books about anxiety in bookshops and this book may add some new viewpoint about the problem. Each new book adds a new perspective and highlights possible ways to deal with the problem from a different angle. This book is written by a consultant psychiatrist who has experience in the diagnosis and management of psychiatric disorders for four decades. The author has a good background in psychotherapy which would bring a dynamic psychological view into the discussion of this problem.

      This book will take you through the story of anxiety from its nature, manifestation and what causes it to treatment. It will describe the experience itself and how psychiatrists diagnose and classify the different types of anxiety disorders. We will also discuss the medical and psychological aspects of anxiety, the multitude of available treatments and available professional care outside the health care services.

      This book aims to provide information and answers to common questions many anxious patients may ask. It will also offer many techniques to help you manage your condition by your own effort. You have an important role in your own care and well-being over and above the input of health care professionals.

      Many people find it very helpful to understand the nature of their condition. Often, they have too much concern and worries which make them attribute their anxiety to serious physical conditions. When the anxious person identifies the triggers of his anxiety and succeeds in dealing with them, he will start to feel in control. This gives a lot of self-confidence and reassurance that anxiety is manageable and it is not a serious physical illness.

      The book contains techniques you may use to reduce your worries and tension. Some of them you can do by yourself, others with the help of doctors, therapists, or other professionals. Through the help of this book, we hope that you will get to know your anxiety problem more profoundly and find your way among the maze of available treatment methods, adding your own share in your recovery, and start to get well soon.

      What is Anxiety?

      Anxiety is a familiar experience in human life. Throughout centuries it took various names and meanings. The word itself goes back to Latin word angor which has its roots in the meaning of constriction or tightness; understandably the constricted soul or tight heart is a psychological feeling in anxious persons. It is angst in German and related languages. In French, it is anxiété from which the word anxiety is derived.

      Philosophers and physicians mentioned anxiety from antiquity. Medically, Ancient Greek physicians described it. Hippocrates, The Father of Medicine who lived in the 5th century before Christ, described a case of phobia in his books. He described symptoms that persisted for a long time in a man who repeatedly gets a feeling of terror when he hears music in a drinking party.

      Cicero, a great Roman orator, political leader and philosopher, wrote in the first century of Christian Era about anxiety and worry. Cicero distinguished between anxiousness anxietas as a trait (being a person who is prone to anxiety) and angor as a state of anxiety occurring in the current time.

      Seneca, the Stoic philosopher recognised fear of death as the source of anxiety which prevents a man from enjoying life, centuries before existentialists. He recommended focusing on the present moment; similar to the present-day mindfulness meditation.

      Epicurius, the Greek philosopher who lived in the third century before Christ, teaches that a happy life is a life free of worry. Such state of peace of mind is attainable if we get rid of negative ideas about the past, fears about the future, and just focus on the present time. That concept is still prevailing in some modern psychological therpies which promote mindfulness, positive thinking and the here-and-now focus.

      In 1621, Robert Burton described the symptoms of panic and social anxiety in his encyclopedic book The Anatomy of Melancholy.

      By the end of the 19th century, An American psychologist included anxiety in his description of neurasthenia which is a mix of general malaise, neuralgic pains, hysteria, hypochondriasis, symptoms of anxiety and chronic depression. Pierre Janet coined the term psychasthenia to distinguish anxious manifestations triggered by subconscious fixed ideas from hysteria. We must give credit to Sigmund Freud - the founder of psychoanalysis - for coining most of the terms used in anxiety disorders, such as anxiety neurosis, phobia, obsession, compulsion, and traumatic neurosis.

      Current categories of anxiety disorders are detailed in two systems of classification and diagnosis: The American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in its fifth revision (known briefly as DSM-V) and the International Classification of

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