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Coping With Anxiety

By Zinn Jeremiah

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 23Jan2008
Word count: 437
Viewed: 466 time(s)

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People likely tend to think of anxiety as a temporary response to some specific stimulus. For example, a person may be described as anxious about getting some piece of news. The reality is however that anxiety can be an extensive condition in itself. Anxiety in this case then isn't some temporary response, but an entrenched and chronic condition. This sort of anxiety is actually quite common, and is thought to be behind only depression as a frequently occurring psychological problem.

Anxiety is actually a broad term that can potentially describe a series of conditions. There is certainly overlap between anxious conditions in terms of symptoms and even treatment. Essentially, anxiety as a chronic condition involves being in an agitated state. For some anxious conditions, this agitation is situation specific; for other anxious conditions, generalized anxiety in specific, a sense of agitation seems to be nearly constant.

All people have been in an agitated state at one point or another. It's an uncomfortable way of being, to say the least. Considering being agitated for extended periods of time then can give one an indication of how the person with an anxious condition goes through their existence. As a means of avoiding the pain and discomfort chronic anxiety brings, people come up with different means of coping. Self-medication is a common response in a person with an anxious condition. This self-medication can take obvious forms, such as intaking alcohol or drugs that have a depressant effect.

A rather common form of self-medicating an anxious condition, or any other emotional disturbance for that matter, is eating. Certain types of foods especially seem to be consumed during anxious states. Sometimes referred to as comfort eating, these foods are often sweet and / or high calorie. The logic behind consuming high sugar, high calorie foods during anxiety or other distress is likely the immediate sense of physical satisfaction these foods provide. The problem with this coping strategy obviously is that these kinds of foods, while possibly temporarily easing anxiety, can physically damage the body over the long term.

Avoidance is another not uncommon strategy for coping with anxiety. In essence, people avoid those situations that cause an anxious response. When the anxiety-causing stimulus is quite common or very broad, however, avoidance as a coping method can become especially problematic, and can alter the way a person goes through life in a dramatic way. Thankfully there are effective ways for overcoming anxiety, permanently so, that are not disruptive or harmful. Because anxiety is a quite common condition, effective and safe treatment options are generally not difficult to find.

Zinn Jeremiah is an online author. Find help for anxiety by visiting anxiety help or anxiety treatment.

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