The Get to the Point! Guide to Overcoming Anxiety

By Marc Allan Moore

GET TO THE POINT—AND GET BACK IN THE GAME!

When a panic attack strikes out of the blue, it can be among the most terrifying experiences of an anxiety sufferer's life, causing one to feel more helpless and alone than nearly anything else in life.
Yet anxiety is far from uncommon: anxiety disorders are by far the most common mental condition today, with one in six people affected at any given moment.
And if you think you can simply 'tough it out' without suffering long term problems, think again: when left untreated, anxiety leads to a number of debilitating health problems including elevated risk of heart attack—and worse, anxious tendencies often only increase with age.
Fortunately, there's no need to live in fear any longer: relief for your anxiety may be closer than you think.
With The Get to the Point! Guide to Overcoming Anxiety, you can learn how to start alleviating the symptoms of anxiety today and avoid future outbreaks, letting you move forward with the knowledge that when anxiety strikes, you can control it easily without the risk of embarrassment or panic attack hanging over your head.
Don't let needless fear and anxiety control or limit you one minute longer— start reading The Get to the Point! Guide to Overcoming Anxiety now and start living your life free of anxiety today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Author Jet Press
• Release date: Jun 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201079093

Book preview

Introduction

While the experience of anxiety in many situations is entirely common, when the effects of anxiety persist well after the circumstances that triggered them, they can not only interfere with our capacity to enjoy life, but also produce a number of undesirable results. By any standards, today’s society is besieged by anxiety: nary a day passes in which news headlines do not report worrisome developments or forecast impending disaster. Yet even in a world containing no shortage of legitimate reasons for concern, millions of people frequently suffer from recurring spells of disproportionate, uncontrollable anxiety that can make life difficult to bear, let alone enjoy. According to official National Institute of Mental Health statistics, about one in every six people suffers from some type of anxiety disorder at any moment—far and away the most common mood disorder or mental health issue seen today. It is currently expected that around one in four adults will experience at least one bout with debilitating anxiety during their lifetimes, and every indication is that these statistics will only continue to rise over time: among American women, anxiety disorders currently constitute the number one mental health problem, and anxiety ranks second only to alcohol and drug abuse in men. Additionally, recent studies have conclusively demonstrated that anxiety is not only a disorder of the emotions, but a condition with long-lasting physical effects on a par with public health crises such as smoking, diabetes, or even cancer, with similar effects on reduced life expectancy.

Of course, occasional feelings of anxiety are normal, particularly when people are faced with challenging situations such as important exams, job interviews, public speaking and performance, or even romantic encounters. Yet for a significant percentage of the population, feelings of anxiety are triggered by seemingly far less stressful situations—and may not abate or might even worsen when stressors are removed. And though anxiety disorder is generally considered a mental condition, its effects are quite capable of producing a wide range of physical—and quite real—symptoms. Indeed, to dismiss anxiety disorders as simply a ‘trick of the mind’ or an imaginary ailment is startlingly wrongheaded. In fact, many people suffering from anxiety come to feel helpless in the face of their affliction, feeling trapped or restricted by the uncontrollable symptoms of their condition, unable to venture beyond certain spaces or to take advantage of all that life has to offer. For these people, managing anxiety can become a full-time occupation, interfering with their relationships with other people as well as causing problems with maintaining responsibilities such as employment, education, or even simple daily chores.

Worse, many people affected by anxiety disorders experience what are commonly referred to as anxiety attacks or panic attacks, characterized by shortness of breath, excessive sweating, rapid heartbeat and breathing, numbness and tingling in the extremities, trembling, or chest pain. These frightening episodes can strike without warning, at any place or any time, and can be so severe that in the wake of a panic attack, it is not uncommon for people to believe they have instead experienced a heart attack. Anxiety sufferers who experience repeated or frequent panic attacks often become conditioned to dread the onset of another episode, heightening their ongoing level of anxiety and eventually causing them to feel trapped in a vicious cycle of stress and worry that only increases their likelihood of experiencing future attacks—which they may full well realize, but without the necessary tools or skills to break the cycle and prevent recurrence, they will likely feel helpless in the face of their condition.

If left unaddressed, anxiety disorders can produce potentially devastating effects on health over the long term. Multiple studies have linked anxiety issues to functional digestive disorders, chronic respiratory disease, heart disease and increased risk of heart attack. Yet many people remain reluctant to seek treatment for their problems with anxiety, feeling that others may view them as emotionally weak if they do so, or dismiss their symptoms as merely imaginary, self-created, or nonexistent—or perhaps fearing the possibility that they will be told that there is no hope for relief from their condition.

If you feel similarly, rest assured: anxiety can be overcome. Though your symptoms of anxiety may or may not be quite so severe as to disrupt your entire life, any experience of excessive anxiety can be disturbing enough to interfere with our ability to manage the problems we all face on a daily basis. Whether you suffer from an actual anxiety disorder or are simply anxiety-prone due either to the nature of your personality or factors in your environment, by learning how to overcome your anxiety when it occurs, you can not only gain the ability to handle the occasional anxious encounter with confidence, but also free yourself from the negative effects of excessive worry and panic attacks. Even if you’re currently in the very center of a debilitating anxiety attack, don’t fret: contained within this book you will find many techniques to allow you to regain control of your anxious symptoms, recenter your mind, and move forward with the kind of self-assurance that is only possible once you have absolute awareness of how to overcome your anxiety, no matter when or where it may strike.

It may not be easy, it may take time, and it may require substantial effort on your part to change patterns of thought and behavior that have become second nature to you, but by incorporating a variety of techniques to reduce your anxious symptoms and reduce the anxiety-inflaming factors in your life, you can substantially lower both your overall level of anxiety and your chances of suffering anxiety or panic attacks. Eventually, by coming to understand both how anxiety builds and how to prevent and decrease it, the knowledge that anxious symptoms are not only readily controllable but largely preventable