General Anxiety

What is anxiety?

General anxiety can be caused by many things, including events and pressures that occur over time, or a single traumatic event. Anxiety can become life controlling when it leads to fear of everyday situations and circumstances. In addition to other feeling of isolation and loneliness, it can also manifest itself physically in the way of digestion problems and unexplained aches and pains almost anywhere in the body.

Trying to understand anxiety

What causes anxiety?

Habitual anxiety, or generalised anxiety disorder as it is sometimes known, is often caused by long-term habits and can take some time to unravel and reset. The effects of Covid-19 on the mental health of millions around the world has put a spotlight on mental health and the need for services to handle the demands of all those affected.

Types of anxiety

In addition to general anxiety, where life’s pressures and strains can push the mind and body to breaking point, there are also a range of more specifically categorised anxieties such as: –

  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): an anxiety disorder and is characterised by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviours (compulsions). Repetitive behaviours such as hand washing, counting, checking, or cleaning are often performed with the hope of preventing obsessive thoughts or making them go away. Performing these so-called “rituals,” however, provides only temporary relief, and not performing them markedly increases anxiety.
  • Panic Disorder: an anxiety disorder and is characterized by unexpected and repeated episodes of intense fear accompanied by physical symptoms that may include chest pain, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, or abdominal distress.
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or military combat.
  • Social Phobia (or Social Anxiety Disorder): an anxiety disorder characterized by overwhelming anxiety and excessive self-consciousness in everyday social situations. Social phobia can be limited to only one type of situation – such as a fear of speaking in formal or informal situations, or eating or drinking in front of others – or, in its most severe form, may be so broad that a person experiences symptoms almost anytime they are around other people.

Breaking the cycle

Although it sounds easier than it usually is, anxiety can be beaten by re-training the mind and allowing yourself the time to rest, relax and recover. It is a process of regaining control of the things you can, whilst also accepting that there are situations and circumstances that you cannot control or influence. This leads to a pattern of acceptance and how you deal with or handle those situations that are beyond your control.

Reading self help books for anxiety and using hypnosis mp3’s or podcasts for anxiety can be really effective. They can be used whenever . If you suffer from anxiety, either in a specific situation or generally, then hypnosis is worth a try. Hypnosis sessions are based around a deeply relaxing experience which is the opposite physical state to anxiety. The sessions guide and encourage you to use your imagination to lower anxiety levels and decondition previous patterns of anxiety.

Self-help for anxiety

To help, we have compiled a list of hypnosis mp3 sessions that can help towards resetting anxiety levels back to normal levels. We have also listed a number of anxiety related, self-help book titles that have been considered as useful for understanding and dealing with anxiety.

Popular anxiety mp3 downloads

  • Anxiety Release: Let go of those anxieties with this professionally recorded hypnosis MP3 download from Hypnotic World.
  • The Beat Fear and Anxiety Hypnosis Pack: 5 carefully selected sessions to help you overcome excess fear and anxiety for good. This pack contains sessions on overcoming fear and anxiety, how to stop thinking about the worst, escape feeling trapped, understanding generalised anxiety, and Learning reliable techniques for lowering anxiety levels quickly.

3 Self help books for anxiety

Self help anxiety books can help you better understand the condition which in itself, can help to alleviate day-to-day anxiety and fear. they also provide some great advice, methods, and tools that can help you to cope with anxiety better and work towards beating the condition.

Beating anxiety requires several approaches including relaxation, setting aside time for yourself and pursuing the things that you enjoy and that make you happy. A little physical exercise such as a 30-minute walk, or cycle along the seafront, in a park, or in the countryside, several times a week, is a great way for the mind to detach from the stresses of life, giving it time to process inwardly and heal. Self-help and regular relaxation can help to ‘reset’ the nervous system’s baseline to help it remember how it feels to be relaxed on a daily basis.

See our home page for information on other self-help books and self-help hypnosis mp3 downloads.