Tips For Coping With Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Learning a few tips for coping with your generalized anxiety disorder can help you to gain back control of a life that has otherwise been out your control. Working closely with your therapist, who can offer you a much wider range of coping skills, you can find the most effective means of coping with this anxiety disorder.
Tip One: Relaxation Techniques
When your anxiety symptoms are threatening to take a hold and disrupt your daily routine, you will find that your body has an acute physical reaction.
• Your heart will start pounding
• Your muscles will being to tense
• Your rate of breathing will increase
• Your blood pressure will rise
Compare these negative and frightening physical reactions to how your body reacts when relaxed.
• Your heart rate will be steady
• Your muscles will be relaxed
• You will be breathing at a steadier rate
• Your blood pressure stabilizes
By strengthening your ability to relax in response to stress and anxiety triggers, you will be in a better position stave off the symptoms of GAD. Some of the relaxation techniques that you might find beneficial include meditation, deep breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation.
Tip Two: Set Aside Time, Each Day
Every day, try to set aside at least thirty minutes for you to work on your relaxation exercises. The more that you practice your relaxation techniques, the better you will be equipped to swiftly combat the symptoms of your anxiety disorder.
Meditation techniques have shown to be hugely effective at reducing stress and, as a result, reducing the symptoms of anxiety. With regular practice, you will be able to effortless meditate to remove yourself from the anxiety that is threatening to overwhelm you. Anxiety can make your rate of breathing increase. This type of hyperventilation can cause you to feel dizzy, out of breath, light headed; these physical responses can also lead to even further anxiety and panic attacks. By taking steady deep breaths, and focusing on those breaths, you can gradually reverse your anxiety symptoms and find the relaxation you need.
Progressive muscle relaxation will not only help you to ease your muscle tension, but focusing on these types of exercises will help to provide a focus for your racing thoughts. In this technique, you will systematically tense groups of muscles and then release them. As your body gradually relaxes, your mind will be able to follow suite.
Taking a yoga class, or a Tai Chi class, can also help you to learn new techniques for meditation, relaxation, and also how to focus your attention on your breathing. The more positive techniques that you incorporate into your arsenal of coping skills, the better prepared you will be when the symptoms of your generalized anxiety disorder are escalating.
Tip Three: Re-evaluating Your Worries And Concerns
Perhaps the primary symptom of your GAD involves a feeling of constant worry and overthinking every process, every person, and every action. You worry about the people around you, you worry about going to a new place or having to talk to new individuals, you worry about the worst case scenarios that could potentially crop up and cause you no end of additional stress.
In short, you are trying to fix something that isn’t broken, mostly likely won’t break, and if it did break just a little bit, the worst case scenario that you have envisioned in your mind is highly unlikely to become a reality. Constant worrying and obsessing about the “what ifs” is hugely unproductive and can leave you flailing emotionally and mentally in situations that you might find challenging.
Constant fretting about those “what ifs” is not helping. There are much more productive and healthy means of coping with your anxiety and concerns, including the following.
• Learning how to challenge and face your irrational thoughts head-on
• Learning how to accept that your life is always going to have a level of uncertainty in it, no matter how hard you otherwise try to control it
• Learning how to postpone your concerns and anxiety; putting them on the back burner, so to speak
Working with your therapist will help you to talk through the situations and other issues that trigger bouts of obsessive worrying and anxiety.
Tip Four: Calming Yourself, Self-Soothing
Individuals who live with GAD generally aren’t able to calm themselves down when their anxiety symptoms are starting to escalate. Learning more about how to self-soothe can make a remarkable difference in your symptoms and in your overall ability to cope with your anxiety.
One of the most effective methods for calming yourself down from escalating anxiety symptoms is to use sensory-based methods.
The following examples should help you to better understand sensory-based methods of self-soothing.
Sound: Turn on music that relaxes you or otherwise inspires you. Take in the sounds around you, whether it is the sounds of your office printer humming or the soft sounds of the wind brushing through the tree tops.
Smell: Find your favourite smells, the smell of freshly baked bread for example. Light an aromatherapy candle. Take the time to actually stop and smell those roses, or the jasmine!
Sight: Treat yourself to visually stunning images. You can visit your favourite museum or look at photographs from your last vacation, or even taking in the view outside of your home or office.
Touch: Envelope yourself in a soothing bath or wrap yourself in your favourite bath robe. Get a full body massage, or sit in the park or on the beach and feel the grass or sand between your toes.
Taste: Indulge in your favourite comfort foods; they are called comfort foods for a reason! Savour each bite! Cook your favourite meals or simply just enjoy a steaming cup of hot cocoa, tea, or coffee.
Tip Five: Establish Connections And New Healthy Lifestyle Habits
Your anxiety is likely to escalate when you feel alone and feel as though you have no one to connect with. The more that you allow yourself to connect with others, the less anxious and alone you will feel. The downside to connecting with others, and in fact the reason that many try to avoid connecting, is that GAD can be responsible for problematic relationships.
• Developing your support network of friends and family members is an essential part of knowing that you have someone you can trust to be there for you and help you when you are at your most vulnerable
• Use your trusted friends and family members to help you regain your balance and perspective when your worries and anxiety are escalating
• Avoid those who are less than supportive of helping you to break free from your anxiety. If your sister, for example, is likely to dismiss your worries, interject with her own, or otherwise make you feel worse, then she is not a good choice for you to lean on
• Keeping a healthy body is a key part of keeping a healthy mind. Not only will a healthy diet that is filled with the good stuff your body needs help you feel good, but it can also help to stabilise your blood sugar which, in turn, will help to keep you from feeling more anxiety
• Remove items from your diet that might contribute to your anxiety, and cause disruptions in your sleeping patterns. This could include caffeine, sugar, nicotine, drugs, and alcohol
Be sure that you are getting a good night’s rest. Anxiety and other mental health concerns can lead towards insomnia; however, a lack of sleep can also make your anxiety symptoms that much worse. It is a vicious cycle that can be ended with getting in your 8-10 a night.
There are numerous effective techniques that your therapist can help you to master. Simple self-soothing techniques that can make a very drastic difference in the way that you manage your anxiety are a key part to gaining control over your life. As you progress, discuss with your therapist the types of techniques that have been effective so that you can continue to work together towards the goal of you having firm control over your anxiety.
